Osterman Research Reveals Security as Prime Obstacle in Outsourcing, and more

Osterman Research Reveals Security as Prime Obstacle in Outsourcing

According to a study by Black Diamond, Wash.-based Osterman Research, security continues to be a primary obstacle to companies choosing to outsource business processes. Based on the results of Osterman's Hosted Messaging Market Trends, 2005-2008 survey, 86.6 per cent of respondents feel that data security is a significant concern when considering outsourced service providers, and more than half of respondents are not outsourcing their archiving requirements due to concerns around third-party access to data.

"Security has always been a concern for companies with respect to outsourcing, and recent news coverage of several high-profile data security breaches has brought added attention to this issue," said Michael Osterman, president, Osterman Research, in a formal statement. "It's fairly clear from the survey results that outsourced service providers must find ways to enhance the level of security they offer, so customers feel comfortable sending their data to a third party."

Gravitas Launches Turnkey Compliance Solution for Alternative Investments

Gravitas Technology, an IT services firm specializing in hedge funds and private equity, has released its latest compliance offering to the alternative investment community.

Gravitas offers customers technology solutions to achieve regulatory compliance as dictated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Investment Advisor Act of 1940 Rule 206(4)-7. Its latest release is a turnkey compliance solution that addresses the challenges associated with retention and search capabilities for e-mail, instant messaging, BlackBerry, and records as well as disaster recovery for business continuity planning. Antispam and antivirus capabilities for e-mail also are included in this solution.

"Recently, there have been a number of launches of larger, billion-dollar, multistrategy, global hedge funds that require an institutional footprint from their inception," said Jayesh Punater, chief executive officer and founder of Gravitas, in the press release. "Where investors used to be primarily high-net-worth individuals, many are now institutional investors who demand increased reporting requirements, compliance and disaster recovery. The idea of outsourcing technology is one that has gained recent momentum, especially with hedge funds who are primarily focused on investment and asset-gathering activities."

IVestigo Offers MiFID and Basel II Compliance Solution Through BT Radianz

London-based iVestigo, a provider of scalable, ASP-based IT monitoring solutions for financial institutions, has selected BT Radianz as the exclusive network provider to enable the ASP model of its flagship IT operational risk management solution, the OpsMonitor Service Bureau.

IVestigo's OpsMonitor Service Bureau provides real-time dashboard overviews for business users and drill-down visibility for technical IT users. It allows financial institutions to reduce operational risk and system downtime by providing real-time visibility, automatic alerts to key staff, and vital technical information to enable accurate problem diagnosis and timely resolution of threats to business-critical systems. As a result, OpsMonitor enables financial institutions to comply with the requirements mandated in MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) and inherent in Basel II.

"BT Radianz provides iVestigo with an extremely stable and secure connection for our clients, which is vital to our ability to offer excellent service and achieve the high levels of assurance over business-critical systems that our clients have come to expect," said Dave Lewis, Technical Director of IT Assurance at iVestigo, in the press release.