Sidebar: Regulatory Demands Put Spotlight On Asset Management Practices

By Thomas Hoffman

August 30, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Bresler & Reiner Inc. has found itself placing a lot more emphasis on IT asset management practices as a result of pressing regulatory compliance demands.
Earlier this year, the Rockville, Md.-based real estate investment trust installed an industry-specific accounting software package that's used by its various property management companies. The package was supplied by Beaverton, Ore.-based Timberline Software Corp., said Eric Clarke, Bresler & Reiner's internal audit director.
To help meet regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, "we want to make sure financial information on our software and servers is adequately safeguarded and that we have an adequate disaster recovery plan in place for each site," Clarke said.
Indeed, regulatory requirements are forcing IT managers to track their IT assets more closely, said Jane Disbrow, an analyst at Gartner Inc. "If you don't know where all your laptops and software are located, how can you tell regulatory bodies that customer information is being kept private?" she said.
IT asset management concerns are just making their way onto Zebra Technologies Corp.'s regulatory radar screen. IT asset management "is something that is on our Sarb-Ox list a month or so into the future," said Todd Naughton, vice president and controller at the print components supplier in Vernon Hills, Ill.
Sarbanes-Oxley is having a two-pronged affect on IT asset management practices. Under Section 404 of the act, companies are required to attest to the internal controls that are used for financial reporting. These include IT-related controls that firms have in place to effectively track and monitor hardware, plus software used to support financial reporting. Companies are also required under Sarbanes-Oxley to disclose to regulators all material financial exposures they have, including IT equipment leases and licensing agreements, which have to be tracked closely.
A soon-to-be-published survey of 220 IT decision-makers by Boston-based AMR Research Inc. found that companies that consider regulatory compliance the top business issue affecting their security spending cite the need to invest in auditing and asset-tracking tools as their No. 1 security budget priority.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

IT Modernization in Government
As IT budgets are slashed, IT management pressures rise and legacy systems linger in government organizations, modernizing the IT infrastructure and applications has...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

Accelerate SSL Encrypted Applications
The amount of SSL traffic is growing in the enterprise. Because it is encrypted, it cannot be properly controlled and accelerated. Blue Coat...

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

ESG Lab Field Audit
Many companies have successfully implemented Riverbed WAN optimization solutions within their Cisco networks. This ESG Lab Field Audit document explores the success that...

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

Shape Your Apps Strategy to Reflect New SaaS Licensing and Pricing Trends
Why are smart companies choosing software-as-a-service? Find out in the complimentary Forrester Research report...

Why Compliance Pays
This OnDemand webcast explores the relationship that firms with best compliance records have higher revenue, greater customer retention, lower financial losses from data...

Natural User Interface for Enterprise Applications
Learn how a revolutionary user interface can make a complex enterprise application so intuitive even casual users can jump right in....

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
Find out how combining ECM and BPM will help adress issues about content rich business processes....

All White Papers | All Webcasts