3 trends shaping the future of GRC and how to adapt today

For many teams, managing governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) is still a very manual process. As a security leader, you might be wondering how to future-proof and scale your GRC program when so much of your team’s time is spent on collecting screenshots or copying and pasting information from one spreadsheet to another. 

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The future of GRC management doesn’t have to be more of the same though. By automating compliance tasks across frameworks, integrating directly with security tools that collect evidence automatically, and continuously monitoring your environment for changes to risk posture, you can streamline and scale GRC workflows while turning trust into a strategic lever for your business. 

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Market trends driving change in GRC

Three major trends that are shaping how companies approach GRC over the next several years. They include the following:

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1. Buyer security expectations are increasing

Over two-thirds (66%) of businesses say that customers, investors, and suppliers are increasingly seeking proof of security and compliance. However, one in eight (12%) companies surveyed also admit they don’t or can’t provide evidence when asked.

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What it means for security leaders: Proof of security and compliance can be a competitive differentiator today. However, as demand for security visibility and proof of compliance grows, these will become table-stakes expectations. Companies that can’t demonstrate compliance and a strong security posture will miss out on potential revenue and growth opportunities.

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2. The compliance burden is growing

Whether renewing existing compliance certifications or adding new ones, the number of frameworks you need to keep up with is growing. Respondents spend an average of 7.5 hours per week on security compliance. That’s 360 hours—more than nine working weeks—per year.

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What it means for security leaders: For organizations with complex operations and global operations, compliance practices must evolve as they scale. While it can be tempting to deprioritize compliance during scaling and expansion, companies that want to proactively demonstrate trust to customers, investors, and other external stakeholders need to evolve their approaches to keep up with the pace of business. 

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3. The third-party vendor footprint is expanding

More than ever, organizations are relying on third parties such as contractors, partners, and software vendors for business-critical functions. This reliance effectively makes your vendors’ security practices an extension of your own and requires thorough security reviews to assess vendor risk. With organizations using an average of 110 SaaS applications, it’s no surprise that teams find it difficult and overwhelming to stay on top of vendor security reviews. 

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What it means for security leaders: Conducting security reviews manually requires a significant time investment, mainly due to the increased reliance on third-party vendors whose compliance and security practices must also be vetted. Security leaders need to find ways to streamline security reviews to minimize risk in their supply chain. Solutions like Vanta's vendor risk management can help by automating vendor discovery, risk assessment, and remediation processes.

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The future of GRC is automated and continuous 

Today, many teams handle the compounding burden of GRC with manual solutions, including time-intensive tools that are specific to GRC or generic alternatives such as spreadsheets and project management platforms.

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However, this approach could be more sustainable as the business environment evolves. Legacy GRC solutions are often disconnected from critical systems and only give point-in-time snapshots of your controls. This siloed approach limits visibility into your program, requires costly manual oversight, and results in fragmented workflows.

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As these market trends compound — budgets and headcounts largely remain static — security leaders need to rethink how they approach GRC. To do so, companies should pursue GRC solutions that are:

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• Automated: GRC automation minimizes the resources and time required for teams to complete critical compliance tasks, such as collecting evidence, implementing controls, compiling reports, continuously updating audit documentation, and more. Teams regain time to focus on strategic work when they can automate activities across most or all of their frameworks.
• Integrated: GRC tools that integrate with your tech stack and across workflows reduce time spent tracking down and verifying evidence. Integrated GRC tools provide much-needed visibility into your program. 
• Continuous: Point-in-time snapshots leave your company vulnerable until its next check. Continuous monitoring, however, empowers your team to detect and mitigate risks as they appear proactively. 

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By implementing automated, integrated, and continuous GRC solutions, teams can transform GRC from tedious (albeit important!) work into a streamlined and increasingly strategic business function. 

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How to adapt to the future of GRC with Vanta

Vanta’s trust management platform offers a continuous approach to automating compliance, centralizing program management, and proactively managing security reviews.

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Here’s how you can use Vanta to build and scale an automated and continuous GRC program:

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Automate compliance and access continuous visibility into the state of your controls 

Vanta enables you to automate compliance activities across custom frameworks and policies, as well as both new and industry-standard frameworks, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST AI RMF, and ISO 42001. It enables you to cross-map similar requirements from different frameworks, minimizing duplicate work. 

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Vanta also supports your audit process by automating evidence collection across over 300 pre-built system integrations and performing automated tests. Additionally, the platform’s continuous controls-monitoring capabilities enable you to easily maintain compliance between audits. 

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For example, Sitoo used Vanta’s automated compliance capabilities to meet and maintain ISO 27001 controls. The software company was able to complete requirements for this framework in only seven months with no additional hires, and become audit ready for SOC 2 in an additional two months. With Vanta, Sitoo has also been able to build over 20 custom frameworks to manage and maintain their compliance requirements for each of their global markets.

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Centralize program needs and report on status for better visibility and trust 

Vanta enables you to see your entire program from a centralized view. The platform offers dynamic dashboards, department-specific workspaces, and real-time reports that allow your team to closely monitor the program and ensure accountability. Vanta also offers customization options like your own private integrations, custom automated tests, and risk scoring dimensions. In addition, Vanta can centralize other key activities, such as access reviews and personnel workflow requirements. 

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AudioStack saved 80-100 hours of manual work by relying on Vanta to centralize its efforts to meet SOC 2 Type I and strengthen customer trust. Compliance reviews now take about 30 minutes, compared to the 10 hours they used to require without Vanta’s automation capabilities.  

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Proactively manage security reviews for both buyers and vendors

Vanta uses AI to monitor your vendor ecosystem and assess risk continuously, making the tedious work of vendor risk assessments seamless. Vanta also offers AI-powered security questionnaire automation to answer buyers' questionnaires in a fraction of the time. With Vanta’s Trust Center solution, you can provide a public-facing resource for buyers to get answers about your security posture. 

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Kapiche leverages Vanta’s Vendor Risk Management capabilities to automatically discover vendors used across the organization. The scaling AI and analytics company saves several hours a week by relying on Vanta to capture and analyze their vendors’ security and risk postures. This always up-to-date view of vendors also makes it far easier for Kapiche to prove compliance and build customer trust.

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