Change Your SOX: Next-Gen Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

3 minute read

August 2015

 

It’s been more than a decade since Sarbanes-Oxley became the law of the land—and the bane of compliance officers almost everywhere. According to a 2015 Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Survey sponsored by Protiviti, 58% of large companies spent more than $1 million dollars in 2014 on SOX compliance, support and audit fees.

Most companies have a firm grip on what they need to do in order to comply. But the way compliance has been managed has not kept pace with the way technology has evolved. Years after SOX has become mandatory, compliance for many organizations remains largely a manual process. For those that turned to Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance software tools to streamline the process, many are still using (and overpaying for) technologies designed in 2002. As regulatory complexity and the cost of compliance continue to increase, it’s time for a fresh look at managing SOX.

Is it Time to Change Your SOX (Compliance Software)?

Fortunately, it’s easy to let go of the past by embracing an alternative that’s available right now: cloud-enabled SOX solutions. By moving from on-premise to on-demand technology, you immediately position your compliance program, and your company, for greater advantage:

  • Reduce manual labor: Contemporary SOX applications have incorporated thirteen years of lessons into their design. For example, single stage assessments eliminate the tedious pathways of heavy clicking found in legacy software. Simple configurations allow business users to create, apply and manage their own business rules without calling IT.
  • Increase integration: Centralizing compliance on the cloud removes location by location, or silo by silo, barriers to integration. A true shared control library reduces duplication of work and documentation. Through one common dashboard, compliance officers can standardize tests across multiple locations; by drawing on an integrated pool of data, reporting is no longer impeded by distance or disparate data locations.
  • Eliminate “administrivia”: Using SaaS shifts almost all the infrastructure requirements, and most of the IT burden, from your company to your provider, eliminating all the costs and hassles of IT administration, maintenance, support, resourcing and more. All the necessary expertise for security, storage and disaster recovery is carried by the application vendor.
  • Future-proof your system: Shifting to SaaS removes the software/hardware life cycle out of your operations and budget equations. Upgrades and updates are applied automatically, ensuring that your company always works with the latest software version and most advanced functionality.
  • Streamline Migration: On-premise software deployment, from sourcing to installation, can be a many-month long project; when moving to a SaaS solution, the average migration time is less than 30 days, including training and data import.
  • Release yourself from IT: Compliance system support will never be IT’s top priority. But through the simplicity of the application’s modern interface and the sophistication of its underlying engine, end-users can filter and/or manipulate data…craft reporting templates…establish alerts and response protocols…set up and confirm testing regimens…without relying on IT for guidance or support.

Ready for Next-Gen SOX Compliance?

ProcessUnity offers a tested, cloud-based SOX solution that allows your compliance officers to focus effectively on what matters most: compliance. To experience its ease, power and flexibility, request a demo today.

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ProcessUnity is a leading provider of cloud-based applications for risk and compliance management. The company’s software as a service (SaaS) platform gives organizations the control to assess, measure, and mitigate risk and to ensure the optimal performance of key business processes. ProcessUnity’s flagship solution, ProcessUnity Vendor Risk Management, protects companies and their brands by reducing risks from third-party vendors and suppliers. ProcessUnity helps customers effectively and efficiently assess and monitor both new and existing vendors – from initial due diligence and onboarding through termination. Headquartered outside of Boston, Massachusetts, ProcessUnity is used by the world’s leading financial service firms and commercial enterprises. For more information, visit www.processunity.com.