SOW Software AG

Software AG today announced that Wüstenrot & Württembergische (W&W) have radically redesigned its Internal Control Systems (ICS) implementing an automated, workflow-based risk management system. The new ARIS Solution for Governance, Risk & Compliance based system returns savings of €2.5 million annually. W&W referred to the “Minimum Requirements for Risk Management (Marisk VA)” directive, from Germany’s regulatory authority BaFin, as being implemented in a matter of weeks. The new system was fully auditable from the beginning, proving the continual effectiveness of W&W controls as required by MaRisk VA. The W&A Group has always focused on risk management as an integral part of their business model and benefited from the heightened awareness of the importance of risk management due to the economic crises. W&S analysis shows that the ROI for software licenses, maintenance and project implementation costs will be 153 over three years.

"Together with IDS Scheer Consulting and using the ARIS software and methodology portfolio, we have transformed our Internal Control System into a truly excellent solution that underscores our leading role as pension specialists in Germany", said Dr. Jan Martin Wicke, CFO and Executive Board member with responsibility for Group Risk Management at Wüstenrot & Württembergische. “It is in our best interests, and that of our customers, to manage and minimize risks. Therefore we see our Internal Control System as a management tool and not a compulsory regulatory exercise.”

Project director Josef Kirschbaum: “In the course of the project we have gained a comprehensive management view of our Internal Control System tasks, controls and response to audit queries. And substantially reduced costs by €2.5 million per annum.”

For their new ICS design, W&W applied the guiding principles of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) as a best practice. This included centralizing operational control of the ICS across the W&W Group using a corresponding administrative department. Not only was their first new ICS workflow up and running in a few weeks, but it also already provided W&W the evidence it needed to prove the effectiveness of their controls as required by MaRisk VA. Automatic E-mail notifications alert employees when control verifications are needed, and the process leads them through the proper sequence of activities to be performed. Because the results can be easily audited by internal or external auditors at any time and W&W can grant read-only access rights for independent third parties, they have been able to significantly reduce their auditing costs.

“It should be no surprise that W&W received our 2010 Business Process Excellence award for Governance, Risk and Compliance Management”, said Software AG CTO, Dr. Wolfram Jost. “Transparent risk management is possibly the single most important business issue of the decade. W&W have not only fully embraced new risk management regulation as necessary to continued business success, they have also embraced new technology to implement full compliance rapidly and cost effectively. A remarkable achievement.”

ARIS Solution for Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) supports W&W’s entire risk management lifecycle—from identifying risk-related processes and affected material costs to defining risks, designing controls and tests. Further areas covered include implementation, documentation, monitoring and testing measures for compliance and improvement. Using ARIS Risk & Compliance Manager has enabled W&W to create an auditable ICS environment with an audit workflow that can be monitored and optimized on an ongoing basis. For more information about governance, risk & compliance please visit: www.grc-lounge.com.

About Wüstenrot & Württembergische - The Pension Specialists

The Wüstenrot & Württembergische Group are "the pension specialists" for private wealth management, home ownership, financial security and risk protection in all stages of life. Based in Stuttgart, the publicly traded company was formed in 1999 through the merger of Wüstenrot and Württembergische as a third pillar linking building societies and insurance. The great trust, which the W&W Group has from its six million customers, is based on its competence, commitment and the customer focus of 6,000 field service partners. Supported by direct activities, each W&W Group field service partner can meet all the pension requirements of its customers from a single source. The W&W Group has established itself in Baden-Wuerttemberg as the largest independent financial services provider with the strongest customer focus.

About Software AG

Software AG is the global leader in Business Process Excellence. Our 40 years of innovation include the invention of the first high-performance transactional database, Adabas; the first business process analysis platform, ARIS; and the first B2B server and SOA-based integration platform, webMethods.

We are unique in offering the world’s only end-to-end – and easiest to use – business process management (BPM) solutions, with the lowest Total-Cost-of-Ownership. Our industry-leading brands, ARIS, webMethods, Adabas, Natural and IDS Scheer Consulting, represent a unique portfolio for: process strategy, design, integration and control; SOA-based integration and data management; process-driven SAP implementation; and strategic process consulting and services.

Software AG had revenues of 847 million euro in 2009 and has more than 6,000 employees serving 10,000 enterprise and public institution customers across 70 countries. Our comprehensive software and services solutions allow companies to continuously achieve their business results faster. The company is headquartered in Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE 0003304002 / SOW).

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