The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) has helped many solution providers develop healthy compliance businesses. But with recent rumblings from Washington that SOX may have gone too far and could eventually be scaled back, some VARs are wondering how much longer SOX solutions and services will continue to yield a reliable revenue stream.
Some solution providers told CRN they believe any softening of SOX could have a domino effect in which companies would rethink their compliance priorities.
"The prospect of a SOX rollback is definitely of concern, certainly when it pertains to opportunities driven by compliance regulations," said Pat Edwards, vice president of sales at Alliance Technology Group, a Hanover, Md.-based solution provider.
SOX requires companies to identify areas in their networks where internal financial accounting and reporting controls need to be strengthened, and remediate areas of weakness. In addition to building and selling compliance solutions, VARs can perform assessment services to help a company find and fix problems and demonstrate how it has the proper controls in place. SOX requires third-party auditors to verify that the company's controls are working properly.
Some solution providers are contending that if SOX is somehow defanged, it could weaken demand for their compliance solutions and services.
Gary Cannon, president of Advanced Internet Security, Colorado Springs, Colo., has seen his compliance business double over the past year, but believes interest in compliance solutions could wane if the government were to tinker with certain provisions of SOX.
With the move to the cloud, CISOs must shift priorities from operating security programs to overseeing (monitoring and auditing) outsourced cybersecurity programs.
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