Risk management spend to increase

OpenPages, a provider of integrated risk management solutions, revealed in a survey that investments in risk management initiatives will rise in 2010, states TMCnet.

The survey highlights how the current financial crisis and increased regulatory oversight are changing the way organisations approach governance, risk and compliance (GRC).

Overall IT spending is expected to remain flat next year, however, over 89% of surveyed companies say investments in GRC technology will increase or at least remain the same in 2010.

Global research firm Gartner claims the economic crisis is making the critical process of justifying enterprise security budgets more difficult, reports Business Solutions.

According to Gartner, enterprise security professionals face a complex situation as they work with constrained financial resources to manage and mitigate a rapidly changing and expanding risk environment.

Jay Heiser, research vice-president at Gartner, says: “The key to justifying and optimising security spending is to ensure that security and risk control practices are meeting explicit business objectives and, crucially, to persuade the business to take ownership of risk.”

NextDocs, a provider of regulatory document software, has partnered with systems integrator SpeakTech, says ECM Connection.

Erik Smith, vice-president of alliances and regional operations at NextDocs, says: “By combining forces, NextDocs and SpeakTech offer a unified approach to delivering cost-effective and regulatory compliant document and quality management solutions for heavily regulated organisations.

Jean-Claude Monney, chief solution strategy officer, SpeakTech, adds that NextDocs Web-based solution extends the capabilities of SharePoint to assist businesses with adherence to regulatory and compliance requirements.