SAP enhances risk management offerings

SAP has announced new software, updates and product integration to help its customers improve their risk management strategies.

The software giant announced to customers that they will now be able to combine SAP enterprise performance management (EPM), business intelligence (BI) and governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions to give them more insight into new business developments.

"With dramatic corporate events continuing to make headlines around the world – from numerous product recalls, to rogue bank trading activity, to the continued fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis – one thing is clear: executive management teams and their boards are fundamentally rethinking their focus on risk management," said Narina Sippy, SAP’s governance, risk and compliance senior vice president in a statement.

A spend analytics solution has been added to the Business Objects EPM portfolio, designed to give operations managers better understanding of their firm’s purchasing patterns. Customers will be given more control over their procurement strategies and increased opportunities to look for cost savings. SAP acquired Business Objects in October last year.

SAP has also updated its existing EPM portfolio, combining its applications of Strategy Management and Risk Management to allow customers to view risks associated with business strategies.

"For example, if a consumer-packaged goods company wants to introduce a new product into the market, a combined risk and strategy management solution will help executives determine if there are any risks to supporting an expanded product line," noted SAP.

The Business Objects Profitability and Cost Management solution has been enhanced to give users more control over their business outgoings. Customers will have more insight into granular financial details, such as all transactions that take place in an organisation, SAP said.

SAP also announced new integration between its cross-application NetWeaver platform, the Business Objects unified BI platform XI 3.0 and other EPM applications SAP acquired last year.

The SAP Business Planning and Consolidation application the software vendor acquired when it purchased OutLookSoft will now run on the SAP NetWeaver platform and is optimised for the Microsoft SQL platform, while the Strategy Management application SAP acquired with its acquisition of Pilot Software has been added to NetWeaver.

SAP has also added tighter integration between Business Objects XI 3.0 and the Profitability and Cost Management application, as well as the Financial Consolidation application, which SAP acquired with the purchase of Cartesis.

Additionally, SAP announced that it will deliver new risk management software tools with GRC consulting partners, including Deloitte, IBM Global Business Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Protiviti. SAP will give customers key risk indicators that affect their industry. The indicators will work in the SAP Risk Management application and so management is immediately notified of changes in risk levels. SAP calls the capabilities "proactive" because rather than giving customers the ability to find out what they need to know, as with traditional BI, the indicators will ensure the risk is prevented from occurring even before management is aware a new risk has developed.