Press Release: CSI Belgium changes name into axl & trax and forms strategic alliance with SAP and SUN on the growing GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) market.
29 January 2008 - CSI Belgium was founded in 1997 and mainly acted as the Belgian distributor of CSI (Control Software International) software to which CSI Belgium linked a range of services and support. From the very start the 2 key assets of CSI Belgium were their "one-to-one-step-by-step-no-nonsense" approach and the fact that the company knew how to involve business departments of big enterprises in solving and steering technical issues such as f.e. SAP Security.
"As a result of intensive interactions with the CEOs, CFOs, CTOs and CSOs of our clients" says Johan Hermans, Managing Partner axl & trax "we soon saw the recognition of our vision that legal conformity (Compliance) should not be limited to authorisations and that Compliance had to be linked to the business management (Governance) and risk management (Risk). As a consequence, we extended our business portfolio both vertically and horizontally to be able to also offer solutions for more complex legal guidelines inside and outside Europe."
"And because the name CSI Belgium no longer covered the full scope of our extended range of services" adds Kim Seghers, CFO axl & trax "the new name axl & trax was born, in which axl stands for "access", trax for "tracking" and the "x" for "expertise".
GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) is a recent acronym to indicate a business approach that manages, measures and systematically monitors all aspects of the 3 disciplines (G, R and C) and which is the result of the American Sarbanes-Oxley-act (2002) that declares that every company falling under the SOX-act must be able to prove that every business process with possible financial implications is fully under control and that the end responsibility lies with the management and the board of directors. The SOX-act has put GRC on the business map, but in the meanwhile GRC (also at companies not affected by the SOX-act!) has rapidly evolved into a valuable tool for operational decisions and strategic planning, during which the automation of internal controls and the application of integrated GRC tools have proven to be essential in creating added business value.
"6 years ago, when GRC was barely known" says Johan Hermans "we already automated authorisation procedures at big companies to make them compliant and to keep them compliant (Authorisations related Compliance) so we can rightfully be considered as a GRC pioneer. In the meantime axl & trax has grown to a team of 30 specialists with a proven track record in setting up the compliance framework for SAP applications in a unique, super efficient and result oriented way. But even more important is the fact that axl & trax consists of a team of dedicated experts with GRC as core activity since many years... from isolated interventions up to complex SAP turnkey projects."
The implementation of a GRC methodology and the selection of the most appropriate GRC tools and applications has become essential to harmonize strategic decisions (where and how do we want our company to be active) with risk management (which risks is the company willing/able to take) within the legislation (what can/must the company undertake to act in conformity with the law). And GRC has turned into big business: In 2007 GRC software accounted for a turnover of 820 million US$ and 36 billion US$ were invested in GRC consultancy and services. However, the investments to be made by companies largely depend on their "Business Process Maturity Level" which is why it is important for a company to team up with an experienced GRC service provider.
axl & trax is an important GRC player on the Belgian and the European market and has recently formed strategic alliances with SAP Belgium and SUN. axl & trax is SAP Lounge partner and has been awarded the SAP Silver Expertise Level for GRC which comes with the advantage that axl & trax clients can rely on the same Consultants, using the SAP GRC software. In 2006 axl & trax's turnover totalled 3 million €. The growth expectations for 2008-2010 are estimated at + 20% per year. The alliance with SAP, the new name and the new identity are put under the spotlights during the GRC Seminar (in close cooperation with SAP) and the axl & trax Inauguration Happening which are both held on 20th February 2008 at the SAP Lounge in Brussels (more information: www.axl-trax.com)
For more information regarding this press release, feel free to contact:
axl & trax < Johan Hermans - Managing Partner
Phone: 016 31 10 00
e-mail: johan.hermans@axl-trax.com
or
Trimedia < Tine Nelissen - Senior Consultant
Phone: 02 713 07 30
e-mail: mailto:tnelissen@trimedia.be
Written on 25/02/2008
