Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas Edison
Governance, risk management and compliance are not just about burdens – the burden on the corporate sector to comply and on the government sector to legislate, monitor and enforce. It’s also very much about potential benefits.
Many sectors face major challenges from what they may see as an onslaught of new and increased regulation. Governments are responding to increasing threats and public demands for better protection and better services from the sectors regulated by government – whether personal data, their finances or their physical security. But it need not be only about facing the demands of compliance. New regulatory systems can provide strategies and tools to perform better.
Some regulatory systems are common across all sectors such as financial reporting. Others are specific to a given sector – say banking, media, communications or utilities.
TECHNOLOGY
is a vital tool
to help all sectors comply with regulation and at the same time, help to get the most out of what it offers. But for this to happen, systems need to be a key component in business strategy and embedded into operations at all levels.
On one hand, you may have to make sure that on both a day to day and long term basis, you’re conforming to required standards – whether international like Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley, the European Union Financial Services Action Plan – or national.
Even if you don’t have to conform to any or all of these requirements, there are best practice lessons to be learned that can contribute to the competitive strategy of your business. There’s potential for better informed planning, more cost-effective solutions and improved risk management in the face of highly variable economic conditions.
There is a cost to complying but there is an event greater cost from failure – of systems, processes and reporting and of lost business and investment because of a tarnished reputation and brand name.
