IT policies top compliance managers' 'to do' lists

The challenge of meeting the requirements of IT-related legislation is dominating the to-do lists of compliance managers, according to research announced today by corporate compliance specialists, PolicyMatter.

Data protection, IT security and internet & email acceptable topped the list of ‘must-do policies’ in 2003 with shares of 16 per cent, 13 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

PolicyMatter spokesperson, Matt Fisher, commented on the research: "We deliberately targeted an equal mix of IT, HR, Legal and management professionals across different industry sectors in order to get as balanced a view as possible - yet with a total of 42 per cent, the focus on IT policies clearly extends beyond the IT department.

"The results show that as well as investing in technical security measures such as email filtering solutions and firewalls, organisations are realising that employee behaviour is critical to complying with legislation. With the consequences of system abuse so wide ranging, it’s no surprise that this isn’t just an IT responsibility any more."

Nathan Millard of law firm, Morgan Cole, said: "Having a legally-watertight policy is a critical first step to policy best practice - but all the effort that goes into the research and drafting is wasted if the policy is just posted to an intranet site and left there to age.

"Recent tribunals and court cases have placed a clear obligation on the employer to prove not only the existence of written policies, but that they have been seen, understood and accepted by individual employees."