New alliance attempts cross-industry framework for electronic information compliance
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 6/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
The complex and often contradictory regulatory compliance issues that companies wrestle with are legion. In fact, it's estimated there are 10,000 U.S. federal, state, and local regulations alone. Given globalization, it only gets worse.
Take records compliance, for example. You are an international enterprise. U.S. government regulators require you to maintain customer data for seven years, yet U.K. regulators require that you jettison the data at termination of the relationship. Whatever you do, you're in violation.
E-business systems and IT storage vendors involved in compliance support have formed the Compliance and Management of Electronic Information (CMEI) alliance. Its charter: to define best practices and address legal issues by dealing concertedly with both national and international regulatory bodies.
"All these issues were impacting customer businesses, with no one to turn to for advice," says Harald Collet, newly elected CMEI chairman and Oracleproduct manager for records & compliance support. "We're focusing on the overarching themes that have customers concerned with legal obligations, compliance, and privacy issues, in particular."
Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is "a major point for all customers, and a key driver" behind formation of the group, Collet adds. Boston-based AMR Research estimates companies will spend $6.1 billion in 2005 on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance alone. "It has a large effect nationally, but also globally," claims Collet.
Founding members of CMEI include Oracle, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Network Appliance, Open Text, Plasmon, Sun Microsystems, and VERITAS. Two working subcommittees are managing initial activities: Best Practices, and Legal. Operating under the aegis of the Internet Law & Policy Forum, the group will work with both public and private sector representatives—as well as other industry groups—to create a global, cross-industry framework for managing electronic information compliance.
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