By Scott Wallask, SAP Experts

Supply chain concerns intersect with governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) – just ask anyone who uses SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services (GTS) to monitor imports and exports.

It would be easy in such an environment to look at GRC as amplified paperwork or a software function, but that would be a narrow view to take, says Norman Marks, an SAP vice president and GRC evangelist.

“I know I’m SAP, but [GRC isn’t] about technology,” Marks said during a recent podcast he conducted for our Insider Learning Network. “It’s about the business process and how you can do it better.”

For SAP SCM professionals, that means working with their counterparts in other operations and departments to discover whether they can cohesively manage the daily risks a company faces.

Have further questions? Why not join Marks in the Insider Learning Network’s Compliance forum this week to ask about your own challenges in creating a sound GRC strategy. Register today.

And for more on what GRC means to an organization, register to read “GRC Explained: A New Way of Looking at Risk,”  an exclusive Q&A with Marks. Previously only available to Project Expert subscribers, this interview digs deep into the important steps every company must take to achieve a rock-solid GRC strategy.

Follow Scott on Twitter @SCMexpert

By Scott Wallask, SAP Experts

The beauty—and at the same time, the minefield—of SAP CRM is that it spreads its wings to many other SAP solutions.

Such is the case with governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), a term that may not be on the lips of call center agents, but nonetheless permeates throughout SAP CRM.

Regardless of whether you take the black-and-white definition of GRC that focuses on risk management of corporate activities – or embrace a wider view of the acronym, such as the Open Compliance and Ethics Group’s stance that GRC acts as a collection of people and processes that ideally allow a company to measure performance and effectiveness – a poor approach to GRC is going to get the attention of customers.

Interest in GRC spiked after the Enron scandal in 2001. Due to accounting fraud, Enron did not indicate many of its debts properly on financial reports, thus inflating its profits. Eventually, Enron filed for bankruptcy in one of the fastest corporate collapses in American history.

So in broad strokes, faulty GRC brings with it serious implications for customers and customer service. Enron suffered a terrible blow with public relations, and the revolt against corporate greed that we see in the current recession has some roots in Enron’s missteps. How many of you think of Enron in a positive light today?

GRC acts as a lens for everyone to view how a business manages itself, writes Norman Marks, an SAP vice president and GRC evangelist.

“GRC is not about technology, optimizing compliances cost, or having effective [Sarbanes-Oxley processes] and internal audit programs,” Marks states.

Sitting here at the SAP CRM table, I don’t know all of the answers to how GRC connects to customer service. If you’re facing a similar challenge, I invite you to join Marks this week as he takes questions about your own challenges in creating a sound GRC strategy on our Insider Learning Network chat forum. He’ll check in periodically during the week for new queries, so this is an excellent opportunity to learn about the breadth of GRC from one of its leading proponents at SAP.

If you want an hors d’oeuvre before checking out the chat forum, register to read “GRC Explained: A New Way of Looking at Risk,” an exclusive Q&A with Marks. Previously only available to Project Expert subscribers, this interview digs deep into the important steps every company must take to achieve a rock-solid GRC strategy.

Follow Scott on Twitter at @CRMexpert1

By Scott Wallask, Insider Learning Network

We here at SAPinsider are, of course, also a business with the same concerns as countless other companies. And much like you, we always need to talk to our customers to measure the pulse of the marketplace.

I was struck during staff training sessions today and yesterday how many opportunities we all have to chat with customers—and that such discussions don’t have to be formal entreaties for information, but can also be casual run-ins.

For example, I heard about how:

• A conversation between two neighbors tending to their yards, one of whom did freelance work for insiderPROFILES, revealed that the other person worked for a large company that ran SAP
• Off-hand remarks made by people—maybe someone mentions in passing that he heads up an SAP user group, perhaps another talks about what she liked at a conference—can lead to business opportunities if you ask questions
• A call from a sales rep to a potential customer doesn’t have to center on your product; it can simply be about trends in the industry

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about you, me, and someone else in the SAP field: There are many chances for us to strike up conversations with customers, and we should take advantage of those occasions to further our business interests and just maybe strike gold.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sapcrm_observer.