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By bringing together SAP® solutions for governance, risk, and compliance (SAP solutions for GRC) with Cisco® intelligent network services, the Data Privacy composite application by SAP and Cisco allows businesses to enforce real-time global and local data privacy policies throughout the organization. This composite application expands SAP solutions for GRC, providing customers with a unique solution for improved visibility, control and responsiveness across the enterprise, while lowering the total cost of ownership by using existing application and infrastructure investments.

With more companies becoming part of global business networks and operating in an extended enterprise, sensitive business and personal information can be exchanged across borders on a daily basis. Enforcing data privacy has thus become increasingly business-critical. In addition, new regulatory requirements such as safe-harbor laws, privacy, finance, intellectual property and identity theft legislation are forcing companies to rapidly adopt more effective data privacy strategies and technologies. According to "The collaboration advantage," a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by SAP, "The biggest challenge in collaborating with business partners is building trust. One-half of all respondents say that trusting corporate partners enough to share information is the toughest aspect of a new business relationship, and 64% of executives agree that strengthening personal relationships is essential in establishing trust with their business partners. The lack of trust is a particularly thorny issue in the area of information technology (IT): less than 20% of respondents are prepared to share security systems, process technology or software applications." "Companies worldwide will benefit from a solution that provides guidance and enforcement to help prevent data breaches and protect sensitive information," Michael Rasmussen, president and business research analyst, Corporate Integrity LLC. "With increasing data privacy regulations globally, customers require a solution that provides them with the controls they need to ensure consistent compliance both across all applications and also their extended business network." The composite application from SAP and Cisco provides customers with data-aware and policy-aware integrated network services, allowing them to more efficiently ensure that any data-whether in use by applications or transmitted throughout the corporate network-is compliant with established data privacy policies. Rather than deploying point solutions within disparate applications, the innovative approach pioneered by

Cisco and SAP allows customers to create global and local privacy controls and enforce them at the network level. This allows for the central management of compliance and security with data privacy policies across the networks’ geographies, applications and systems. The solution also encompasses policy orchestration capabilities from Cisco networking devices in concert with Cisco Unified Communications solutions to help enable real-time collaboration and communication about high-severity data privacy violations. The Data Privacy composite application illustrates SAP and Cisco’s shared commitment to enable business network transformation by helping customers align IT processes with
business needs. As customers transform and expand their business networks, they can take advantage of decentralized, increasingly global organizations; the joint solution helps companies move toward this more flexible model while better managing associated data risks. Cisco and SAP are also collaborating with Deloitte member firms on multiple initiatives to incorporate leading practices that can help clients create a roadmap to achieve their compliance goals.

SAP solutions for GRC are part of Business Objects, an SAP company, and, combined with the Business Objects enterprise performance management and business intelligence solutions, deliver a comprehensive portfolio for business performance optimization. This latest addition to SAP solutions for GRC will empower business users with the freedom to access trustworthy data and utilize it to improve business effectiveness, while ensuring that controls are in place to maintain compliance.