by Jason Rohlf – April 15, 2010
Greetings from sunny Florida! The Sunshine State is certainly living up to its name this week, basking the more than 350 GRC professionals who gathered for the 7th Annual Archer GRC Summit in plentiful quantities of vitamin D goodness. Yesterday marked the first day of the Summit, which is a chance for these sun-soaked folks to come together to meet new friends, reacquaint with old ones and share their thoughts and ideas on how to solve their GRC issues.
Prior to the “official” start of the Summit, we held working groups organized around six of our core eGRC solutions. I was able participate in the Audit Management and Policy Management working groups, both of which sparked some excellent discussions and allowed the participants to start making connections with others who shared their concerns.
The conference formally kicked off with a keynote from Archer founder Jon Darbyshire, who gave a history of the Archer Community and cited it as the biggest reason for Archer’s success. Judging by the number of repeat attendees who continue to draw value from the Community as well as the number of first time participants who came to experience the power of the Community firsthand, I can clearly understand Jon’s point. Archer User Group Chairman Jim Routh reiterated the power of the Community by calling out the special bond that forms when like-minded individuals share knowledge and empower one another to solve problems.
Next up was RSA CEO Art Coviello who gave his perspective on why RSA/EMC saw great value in the Archer acquisition. He also spoke to the power of the Community and he envisions that Archer’s user will continue drive success and innovation as they find new and creative ways to leverage the SmartSuite Framework to address their most pressing business concerns. Art closed his keynote by reminding the group that a strong accounting of business actions is fundamental to business success, a fact certainly not lost on the Summit participants.
I am excited to see what the next few days will bring – judging by the people I’ve met, the topics that will be discussed and, of course, the weather, it’s shaping up to be a great event.