Alternative Investment Awards 2016

awards alternative investment wealth & finance2016 48 SEVEN Company: ClusterSeven Name: Laura Whitehead, Marketing Director Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.clusterseven.com Address: First Floor, 10 Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DL Telephone: +44 7939997059 AI16047 Cluster ClusterSeven provides software for strategic End User Computing (EUC) management. We invited Laura Whitehead, the firm’s Marketing Director, to tell us more. Established in 2003 and with offices in London and New York, Cluster- Seven is the market leader in EUC management software. We offer an EUC governance platform which enables organisations across industries including banking and financial services, healthcare, energy and oil and gas to manage all their EUC applications and tools such as Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheets, Access databases and financial models. Some of the world’s leading banks, financial services organisations and corporates are our customers, with users spread across more than 20 countries in five continents. Perhaps the single biggest issue that the finance industry faces is ev- er-increasing and ever-evolving regulation, making it extremely challeng- ing for organisations to ensure compliance. Many of these regulations are driving organisations away from prescriptive rules-based compliance in favour of best practice process and continuous governance in an attempt to place the responsibility fairly and squarely on businesses. The financial penalties are potentially substantial, but the reputational damage could be far more crippling. Managing operational risk is of paramount importance. However, with financial organisations’ reliance on EUC applications and tools like Excel spreadsheets, which commonly run into millions in individual enter- prises; understanding the internal EUC landscape is fundamental to mitigating risk. Only post an inventory of the EUC estate can organisa- tions ascertain where the risk lies and therefore meaningfully determine where controls need to be applied for auditable, reliable compliance. The reality is that many organisations don’t undertake strategic EUC management. So while from an external perspective, organisations are challenged by regulation; internally they are beleaguered by a lack of visibility of the compliance risks they face. Through the platform, our customer organisations are able to man- age and mitigate financial, operational, regulatory and reputational risk – which is critical in the current environment of ever-growing and ever-evolving regulations such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, CCAR, DFAST, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Solvency II, BCBS 239 and SR 11 7. As soon as an emerging technology is identified, the Agile Develop- ment methodology backed up with comprehensive automated testing, enables us to quickly incorporate it into the product offering. This kind of ‘iterative’ approach ensures that we continually evolve the code base whilst minimising the risk of regression. Our market leading position is maintained through the use of cutting edge technology. To remain at the forefront of emerging developments, we actively focus on education and training. Our employees engage with the technical community at technology events and ‘meetups’ in London and Silicon Valley as well as on social media channels. Looking ahead, following ClusterSeven’s acquisition by Azini Capital Partners less than 12 months ago, a number of plans are already in exe- cution to make the company a formidable player in the industry. We have recently launched ground breaking research, in conjunction with Chartis Research, that establishes a methodology framework for the quantifica- tion of EUC risk. Overall the future will be an invigorating time for the firm and we look forward to the opportunities our growth strategy will bring. Best Strategic Software for the Management of EUC Applications 2016 & Most Innovative EUC Management Technology