The GRC (Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance) landscape is undergoing a profound transformation. 

As the business world becomes increasingly complex, with a myriad of regulations, risks, and governance models, the tools supporting these processes are also evolving. Gone are the days where one-size-fits-all, legacy GRC solutions were the norm. Organizations are recognizing the inefficiencies of these dated systems and seeking more agile, customizable, and integrated platforms. 

But with change comes the challenge of choice. How can you ensure that you’re adopting a GRC software solution that not only addresses your current needs, but also future-proofs your GRC program? 

In this guide, we explore the shift from traditional GRC systems and offer tips to help you select the right GRC software for your needs.

The shift from legacy GRC software to modern solutions

Many of the GRC tools available today were built to solve outdated problems. Legacy solutions were designed for organizations with static, siloed, on-prem systems. They focus on control tracking and IT-centered security risks, and don’t support the agility needed to respond to today’s complex and evolving regulatory and risk landscape. 

To help identify the most compelling benefits of modern GRC software, we used data from a 2024 survey of Secureframe users conducted by UserEvidence. Let's take a look at some primary reasons organizations are embracing modern GRC solutions. 

Workload automation

Developing and maintaining a GRC program often requires organizations to spend their limited resources on repetitive, manual tasks like gathering evidence, filling out security questionnaires, maintaining policies, and more. All of this busy work means less time for other high-priority, revenue-generating tasks.

Since GRC is an extremely cross-functional practice that involves engineering, security, IT, HR teams and others, legacy GRC platforms focused on automating workflow aspects around cross-functional collaboration, such as ticket lifecycle management, cross-functional control ownership, alerting, and reporting. But modern GRC platforms combine workflow and workload automation, removing the need for many GRC activities to be human exercises at all.

A modern GRC platform that automates tasks like evidence collection, continuous monitoring, policy management, risk assessments, and task management can reduce the costs and efforts required to effectively manage all of the different aspects of a GRC program. A platform with AI capabilities can further automate manual tasks, like performing risk assessments and updating policies, to supercharge your teams and enable them to focus on higher priorities.

Reducing the manual overhead of a GRC program is a top benefit reported by Secureframe users. In the UserEvidence survey, 97% of Secureframe users said they reduced time spent on security and compliance tasks per month, with 76% saying they reduced that time by at least half. 

More cost efficient

Legacy GRC software often comes with expensive implementation, higher operations and maintenance costs, and million-dollar licensing fees. Modern, cloud-based solutions are more lightweight and offer tiered pricing based on organization size and specific GRC needs, delivering more value for the money. 

Also, by reducing the amount of manual work that GRC teams need to perform, modern GRC platforms drastically lower workflow and collaboration requirements, which leads to massive cost savings.

This was supported by our UserEvidence survey findings. 85% of Secureframe users said they unlocked annual cost savings, with 33% saying they improved cost savings by more than 50%.

Comprehensive insights into organizational risk

The value of modern GRC solutions is in understanding organizational risk, rather than just IT risk. It serves compliance, legal, finance, HR, security, IT, and executive leadership to support GRC initiatives and alignment across the entire organization. Organizations are able to understand their risk profile across internal and external risks, and better manage and mitigate third-party and vendor risk. With modern solutions, businesses are able to prevent and even predict risks to stop losses, inefficiencies, and fraud and maintain a strong brand reputation.

Organizations of all sizes can use modern GRC software to build and maintain stronger risk management programs. In the Navex Global survey of risk and compliance professionals, reducing risk was the most prominent reason for adopting new risk and compliance automation and technology solutions (46%). This was supported by our UserEvidence survey findings as well. When asked what the most important Secureframe features are, 55% of Secureframe users said vendor risk management and 50% said risk management. 75% of Secureframe users also said they reduced the risk of non-compliance and 81% said they reduced the risk of data breaches by at least 10%.

Greater flexibility and customization

Traditional GRC tools rely on infrastructure that isn’t cloud-native, easily customizable, or scalable. Modern GRC tools seamlessly connect to all data sources via integrations or an API, allowing organizations to centralize all of their systems, controls, and processes to meet their unique risk and compliance needs faster and more effectively. 

The UserEvidence survey of Secureframe users substantiated that this was a driving factor for GRC software adoption. When asked what challenges led them to purchase Secureframe, 57% of Secureframe users reported a lack of centralized, single source of truth in storing and managing security compliance data.

Increased innovation 

Cloud-based GRC solutions can stay at the forefront of innovation. They can adopt breakthrough technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to release new features and capabilities that help organizations prepare for tomorrow’s challenges. 

The future of GRC is real-time, continuous monitoring of risk profiles and security postures. With a modern GRC solution, organizations can get complete visibility, actionable insights, and the agility they need to respond to changing market dynamics, regulatory requirements, and emerging threats. 

Using a GRC platform to make continuous monitoring more cost-effective, consistent, and efficient unlocks a range of benefits, according to Secureframe customers. In the UserEvidence survey, 97% of Secureframe users said they strengthened their security and compliance posture and 71% said they improved visibility into security and compliance posture.

Key Features of Modern GRC Software

Choosing the right GRC software solution for your business can be a major challenge, given the number of vendors in the space and array of features available. Here are some key capabilities to look for to make sure you select the right tool for your needs: 

• Advanced automation: Save time and reduce human error with automation capabilities. Look for a product that integrates with key elements of your tech stack, offers continuous monitoring, and can automatically collect evidence to simplify your internal and external audits. While it's important to select a tool that offers a breadth of integrations to support automation across your security and compliance workflows, the depth of integration is also an important consideration. Many solutions offer a large library of integrations that only pull in surface-level data like user names and emails. Deep integrations pull in the compliance, configuration, and audit-relevant data you need to actually save time and automate processes in a meaningful way. 
• Comprehensive risk management: Get a complete view of your risk profile and exposure. Best-in-class GRC solutions offer a risk register, risk assessment workflows, and risk history, so you can view how your risk management program evolves. Also look for the ability to map risks to specific controls and assets.
• Simplified document management: Organize and track all of your security and compliance documentation in a single tool. Policies and processes, audit evidence and reports, security awareness training certificates — all documentation should be easy to store, access, share, and update. Be sure to choose a tool with version history and document collaboration features.
• Deep customization: Your chosen GRC tool should support your evolving compliance requirements as you scale. Custom tests, controls, frameworks, and risk management will give your organization the flexibility and coverage it needs to fit the tool to your unique environment. Many software solutions also offer a customizable Trust Center so you can publicize important details on your security posture and build trust with customers and prospects.
• Vendor and personnel management: Understand and reduce third-party risk by selecting a tool that can analyze vendor risk based on the sensitivity of data they can impact. Top GRC platforms can provide risk recommendations for each vendor, track vendor access to sensitive data, and store vendor compliance reports for easy reference and auditing requirements.  
• Control mapping: Eliminate duplicate work and reduce time-to-compliance across multiple frameworks. Look for a tool that automatically maps controls to multiple standards and gives you a single dashboard view of your compliance status across frameworks.
• AI capabilities: While legacy GRC platforms can offer key features like workflow automation and risk/document management, look for innovative products that leverage the latest technologies to give you an edge against emerging threats. AI-powered remediation guidance and risk management apply predictive analytics and machine learning to reduce your risk exposure and improve threat response. Some solutions also offer ML-powered questionnaire automation to reduce time wasted manually responding to security questionnaires and RFPs.
• Expert support: Regardless of your in-house expertise, a robust customer support team is one of the most important things you can look for in a GRC software vendor. Read customer reviews and case studies to learn how companies like yours benefitted from the tool you’re evaluating, and pay special attention to mentions of the customer support team. Knowledgeable, responsive support and experienced compliance teams can offer specialized guidance and help tailor security controls to your business and compliance needs.

The best GRC software will support your specific goals and objectives. Choosing the right software will allow you to understand, track, and manage your current risks while fortifying your security posture for the future. 

Why GRC Teams Choose Secureframe

Secureframe was architected by GRC experts from day 1 and offers everything you need to achieve and maintain compliance, reduce operational costs, and improve efficiencies across your security program.

In the survey conducted by UserEvidence, Secureframe users reported a range of benefits, including:

• 97% strengthened their security and compliance posture 
• 95% saved time and resources obtaining and maintaining compliance
• 89% sped up time-to-compliance for multiple frameworks 
• 85% unlocked annual cost savings
• 71% improved visibility into security and compliance posture

Learn how you can experience these same benefits by scheduling a demo of our leading GRC platform.

About the UserEvidence Survey

The data about Secureframe users was obtained through an online survey conducted by UserEvidence in February 2024. The survey included responses from 44 Secureframe users (the majority of whom were manager-level or above) across the information technology, consumer discretionary, industrials, financial, and healthcare industries.