Optika Updates Compliance Suite

Yet Optika executives say their company's software,which businesses use to help them adhere to regulations set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other federal legislation,can help ease this onerous but mandatory process.

This week, Optika plans to release a new version of its Acorde Compliance Suite, which for the first time will include records management features.

Customers will be able to classify, track and manage electronic and physical documentation the moment it's created, said Jim Petty, product marketing manager at Optika, Colorado Springs, Colo. Being able to keep tabs on volumes of data is more essential than ever, he said: Sarbanes-Oxley, for example, makes it a crime for publicly traded companies to destroy e-mail and other documents related to their financial transactions.

But "even in the private sector, [companies] are wanting to avoid any risk

of corporate malfeasance," Petty said. "They want to institute good corporate governance as well."

Optika relies on channel partners because of the expertise they bring to the table, Petty said. "We do not view ourselves as compliance domain experts. We look to those partners to introduce us [to a customer]" and to customize the Optika repository, he said.

Optika currently has about 65 partners in its channel program.

"We have seen a lot of activity and interest in records management in the past 12 months," especially among government accounts, said Jan Letchman, founder and president of Optika partner Advanced Data Systems, Tallahassee, Fla., a reseller and ISV that works with both state-government agencies and commercial customers.

One ADS customer, the Florida Department of Corrections, is moving inmates' medical records online, Letchman said. They must be secured and kept private, as mandated by HIPAA.