The market for governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) solutions is a growing industry, because of organizations’ need to comply with increasingly strict regulations established by governments, trade associations and other oversight organizations. The enterprise GRC market is reported to have a market size of $47.22 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a 13.8 percent compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2030.
Some platforms offer automation functionalities as part of their GRC tools, but not all automated GRC solutions are the same. Many of them do not even live up to their claims and may focus on nonessential functions. For CISOs and compliance leaders, it’s important to find an effective and dependable GRC solution, and there are certain must-haves that will help ensure the intended outcomes.
Here are five of them.
Customizable and automated workflows
A GRC management platform can best deliver the benefits it promises if it addresses the specific needs of an organization. This means that it should provide customization, including in the way it automates workflows. Customizable workflows are crucial in achieving effective and efficient governance, risk management, and compliance.
Customizable workflows allow organizations to formulate GRC processes that not only meet industry regulations but also align with their requirements and internal policies. This affords flexibility that minimizes the changes an organization needs to implement and smoothens possible friction with existing processes. The use of customizable workflows also creates a more targeted approach to meeting GRC goals.
Cypago, a SaaS-based cyber GRC automation tool, offers these benefits to allow organizations to establish a robust framework for managing risks and achieve effective governance and compliance in dynamic business situations. For example, if your company operates in the software niche, you might maintain cloud environments that are in production and others that are not, so it’s useful to set Cypago to only scan production databases, as these are the only ones that need to be compliant.
Unified dashboard
A unified dashboard provides a way to bring together different solutions for comprehensive monitoring and management. This ensures that all tools are taken full advantage of. It also provides a familiar and easy-to-digest interface through which different departments or teams can operate and keep track of tasks and functions.
Additionally, consolidation results in efficient monitoring and management. Instead of going through different dashboards, everything can be managed via a single comprehensive interface that brings all of the crucial functions, data, and outputs under a dynamic management system. This leads to faster detection of and response to issues, as well as streamlined generation of reports.
Moreover, a unified dashboard supports cross-functional collaboration, which is vital in GRC. Governance, risk management, and compliance are activities that involve different departments. They cannot be handled by just a single team let alone one or a few employees. They usually require inputs and actions from the IT, legal, HR and finance departments. Even if an organization has a dedicated compliance team, it will have to work with other departments.
Monitoring of regulatory updates and changes
GRC management requires a tool that is updated with the latest regulations. While this is something that can be undertaken manually, it is better to have it automated. Regulations change over time. Their core policies may remain unchanged in the long term, but some sections or provisions may go through changes in response to industry developments and changes in related regulations or laws.
Regulatory tracking tools like Quorum help organizations stay on top of the latest relevant standards and laws. Its real-time alerts provide organizations with enough time to prepare for upcoming changes in the regulatory landscape, especially when it comes to changes that directly affect an organization’s bottom line. These alerts, of note, include notifications for regulatory actions that are still being discussed, not only those that have already been finalized and are set for enforcement.
Awareness of new regulations and changes in existing ones is particularly vital for organizations that operate in multiple locations. Different cities, states, or countries impose different legal requirements and regulations. Keeping up with all of them can be quite difficult so it helps to have a GRC tool that automatically collects the most recent relevant regulatory information.
Robust ongoing assessments
Compliance management is not just about knowing the regulations and doing or submitting what they require. It is not as simple as filling in blanks in forms. It requires a carefully thought out process, which starts with a comprehensive and clear understanding of all applicable regulations. There may be tons of regulatory requirements, but not all of them matter to an organization’s operation. It is important to understand the regulations and identify which ones to keep an eye on.
Next, clear GRC policies and procedures should be established under a risk-based approach. It is important to identify and prioritize requirements that entail serious consequences for the organization. Also, GRC training and awareness programs and documentation or record-keeping protocols should be created as part of the policies and procedures.
Additionally, robust compliance management requires regular compliance assessments, monitoring, and reporting. It is not enough to have rules and policies. There should also be implementation or enforcement oversight. A good GRC tool helps organizations go through the above-mentioned steps in a structured manner. It helps make sure that compliance is not just a matter of responding to certain requirements but something that is made a fundamental part of an organization’s routine.
Document management
Even in the digital era, GRC entails the use of documents to ensure that all activities, tasks, and functions are clearly established and communicated. As such, proper document management is important. Documents serve as unassailable proof that policies, procedures, roles, obligations, submissions, as well as deadlines exist.
It is advisable for organizations to make sure that the GRC tool they employ has a good document management feature. It might make sense to use a dedicated document access management system like LogicalDoc. This solution addresses the complexities of keeping and securing documents while ensuring proper compliance. It comes with the ability to automatically classify and store documents as well as the automation of record retention schedules in line with regulatory requirements.
Document management remains to be one of the most important tasks in any setting. It is even more important when it comes to governance, risk management, and compliance. It provides an organized and purposeful way of generating, transmitting, sharing, storing, archiving, and destroying documents, ensuring that the handling of documents is not left to the discretion of random employees or teams or the arbitrary decision of certain individuals.
In conclusion
Organizations are expected to take GRC management seriously. This means that the tools they use for it should provide the best outcomes for governance, risk management, and compliance efforts. The features discussed above are vital in tailoring GRC processes to the specific situation of an organization, achieving comprehensive and unified GRC activities, being aware of the most recent regulations and regulatory changes, making compliance management a natural part of organizational operation, and properly handling documents from creation to disposal.
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