Thursday, December 2, 2010

How Compliant Is Your IT Environment?


IT security concerns have become more and more challenging in the recent past, and many organizations, both government and private are suffering commercially with an ever-increasing number of security breaches. Every year billions of dollars are lost due to security lapses, and consequently, the government is trying to enforce newer and more stringent regulations to deal with the scenario. However, to be compliant with these stringent industry and government standards, organizations are investing huge sums of money.

Challenges in Maintaining a Compliant IT Environment

In the current scenario, there is no ideal solution to address all security issues effectively. As businesses are faced with new demands everyday a number of compliance solutions have been developed to meet specific security needs. However, these solutions are neither scalable, nor flexible, because of which enterprises are unable to integrate new technologies. This results in redundant and expensive processes.

However, more and more money is spent in developing better and effective solutions to battle new threats, and in doing so, the need for a unified system for enforcing complete governance risk and compliance management is often overlooked. And as a result, the level of compliance in most organizations is very low.

So, do you know how compliant or how non-compliant you are?

Metrics to Identify your Compliance Quotient

Here are a few questions that will help determine the level of compliance in your organization:

1. Are your end-points secured?
Can your compliance management process handle all security issues and compliance requirements without overlooking any area that may later turn out to be a weak link?

2. Does your compliance program facilitate visibility?
A compliance process that provides you with thorough visibility of functions, along with the compliance status, can provide sufficient protection for your enterprise. A transparent view helps gauge the efficiency level of your enterprise in dealing with IT security.

3. Is your compliance process a reliable one?
A robust and dependable compliance process can offer you strong solutions for all plaguing issues associated with IT security, and preserving your business environment.

4. Can your compliance process integrates with, and manages all other processes?
A competent compliance process can handle all processes in a unified and simple form. It helps reduce management complexities, and helps in achieving desired end results.

What Can an Automated Compliance Solution Offer?

If your IT compliance process is unable to perform any of the above listed functions, then it is time for you to invest in a better solution that can provide you overall protection, along with a comprehensive governance, risk and management system.

Automated compliance management software can take care of all your security, compliance, audit and risk management needs. Such a solution is capable of adapting itself to new regulations, and ensuring a consistent and standardized process for compliance across various units and geographic locations. It provides a centralized view of the security and compliance status, and eliminates time consuming and expensive processes that yield no results. It conducts periodic audits to help identify vulnerable zones, thereby providing opportunities for implementing timely remedial measures.

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