Faced with growing pressure to protect critical data, achieve regulatory compliance and address the rising risks of liability and penalties of non-compliance, enterprises have begun to address their ability to manage, implement and audit their compliance programs.  One of the key areas of compliance is the domain of data governance.  With a rapidly increasing array of complex legislation, regarding the collection, use, distribution and sharing of data the need to manage and audit the policies surrounding corporate data has never been more pressing.

From state, federal, industry specific and international regulations there is a multitude of often contradictory and costly policy requirements. These requirements must be complied with while allowing the modern enterprise to leverage its data and achieve the efficiencies associated with automating and digitizing data handling operations.  Data governance issues have arose due to privacy concerns, data security needs, electronic data transfer and transborder data flow concerns, data sharing requirements related to money laundering and the anti-terrorism efforts.  The common element among all these areas is the increasing pressures to apply policies to enterprise data and have the ability to audit, enforce and cost effectively manage your data governance program.

	Financial Service Financial institutions face the challenge of integrating legacy computer systems into new operations and offerings, and maintaining a high level of trust with customers. Align delivers value by monitoring data usage for unauthorized access, and enabling institutions to manage and enforce complex policies and practices throughout the organization.
	Healthcare Changes in the regulatory and legal environments, the information technology infrastructure, and public expectations all require health care organizations to continually update their data handling practices. Align enables healthcare organizations to protect information assets and achieve compliance with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
	Government Growing concerns that governmental regulations may intrude on personal privacy has driven public fear and caused federal agencies to examine privacy implications of new regulations before they are implemented. Align offers agencies powerful tools to conduct impact assessments examining what personal data is collected, how it is collected, maintained, used, and disclosed to others.
	International The trend of outsourcing IT and customer service functions has raised concerns regarding whether companies are exposed to greater risk in how their critical data is accessed, stored and transferred. Align delivers organizations the necessary assessment and monitoring tools to ensure compliance with regulations, policies and produces, while providing detailed auditing and reports for ongoing management.
	Governance Frameworks Driven by public response to corporate scandals and enactment of legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Corporate Governance has become a primary driver of risk management and compliance activity. Align’s core functions are consistent with accepted frameworks for managing accountability, risks, and compliance associated with business critical data, and can easily be incorporated into an organization’s internal controls for operational and technical risk management.