SOURCE: OpenPages

 

WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwire - November 10, 2008) - OpenPages, the leading provider of enterprise GRC management solutions that optimize business performance, today announced survey results that highlight current realities and future concerns regarding risk management and other GRC activities for 2009. The survey, which polled over 150 strategic risk, governance and finance professionals from such Fortune 1000 companies as AIG, Carnival Corporation, TD Ameritrade and Duke Energy, was conducted at OPUS 2008 -- the 5th Annual OpenPages User Symposium in Boston, Ma. The survey results revealed that organizations expect investment in risk management initiatives will increase in 2009 and that a software platform to help integrate and manage all of their efforts will be crucial to their success.

Survey Results

-- While industry experts predict that overall IT spending may be flat or down next year, over 90% reported that investments in GRC technology will increase or at least remain the same in 2009.

-- 90% of those polled expect new laws and regulations to be introduced next year in an effort "to improve corporate risk management oversight."

-- Over 50% said that the current crisis has increased the priority of enterprise-wide risk management, and nearly 60% said that the crisis has put the risk management function in the spotlight for the CEO and board.

-- Companies divulged that their biggest GRC challenge next year will be to "converge GRC initiatives across the enterprise," and 70% characterized their current state of GRC management efforts as siloed.

-- Companies also revealed that most are poised for improvement: less than 10% characterized their ERM efforts as excellent, as described by S&P's ERM ratings categorization.

Conclusions:

-- "The results of this year's survey highlight the impact of the current financial crisis on enterprise risk management efforts: companies are focused on converging disparate risk management efforts to improve their visibility into the risk inherent within the business. Further, despite the economic slowdown, companies are willing to invest in technology to improve risk management capabilities," commented Gordon Burnes, VP sales and marketing, OpenPages.

-- "Furthermore, as companies continue to be asked to do more with less, our customers have made it clear that convergence of GRC activities is one way to save money, without compromising performance," said Burnes.

Supporting Quote from Michael J. Duffy, CEO & president, OpenPages

--"This is a defining moment for our economic system that underscores the critical importance of enterprise risk management not just within the financial services sector but across all industries. Not only will GRC spending emerge as one of the few areas of investment in 2009, but we expect that more companies will take a more programmatic approach to risk management in 2009. We look forward to helping our customers meet this challenge and through it solidify their standing with their customers, employees, investors and shareholders."

Please contact Jessica Sutera to arrange for further quotes regarding this announcement or to request an interview with an OpenPages executive.

Multimedia:

-- OpenPages Flickr Page

-- OpenPages Blog with additional survey findings

Relevant Links:

OpenPages Blog

OpenPages' Del.icio.us page

About OpenPages

OpenPages is the leading provider of enterprise GRC management solutions that optimize business performance. OpenPages empowers the world's largest companies by unifying governance, risk and compliance (GRC) activities across the enterprise and by incorporating risk management into their everyday business processes. Market-leading corporations select OpenPages because of its domain expertise and software solutions that seamlessly adapt to their unique risk management methodologies while providing the flexibility to evolve their governance, risk and compliance processes over time. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with international offices in Japan and the United Kingdom, and regional offices throughout North America.

For more information on OpenPages' suite of risk and compliance solutions, please call 781-693-5999 or visit www.openpages.com.

OpenPages is a trademark of OpenPages, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.