Within the financial services industry, the presence of government and industry regulators is almost palpable. "The issue of compliance in banking has been around forever, so Sarbanes-Oxley has not been a huge shock to our industry the way it has been to others," says Joseph McCartin, senior vice president and CIO at Cleveland-based National City Corp. National City is a financial holding company with a banking network that stretches across several states, including Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Michigan.

The long history of dealing with a multitude of regulations, however, has led National City and other financial services firms to build a plethora of systems. But ironically, new statutes are forcing integration. One example is the USA Patriot Act, which requires banks to obtain key information about customers in order to identify potential national security threats. "We have this mishmash of platforms. Now, with 'know your customer' kinds of mandates, we are undergoing a lot of data consolidation," McCartin says.

Based on his experiences, McCartin strongly suggests that others steer clear of one-off compliance solutions. "Try to avoid knee-jerk compliance," he says. "Invest in common data stores, and consciously drive your solutions. Don't just wait for the next set of regulations and build a new system every time to chase the nuances."

Better yet, think beyond even the series of regulations your enterprise may ultimately face, and figure out how compliance can actually strengthen your company, suggests Steven Naylor, vice president and director of IT at Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka (FHLBank). "Although our goal is to be compliant, we also assure the work is making us a stronger company and that we are not just 'meeting the audit requirement,'" he says.

For enterprises that are new to stringent reporting requirements such as those contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, just building the data management systems that are necessary to meet audits can impose discipline and reinforce operations.