IT's role in compliance on the rise

Businesses are increasingly relying on IT to prove they have achieved compliance with regulatory governance standards, says research published this week.

In the past three years the role of IT has increased significantly, according to nearly half of 133 economists surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The survey found that security and customer privacy compliance are the largest growth areas for 45 per cent of respondents, followed by document retention (34 per cent) and financial regulation (33 per cent).

'The nature of IT's role in compliance varies widely among companies,' said EIU executive services director Nigel Holloway. 'But it is clear that growing regulatory requirements are giving IT specialists a lot more work and bringing them into contact with different corporate departments.'

Spending on compliance-related technology is also growing, with 53 per cent of respondents to the survey - conducted on behalf of Veritas Software - expanding this part of their IT budget by up to 10 per cent a year.

Some 36 per cent say that IT is strategically more important to the business as a result of its use in compliance-related projects.

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