This morning I had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion at the
Gilbane Conference that
included Carole Stern Switzer of the Open
Compliance and Ethics Group, Lynn Brewer of The
Integrity Institute, and Michael Evans, Ernst and Young partner responsible
for developing the compliance architecture within Ernst and Young. One
objective of the discussion was to provide the IT people and project and product
management people, who make up a substantial part of the audience at Gilbane
Conference sessions, with some of the conceptual tools they need to help create
more effective compliance and risk management programs within their companies.
One of the questions raised from the audience toward the end of the
discussion asked about the "enablers" of an effective compliance
program. Lynn Brewer’s answer was interesting. Her observation has
been that companies that are making really effective use of compliance, rather
than just treating it as a checkmark, are typically ahead of the curve in terms
of investing in and integrating IT systems into the compliance effort.
Both Lynn and Carole Switzer argued that one of the key "enablers" is
the early and active engagement of people doing hands-on work on the IT side of
an organization.
