GRC Scaling 101: Tips to Future-Proof Compliance & Risk Management

As business leaders gear up for innovations and growth opportunities, the expanding cloud space throws new security risks and compliance challenges. The explosion of AI in every tech space has brought both promises and peril. Organizations are transforming into autonomous infrastructures to add to the looming threat introduced by new advancements. 

These unprecedented changes mean advanced threats, new regulations to tame them, and unknown vulnerabilities—all escalating pressure and compounding complexities. 

Despite what Tim, the sales head at XYZ AI-powered GRC product, told you, there is no magical solution to abracadabra the tumultuous sea of chaos away. But there is a silver lining to all the chaos—maturing your GRC program as a cornerstone of your resilience strategy. 

Stop the silos

One of the key functions of GRC is to break away from traditional siloed systems. Silos occur when business departments function in isolation, creating an environment of low transparency and collaboration. This happens when functions develop their process and use unique tools. 

While silos are not necessarily the villain in all cases, it is a potential growth hindrance as the lack of a central structure can make things break and eventually fall apart. 

To further mature your GRC program, start by identifying areas where a) silos exist and b) ways to further integrate them. 

For example, in most business ecosystems, bits of regulatory obligations and risk assessment activities can be consolidated into a single system. 

While GRC programs are usually more integrated than ecosystems that have yet to adopt them, there are always ways to consolidate redundant processes. This is because organizational growth adds new tools, processes, and people that may not fit within a consolidated system. 

Time to introspect 

More often than not, the underlying issue of poor GRC programs lies with the culture. This fault, rooted deep within business ecosystems, can quickly destabilize progress as the branches and departments grow. 

A common yet problematic outlook for leaders is an inclination toward the existing processes and strategies. Also known as confirmation bias, it prevents management from evaluating the business culture. 

From a GRC perspective, challenging the core, foundational values is critical to growth and maturity. Building a culture that moves from individual achievements to collective success requires leadership that is participatory, open to input, and learns from mistakes. 

Rooting out poor culture also includes adopting an open communication channel to ensure transparency and empower users to contribute to decision-making. 

Finally, conduct GRC training to encourage employees to think outside the box and gain visibility into cross-functional roles.

Measure what you treasure

Your bottom line is your treasure. Since the goal of adopting a GRC program is to improve the bottom line, it is important to measure the program’s effectiveness using metrics. 

To secure long-term investment in a mature, scalable GRC strategy, regularly measure the program’s success and demonstrate its value. Some metrics to monitor success are compliance program progress, risk impact on finance, risk mitigation completion rate, number of non-compliance issues, and cost to remediate non-compliance issues. 

Highlight tangible benefits such as reduced risks, cost savings, and avoiding fines or the financial fallout of compliance breaches. 

A data-driven approach and transparent communication ensure leaders see the direct impact of GRC on organizational resilience and growth.

Automation is your savior 

IT environments are nothing short of a circus – multiple departments running a show, each with its complexities and uniqueness. 

As more processes and workflows are added to the existing systems, keeping track becomes chaotic yet compulsory. You need a 360-degree view of everything unfolding in real-time. 

This is where automation plays a critical role – to provide contextual awareness. Your automation platform should consolidate risks, compliance processes, and workflows into a single dashboard. 

Modern GRC platforms like Sprinto can automate several aspects of your GRC program. These include measuring metrics, conducting risk assessments, tracking compliance progress, and collecting evidence in real time. 

“Regarding the GRC space, we must understand that several elements are interrelated. So, for example, threats exploit assets’ vulnerabilities that enable business operations, and if these are infringed, we have risks that materialize into incidents. 

While these things are easier to manage in small organizations, large companies have silos and so spreadsheets don’t work eventually. You need the right GRC tools.”

Aron Lange with Sprinto

Monitor risks and controls 

For any maturing GRC program, optimizing resource usage gets things done faster, better, and more profitably. Whether machine-dependent or machine-independent, you can further enhance by continuously monitoring these processes to identify areas for improvement and then implement iterative changes. 

When you adopt a continuous monitoring system, feedback loops can be established across functions to optimize the program’s evolution with the business’s motion. 

You can use a GRC tool like Sprinto to connect compliance criteria to compliance controls and automate the end-to-end control testing process. It helps GRC leaders conduct daily checks to ensure continuous compliance while accurately capturing evidence.

GRC essentials—simplified.

Sprinto empowers resource-strapped security teams by streamlining GRC management. Its ready-to-use tools deliver instant structure and consistency to growing and scaling GRC programs. With automation at its core, Sprinto helps organizations accelerate risk management, streamline evidence collection, monitor controls, and easily plan audits. Speak to our experts today.