Information Security #1 Concern for Accounting Firms and Clients They Serve
Understanding how technology affects the delivery of accounting and consulting services is not only good for firms; it's good for clients too.
A more informed and educated client or customer = a higher value placed on the services it receives from professional services organizations, including accounting firms.
The American Institute recently released its list of Top 10 Technologies for 2006 - and to no one's great surprise, Information Security was once again #1 - for the fourth consecutive year!
Why such continued interest in security? As the always-on wired world continues to grow and become more a part of our daily lives, security and confidentiality become exposed much more often.
However, this vulnerable state also creates opportunities for those who seek to exploit these new venues by creating significant revenue opportunities. I know of at least a dozen folks who experienced some form of identity theft or piracy of information.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg …. Take a look at the rest of the Top 10 list:
1.Information Security
2.Assurance & Compliance Applications
3.Disaster & Business Continuity Planning
4.IT Governance
5.Privacy Management
6.Digital Identity and Authentication Technologies
7.Wireless Technologies
8.Application and Data Integration
9.Paperless Digital Technologies
10.Spyware Detection and Removal
Through the year, I'll continue to bring you more information on the Top 10, and in fact, stay tuned for Wednesday's blog when I cover Disaster Recovery and Data Integration.
Greg, have you heard of D2C Solutions? Aggie 100 winner who has a great SOX product, recently found some significant funding and is in the middle of (2) major implementations. PKF should check these guys out, www.d2c.net.
Matt Michaels, Class of '93 is the guy you should talk to. I get the impression he could bring your clients quite a bit of value.
Great blog, by the way. I'm now in organizational development, but find your content informative. I'll be sending my clients your way.
-Jason