IBM recently unveiled its strategy, as well as new technologies and services, to address the world`s growing need for improved IT governance and risk management, a market expected to exceed $30 billion by 2008.

IT governance and risk management is quickly rising to the top of the agenda for global business leaders. Recent IBM surveys indicate that 43 percent of CFOs believe that improving governance, compliance and risk management is their top challenge while 64 percent of CIOs see security compliance and data protection as one of the most significant challenges facing IT organizations.

As government and industry groups impose an increasing number of regulatory demands related to data privacy, security and business resilience, more companies are realizing that it is critical to effectively implement IT governance mandates, outlining IT performance objectives and implementing risk management strategies to limit the impact of threats and improve business resilience.

IBMâ`s approach to helping clients mitigate risk and enable effective IT governance is aimed at starting with a client`s most strategic IT initiatives and providing improved business alignment, visibility and control throughout the IT lifecycle. IBM`s focus is on improving business performance and resilience by optimizing service management, business continuity and security.

IBM also has added several governance and risk management capabilities through recent acquisitions in its Global Technology Services and Software Group divisions including Internet Security Systems, Consul, FileNet and Micromuse.

As the nervous system of the business, IT must adapt dynamically as business service demands change “ delivering quickly on new requirements and responding to new threats, said Alan Ganek, CTO of IBM Governance & Risk Management and IBM Tivoli. Successfully managing IT governance and risk management as a lifecycle is critical as businesses today are facing increasing globalization, staggering regulatory complexity and an ever-evolving security threat landscape. IBM provides leadership technology and an experience-based approach that enables clients to run resilient, high performance businesses.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange uses IBM technology and services to address challenges in IT governance and risk management.

"It is absolutely critical for a national stock exchange to be secure, compliant with industry regulations and flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions," said, Bernie Donnelly, vice president of quality assurance, Philadelphia Stock Exchange. "Working with IBM, we've developed and deployed an IT governance and risk management strategy that automates our compliance monitoring, auditing and reporting, which is critical to ensure that our business is operating smoothly, and that we are protected from unwanted electronic intruders, both externally and internally."

Building on the industry`s broadest portfolio of services and technology offerings, IBM unveiled the following new capabilities to address clients challenges to optimize business performance and resilience by enabling more effective IT governance and risk management.

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