Telecommunications firms face a host of challenges, from changing regulations, to financial pressures, to changing customer needs, to industry restructuring and consolidation -- and the list goes on.

Increased competition, the need to create more efficient operations, and the need to manage risks as the telecommunications industry increases its use of outsourcing are creating new management challenges for the industry.

Telecommunications organizations must comply with federally mandated regulations such as:

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) regulates corporate financial records and provides penalties for their abuse. It defines the type of records that must be recorded and for how long. SOX also specifies the kinds of controls that must be in place, and the testing requirements for key controls. It also deals with falsification of data.

The telecommunications industry is subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security and Privacy rules. These regulations provide privacy rights and protection for healthcare consumer's protected health information (PHI, or EPHI for electronic information). In addition, the regulations are very specific regarding requirements for IT security. The HIPAA Security rule includes 74 specific requirements, spanning Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards.

Telecommunications firms are also subject to the provisions of state customer data privacy laws such as California SB1386, and the ~20 similar regulations enacted by other states, which require public notification in the event of a security breach affecting customer data.

Telecommunications companies often employ the support of outsourcing partners to manage aspects of their operations. With this much information being exchanged and the criticality of complying with the federally mandated regulations, the task of managing the compliance program can seem nearly impossible to maintain and control.

Additionally, with significant amounts of critical information being shared internally and with a significant number of suppliers and partners, there is a high degree of risk that sensitive customer information can be accidentally exposed.

Telecommunications companies are seeking solutions that enable them to more easily comply with the provisions of SOX, HIPAA, state privacy laws, and standards such as ISO 17799. As in other industries, telecommunications firms are seeking to leverage their compliance efforts across multiple regulatory mandates.

For telecommunications companies, the ControlPath Compliance Suite enables a single, continuous compliance process that ensures compliance with SOX, HIPAA, ISO17799, and with other compliance regulations. ControlPath increases the effectiveness and timeliness of all compliance efforts, and significantly decreases the cost of compliance for telecommunications organizations. The ControlPath Compliance Suite automates the entire compliance and risk management process.