Compliance-related IT spending set to grow

02.03.2006
Asia is waking up to the relevance of international compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II to the region, and this will play a key role in shaping IT priorities of CIOs for the coming year.

In a recent survey on the importance of regulatory compliance to Asia Pacific companies, 75 percent of CIOs in the region indicated that compliance will be one of their top IT objectives over the next year.

Singapore emerged as the country seen to be leading the charge in meeting regulatory compliance standards (31 percent), followed by Hong Kong (23 percent) and Japan (20 percent).

The survey, which was commissioned by Serena Software Inc., also indicated that IT will have a major role to play in meeting regulatory compliance standards, with three quarters of the CIOs indicating that compliance will be one of their top IT objectives over the next year.

'Relevance for compliance in Asia will be driven by corporate headquarters demands and global trade requirements,' said KC Yee, vice president for Asia Pacific at Serena Software. 'If companies in Asia want to do business with an MNC or trade with an overseas company ' they have to meet a certain grade of standards. Assurance must be given to customers and partners that you can work at the same level that they do.'