WASHINGTON, March 29, 2005 -- The ReymannGroup today released a thought leadership paper that heightens the awareness of banks to the operational and compliance risks that require real-time monitoring of network use and performance. Undetected abuse and unauthorized use of its systems -- from the outside or inside -- exposes a bank to reputation risk and loss of customer trust, they say.

Many performance management tools in use today do not provide true real-time reporting or alerting capabilities - leaving financial institutions and their customers at risk.

The whitepaper, "Financial Institutions: Success Depends on Real-Time Proactive Performance Management," prepared by ReymannGroup VP Lee Lassiter and CEO Paul Reymann, says most banks have a performance management methodology in place, but many of these programs are still static or project-based and cannot react quickly to today's real-time threats.

"The challenges and risks are just coming too fast today -- performance management must be proactive, not reactive," said Lassiter. "Only a real-time monitoring system can alert staff to problems as they occur, diagnose faults immediately and reduce time to repair. When minutes count, you need a proactive system."

Reymann, co-author of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley data protection regulation, says the rules were written to address known and unknown risks that may threaten the industry. Regulators knew it was not possible to foresee every future challenge. The information security and technology risks are too dynamic.

"The data protection rule requires each bank to have a risk-based approach to its network security that fits its individual risk profile. With industry consolidation, which has created an expanded network of branches and offices for many banks, the rise of on-line and Internet-based banking applications, and increased volume of network security threats, the risk profile of most banks is constantly changing," said Reymann.

"Though real-time performance management is not mandated as a specific line item in the data protection rules, we think it meets the risk-based approach compliance mandates for many of today's financial institutions," said Reymann.

Lassiter and Reymann recommend that financial institutions rely on software like Integrated Research's PROGNOSIS(R).

PROGNOSIS, real-time management software developed specifically for highly distributed, high-availability IT environments like those of banks, is used by nearly 200 of the world's largest banks, including Bank One, Bank of America, Citibank, Visa, American Express, Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch.

Complimentary copies of the whitepaper are available at http://www.ir.com/reymann.

SOURCE The ReymannGroup

Web Site: http://www.ir.com/reymann

Kim Van Horn
301.674.2043