GRC Software

Different teams in a business often use disparate methods to record risk assessment values, audit results, and compliance data. Some may use spreadsheets, while others may store physical copies of data.

Such disparate practices make it difficult for you—the business owner or leadership team—to get a comprehensive picture of how your organization as a whole is complying with regulations, mitigating risks, and following policies.

Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) software helps you monitor and enforce rules to coordinate data collection across teams and departments, assess risk exposure, conduct audits, and ensure organization-wide compliance with regulations and policies.

In this buyers guide, we'll dive into the different parameters you need to look at when purchasing a GRC solution. Here's what we'll cover:

What is GRC software?
Common features of GRC software
What type of buyer are you?
Benefits of GRC software
Key considerations when buying GRC software
Recent market developments

What is GRC software?

GRC software is a tool that helps you incorporate synchronized data governance, risk, and compliance management strategies into your various business processes. It makes it possible to enforce frameworks that govern how data is stored and used, how risks are dealt with, and how policies are implemented.

GRC platforms offer a centralized system to manage data controls, assess risks, and update business rules based on risk exposure. The solution also allows you to track policies, maintain audit logs, record incidents, and monitor user privileges.

 

Risk diagnostic tool in ProcessGene (Source)

Common features of GRC software

The table below lists common features you need to look out for when buying GRC software solutions.

Policy management	Create, review, edit, approve, and store policies and share them across the organization.
Change management	Support process modifications based on regulatory updates and help management in make changes to relevant controls, policies, and assessment techniques.
Risk management	Assess IT and operational risks in different business processes using qualitative and quantitative methods, such as benchmarking and stochastic analysis.
Audit management	Help internal auditors plan and schedule audit tasks, track audit results, prepare audit reports, and suggest remediation methods.
Incident management	Support users in identifying, recording and remediating events or activities that can lead to regulatory noncompliance, downtime, or financial or reputation loss.
Compliance management	Plan, define, control, and document activities around different types of compliance requirements such as financial reporting, healthcare regulations, or other service level agreements.
Dashboard	Provide real-time information on key compliance metrics, performance indicators, and risk levels to help management make decisions around controls or corrective action.
Reporting	Prepare, store, and archive audit reports, risk assessments, compliance reports, and attestations.
Notifications	Alert administrators or other authorized persons about elevated risks, compliance breaches, or any unusual activity through messages or emails.

What type of buyer are you?

Industry regulations and the increasing risks of new and advanced security threats make GRC solutions invaluable to all organizations. Below we discuss two broad categories of businesses and the key attributes they need to look for in GRC solutions.

• Small and midsize businesses (SMBs): GRC platforms offering basic functions such as reporting, auditing, risk management, and compliance management will help such buyers ensure organization-wide compliance and uniform risk mitigation strategies. (Several software vendors offer GRC solutions tailored to SMB needs and budgets.)
• Large enterprises: Enterprises are under scrutiny by a larger number of regulations than SMBs due to their scale of business and, typically, geographically-distributed operations. Multinational companies should look at GRC solutions that offer support in different geographies. They may also need to opt for customized GRC solutions to meet their specific compliance and business policy needs.

Additionally, there are GRC solutions that cater to specific industry verticals such as banking and financial services (BFS), healthcare, and governments/public sector. Ask vendors on your shortlist if they offer GRC software solutions tailored to your industry.

Benefits of GRC software

In addition to ensuring proper governance, compliance with regulations, and risk management, here are some other benefits that you can see by using GRC software.

• Save time by automating tasks: GRC platforms help employees save time by automating reporting, compliance, and risk assessment tasks. Employees don't have to manually prepare reports, plan audit jobs, etc. but can use the software to complete these tasks.
• Improve collaboration by unifying processes: This software helps improve collaboration between your IT, operations, security, and legal teams by aggregating data on risks, compliance, policies, and controls from across the organization.
• Reduce compliance costs: GRC tools help capture and notify different IT and operational risks, thereby reducing the cost of managing vulnerabilities and saving on regulatory expenses such as fines.

Key considerations when buying GRC software

Choosing the right GRC platform can be a challenge because of the number of options on the market. Here, we discuss a few things you should consider when purchasing GRC software.

• Cloud vs. on-premise software: Choosing a deployment option is one of the key considerations when buying any type of software. Most GRC software vendors offer both SaaS and on-premise versions. Cloud-based GRC systems are more popular among SMBs due to their lower upfront costs.
• Support compliance with multiple regulations: Organizations may cut into regulatory frameworks outside their industry. For example, a healthcare practice that accepts online payments; this practice will be subject to HIPAA as well as PCI-DSS. Each businesses should evaluate its individual business model before purchasing to better identify a GRC solution that accommodates all the different regulatory frameworks applicable.
• Integrations: GRC software that integrates with general performance management systems, BI tools, etc. help provide a consolidated picture of your overall business operations. Integration with accounting software helps when financial approvals are needed for incident management or risk training.

Recent market developments

In this section, we discuss some of the key trends observed in the GRC software market.

• Move toward integrated risk management: Gartner's report, "Transform Governance, Risk and Compliance to Integrated Risk Management" (available to Gartner clients only) notes that there is a shift away from compliance-focused activities in GRC software to greater investments in risk-based approaches. The industry is focusing more on aiding businesses in understanding and managing the full scope of risks that they face than in managing compliance issues alone.
• Market consolidation: The GRC and risk management software market is witnessing strong consolidation, with large, well-established vendors taking over smaller firms. Some of the acquisitions that have happened recently include that of Rsam by ACL and Bwise by SAI Global.

Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.