In a survey of 148 CIOs in the Asia-Pacific region, 70 percent of respondents said compliance will be used to gain an advantage over competitors.

Interviews with medium to large companies across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore found the uptake of regulatory compliance programs will increase significantly this year.

To date only 21 percent of those surveyed had implemented regulatory compliance programs, but 52 percent will have standards in place by the end of the year.

Undertaken by Serena Software, the survey was conducted in October-November 2005.

The company's local manager Charles Rignall said the Asia Pacific is waking up to the relevance of international compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II.