Compliance Jitters

It really doesn’t matter what the occasion is these days. If you put a group of solution providers in a room, as sure as you are going to hear them complain about vendors, you are going to hear them talk about compliance.

LARRY HOOPER Can be reached via e-mail at lrhooper@cmp.com.

It’s no surprise, really. Customers are talking about it. Magazines are writing about it. Deadlines have passed and more are looming. It’s a natural topic for the solution provider community. There is mystery, thus margin. Dollar signs are in the air.

But solution providers need to carve their compliance niches carefully before they jump in too deep.

I have been hearing about the IT opportunities in compliance for several years now. I have even delivered a few speeches about those opportunities myself. I have talked to dozens of VARs in both storage and security who are out there making money on compliance projects. It’s a burgeoning field ripe with opportunity. I get that. But it is also ripe with risk. Call me a worrier.

I just can’t shake the jitters I get every time I think about that inevitable first lawsuit that we all know is coming. I can see it now: Midsize company fails to comply, sues everyone in sight, including its friendly neighborhood solution provider.

At a recent meeting of 1NService, a group of solution providers, a few solution provider executives shared my concerns about the liability issues involved with compliance projects, but many were not worried at all. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Some were carefully crafting their promises, delivering an IT solution without promising compliance. Others said they partner with compliance consultants. In that scenario, the compliance consultant lays out the game plan and, the theory goes, assumes the liability. Still others were going for it full guns, promising and delivering compliance solutions and, I have to believe, hoping that it doesn’t come back to bite them where it hurts.

So far, those solution providers who are thinking about the legal issues have adjusted their contracts and their business liability insurance to ward off liability stemming from a compliance-related claim. I hope that’s enough to protect them. Because it’s not enough to shake my jitters. The last time I checked, our courts were filled with frivolous lawsuits.

Call me a worrier.

What’s your take on liability? Contact me via e-mail at lrhooper@cmp.com.