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How Savvy CIOs are Cutting Costs and Using IT Compliance Automation to Make Impressive Gains

Agiliance NewsWatch Series

 

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) October 15, 2008 — Typically fall is synonymous with football, pumpkins and leaves crunching on sidewalks and driveways. This October it seems the crunching is coming from IT budgets in the fists of watchful CEOs. Still, there’s always a silver lining for smart companies determined to progress in the face of tough economic conditions. Despite being squeezed by increased security threats, compliance pressures and shrinking budgets, savvy CIOs are using the power of automated IT compliance software to help their businesses thrive.

CIOs are watching costs closely as our economy falters at the same time expectations for IT performance are rising

The key is to be bold, but not reckless. In spite of budget constraints – today's high-performing CIO is adept at balancing the competing demands of driving business innovation while coping with economic disruption.

A successful IT risk and compliance program not only reduces IT spending, but can help bridge the gap between senior management's business goals and IT operations by helping to ensure that consistent and accurate information flows across the organization

Automated IT risk and compliance solutions can provide decision makers with the current and accurate intelligence they need to better understand how IT risk affects their entire organization.

“CIOs are watching costs closely as our economy falters at the same time expectations for IT performance are rising,” says Sara Gates, VP of Strategy, Agiliance, a provider of IT risk and compliance software solutions for Fortune 1000 companies. “The key is to be bold, but not reckless. In spite of budget constraints – today’s high-performing CIO is adept at balancing the competing demands of driving business innovation while coping with economic disruption.”

As companies enter a new era of corporate governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) demands, winning companies are using technology to automate compliance initiatives and get more efficient. In fact, the rising tide of IT security threats and compliance demands, coupled with a struggling economy, is driving the adoption of automated and innovative, intelligence-based solutions for today’s risk and compliance challenges. Recent industry reports confirm that highly automated IT risk and compliance solutions are helping companies cut compliance costs by up to 70%.

Beyond Compliance: Making IT Your Competitive Advantage

The fact is IT can be a competitive advantage. The key is that successful businesses must optimize IT by making strategic cost cutting decisions, build IT by investing in projects that give the company a competitive edge and empower IT by strengthening communications between IT and business executives. Recent speculation by leading analysts suggests that senior management’s lack of understanding about their risk posture may have been a contributing factor to the crash of many heavy hitting financial institutions. More than ever, companies that want to avoid negative headlines must find ways to erase the lines of division between IT and business that may be preventing visibility into a company’s greatest risks – or strengths.

“A successful IT risk and compliance program not only reduces IT spending, but can help bridge the gap between senior management's business goals and IT operations by helping to ensure that consistent and accurate information flows across the organization,” said Kenneth Tyminski, former CISO of Prudential and member, Agiliance Board of Advisors. “Automated IT risk and compliance solutions can provide decision makers with the current and accurate intelligence they need to better understand how IT risk affects their entire organization.”

Cost Cutting Tips for Beating the IT Budget Crunch

The bottomline is that IT success requires the right balance of belt tightening paired with strategic investments to fuel innovation and growth. Successful CIO’s are leveraging IT as an asset in spite of external pressures to control risks while regulators are becoming even more aggressive.

Read more about IT compliance automation and other IT cost cutting tips:

http://www.agiliance.com/infocenter/Get_Budget_Tips.html.

Agiliance IT Risk and Compliance Software

Agiliance offers highly-automated IT risk and compliance management software products designed to help organizations thrive in the face of mounting pressures to manage and balance risk, compliance and IT budgets. By leveraging the power of Agiliance software, businesses can make impressive gains in their IT risk and compliance efforts including reduced audit burden, increased visibility into current compliance and risk status, and improved leverage of IT resources.

To speak to an Agiliance expert about a topic covered in the Agiliance NewsWatch series, please contact Lorraine Kauffman-Hall at 704-882-0443 or lhall@agiliance.com. To learn more about Agiliance, please visit www.agiliance.com