Regulators are driving corporate governance to the top of the
business agenda. IT departments have to meet the challenge
IT directors are not getting involved in the strategic planning of
corporate governance and compliance projects, despite the
importance of the integrity of information and information systems,
according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
A survey of 116 senior executives conducted by the Economist
Intelligence Unit for ChangePoint, a provider of governance
software, found that 63% of companies did not involve their IT
departments at a strategic level when planning for
compliance.
Gareth Lofthouse, European director, executive services at the
Economist Intelligence Unit, said he was surprised that IT was not
being involved at a time when companies are facing huge information
management challenges from compliance legislation.
"Only 27% of companies include IT permanently in the compliance
team," said Lofthouse, who added that compliance required companies
to gather large amounts of historical data - a task that is
difficult given the fragmented nature of large organisations' IT
systems.
The survey found that a lack of integration in IT systems had added
cost and complexity to compliance programmes among 69% of those
surveyed. The same number said compliance programmes created a
challenging workload for the IT department.
Peter Redshaw, principal financial services analyst at Gartner,
said corporate governance legislation would require organisations
to report on an increasingly wide range of business processes,
forcing them to gather information from more data streams. This
will mean users having to store vast amounts of historical data, he
added.