How Can I Improve My Cloud
Cloud-based solutions mean users can access it from anywhere on any unsecured device. To help keep your business safe, use a firewall as a service . Youll also need to train your personnel in cyberattack principles. Additionally, identify what malware to look out for. Use Governance, Risk, and Compliance to help identify risks. This will also show you how to remediate them.
How To Evaluate Grc Software
Keeping up with constantly changing risks, regulations, and policies takes a GRC technology solution thats flexible, scalable, and integrated. The right GRC software will add efficiency, prove effectiveness, and elevate the value of the risk management function to the organization. As you evaluate possible solutions, consider asking:
Learn how to conquer the new world of risk with integrated risk management.
Its Essential For Boards To Have A Strategy For Managing Governance Risk And Compliance Issues We Examine Everything You Need To Know About Grc Management
Companies today face a complex maze of internal and external risks, government regulations, and compliance mandates. From combatting cybersecurity threats to meeting SEC disclosure requirements and avoiding conflicts of interest in governance, the list seems to grow longer each year as companies and boards find themselves increasingly under the microscope.
Having a comprehensive strategy for managing governance, risk, and compliance issues is increasingly essential. These strategies coordinate efforts that span numerous departments, such as IT, legal, human resources, finance, and security.
In this guide, we will explain what GRC is, why its important, common challenges associated with GRC, tips for implementing an effective GRC strategy, and how OnBoard can help.
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Corporate Governance And Process Governance
Corporate governance can be defined as a system used by organizations to manage, monitor and motivate themselves to achieve their goals with full control and recognition of their abilities and skills.
It involves the relationship with various stakeholders, such as partners, shareholders, the board, non-governmental organizations, the management team, regulators and financiers, the community and employees, among others.
The objectives of corporate governance can be summarized as follows:
- Converting principles and company values into real rules.
- Formally aligning the interests of stakeholders.
- It provides a sustainable economic value of the company over the long-term.
- Facilitating the companys access to resources.
- It improves the business and management conduct of the company.
- It promotes the common good of society.
Process governance is a more particular concept.We can say that process governance is to lay down rules and guidelines for the administration and execution of processes in an organization, determining those that are to be responsible and the roles of each process employee, with the following objectives:
- To completely meet customers expectations, whether internal or external.
In this context, a process office plays a key role in coordinating these initiatives that promote the integrity and reliability of the organizations processes.
What Industries Typically Use Grc Software
Almost any organization can benefit from a GRC solution, regardless of industry. Larger organizations which may have governance, risk management, and compliance responsibilities distributed across multiple departments may benefit more from adopting a unified methodology.
Businesses in industries where compliance is especially important for success may also benefit from adopting a GRC tool.
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Define Objectives And Keep Communication Channels Open
Circling back to the goals of your GRC initiative is critical. There should be regular communication and clarity about the objectives to all members of the organization. GRC by its very nature is far-reaching and comprehensive, as the process will review the breadth of an organization.
The launching of a new GRC system will require training and engagement campaigns, so project communication is important. Questionnaires, surveys and interviews are useful ways of gaining insight into different processes across teams and departments. Plus, any changes in process will need to be announced and managed.
This is particularly true if the organization is introducing a new tool or piece of software to deliver the GRC system. Any changes in technology will require an element of engagement or training.
Why Is Grc Relevant Today
In the above stories, we see that greed, incompetence, not being able to distinguish right from wrong, and external threats pose a risk to individuals, companies, nations, and even the global society. In the recent 20 years, we have seen a dramatic increase in regulations to prevent incidents like the above making running a business more complicated. The importance of financial stability, national security, the environment, healthy societies, and much more are the primary focus for international and national regulations. Similar to the national level, each company must establish its own policies for how the company should be run. Over the years, many standards, good practices, and best practices have been developed to help organizations get their ducks in a row. Experts have invested much time into creating standards for financial audits, how to run an information security program, how to avoid corruption, how to make your company resilient to disastrous events, how to ensure data privacy, and how to assess risk to mention a few. All of this is GRC and much more.
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How Can Companies Build A Robust And Effective Grc Framework
Building a GRC framework is not a one-time activity, but more of a journey that can help organizations move up the GRC maturity curve, till they have an integrated and optimized GRC framework in place. Instituting the right strategy can go a long way to optimize GRC investments
Below are a few steps that can help organizations build a robust and effective GRC framework.
Any organization, small or big, should implement a process to quantify and prioritize risks based on severity, frequency of occurrence, and timely detectability. The process should be mutually agreed on by all the business owners and the audit committee. Risks with the highest scores can then be mitigated using increased effort and checked against process and technology improvements.
The culture of an organization changes over time. New people enter the workforce, existing employees depart, and the character and culture of the company adapts along the way. Building and maintaining a risk-aware culture ensures more than business continuity during change. It also helps frontline workers, new leaders, managers, and team leaders understand what is expected of them to maintain or improve organizational culture. Empowering a GRC-driven culture is an initiative that must begin at the top and must be consistent over time, changes in personnel, and as the company scales and diversifies. It is up to every business leader to ensure that reporting formats, decision frameworks, and operations are streamlined towards GRC.
What Are The Advantages Of Grc At An Organizational Level
An integrated GRC framework, built on a strong foundation and with a focus on achieving higher levels of GRC maturity can help organizations reap benefits. A high-value and sustainable GRC program can provide several key benefits.
Enabling reallocation of resources to strategic imperatives – A well-run GRC program anchored by a GRC technology platform that automates critical elements of governance structures, risk identification, prioritization and mitigation, and compliance alignment with applicable regulatory requirements allows an organization to confidently commit resources to strategic initiatives, build their business, and serve their customers. Yet, GRC systems are not designed to just enable GRC professionals to collect data and run programs efficiently, but to allow them to actively identify and focus on solving urgent risk and compliance matters. A good GRC solution allows professionals to apply their intelligence and expertise to address business-critical topics .
Enhancing and supporting business strategy An organization with a strong GRC framework will have a clear strategic vision for the road ahead. With business goals and objectives clearly identified, the organization is empowered to move towards achieving the desired business value.
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About Managing Risk In Information Systems
Managing risk in IT is the process by which companies navigate potential uncertainty and damages using software and tools specifically designed to help do so. IT GRC tools may help determine and mitigate risks associated with the use, ownership, operation, involvement, influence, and adoption of IT within a company and for all the users involved.
Risk governance in IT is generally considered to be one part of a larger, all-encompassing risk management strategy for the enterprise. IT risk management may involve being able to define digital assets, having the ability to apply and monitor controls over IT systems, determine risks based on business criticality or technical severity, imagine and evaluate various remediation options, and set risk thresholds for IT processes.
Information technology is constantly changing evolving in scope, capabilities, and the laws that surround it. In that sense, compliance control is vital to ensure your processes are always up-to-date, particularly around security and privacy protocols.
Keep reading to see the full article of Best GRC Tools
Originally published at on May 28, 2020.
How To Access Grc Maturity What Are The Benefits For Grc Maturity
GRC programs are a critical strategic element in business performance. Too often, organizations view GRC as a separate solution or a burdensome requirement on the business.
While there are organizations that acquire GRC solutions to do the bare minimum and satisfy governance and compliance specifications, these programs are not typically robust enough to adapt with a changing GRC environment, nor are they defensible.
The first position in GRC maturity is therefore recognizing the importance and urgency of a GRC program. Taking first steps includes acknowledging the regulatory and risk profile of the organization and taking concrete steps to assess and quantify potential risk and compliance failures. Many companies can take this step without investing in a GRC software solution.
Yet, as the world in which the organization lives changes and the scale and diversity of its risk and compliance needs evolves, an adaptable and flexible GRC solution becomes increasingly necessary. Managing the scope of risk, governance, and compliance on paper or with an office productivity solution can rapidly become untenable as the volume and variety of GRC demands escalates. At this point , the organization should set budget and milestones to invest in and assess the impact of a purpose-built software solution.
The more comprehensive a program, the more protected from risk an organization can be.
GRC maturity protects an organization from regulatory enforcement actions.
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The High Cost Of Compliance
Its not surprising that companies tend to shy away from creating comprehensive GRC systems. After all, major solutions to GRC can be incredibly expensive. Forbes reported that mid-size businesses expect to spend between $4.3 and $7.8 million per year on GRC systems and employees. On the other hand, large enterprises expect to spend $10 million or more per year to cover the costs of GRC. In both cases, the cost of GRC is significant and has a big impact on the companys bottom line.
Its tempting to cut corners for the bottom line, but investing early on in a comprehensive system for governance, risk, and compliance best practices can save you money over time. For companies just starting to implement GRC, the prospects can be daunting. EWeeks guide to a successful GRC implementation advocates for small wins early on. If youre new to GRC, decide on specific aspects of the system that are most important to your business practices. After you implement those, you can continue to add elements over time until you have a complete GRC system.
Servicenow Governance Risk And Compliance
ServiceNows GRC software allows for more efficacious communication of data through the use of chat, portals, and mobile apps. ServiceNow features intuitive reporting and analytics features that also enable businesses to track and measure any metrics based on their specific needs. Users can further benefit from real-time monitoring, automation, and analysis to facilitate accelerated responses.
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What Does Grc Mean In Theory And In Practice
There are three main components of GRC:
- Governance Aligning processes and actions with the organizations business goals
- Risk Identifying and addressing all of the organizations risks
- Compliance Ensuring all activities meet legal and regulatory requirements
In the past, organizations often approached Governance, Risk, and Compliance as separate activities. Processes or systems frequently were created in response to a specific event e.g., new regulations, litigation, a data breach, or audit finding with little thought as to how that worked within the whole. The result was a tangle of inefficiencies, redundancies, and inaccuracies, including:
- Lack of visibility into the complete risk landscape
- Conflicting actions
- Unnecessary complexity
- Inability to assess the cascading effects of risk
The reality is that there is plenty of overlap between Governance, Risk, and Compliance. Each of the three disciplines creates information of value to the other two and all three impact the same technologies, people, processes, and information. An organization, for instance, might be subject to a new data-privacy regulation , while also holding itself to certain internal data-protection controls , both of which help mitigate cyber risk .
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Risk Management And Grc Security
Risk managementinvolves identifying, assessing and controlling threats and risks to the organization. These threats could be financial pitfalls, legal consequences, cybersecurity threats, commercial liabilities, management errors and even natural disasters and other accidents.
Risk management processes typically rely on internal audits and risk assessments to identify critical gaps and areas of significant uncertainty. Risks can be found internally, within essential business operations and processes, or externally, out on the broader market.
Organizations often task many individuals with various elements of risk management, including IT security leaders, business analysts, finance officers and the governance board. A robust GRC framework can help ensure that all risk management activities are aligned with the organizations ultimate goals and objectives.
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What Are Grc Platforms
GRC platforms help businesses mitigate risk to minimize financial, legal, and all other liabilities. Companies use GRC platforms to define, implement, and monitor company-wide strategies for risk management. Also known as enterprise risk management , this type of software covers multiple types of risks: financial, hazard, strategic, and operational. GRC features organize and evaluate risk information, track company-wide incidents, and provide various tools for measuring risk factors and modifying operations to comply with policies and regulations. GRC platforms are used mostly by compliance officers, analysts, and managers. Operations teams within an organization utilize GRC platforms to maintain the integrity of their company and avoid scenarios such as lawsuits, investigations, and injuries.
GRC platforms should not be confused with cybersecurity software, which focuses on security and privacy and does not cover other types of risks. This type of software integrates with environmental, quality and safety management software for industries such as retail and manufacturing. Each of the three GRC componentsgovernance, risk, and complianceimpact the organization and reveal valuable information to the other two. Vendors typically package GRC platforms as a whole to deliver these collective benefits to the user.
To qualify for inclusion in the GRC Platforms category, a product must:
How To Successfully Implement Grc
An effective GRC strategy has broad effects and addresses critical priorities organization-wide. Due to their high level of importance, GRC strategies require leaders take a methodical approach to building, implementing, and maintaining them over time.
Some tips for a successful GRC strategy include:
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Thoroughly Evaluate Current Processes And Needs
The first step is understanding how GRC-related processes are currently handled. This includes identifying who is responsible for what, which tools they use to execute specific tasks, the time and resources involved, standard data sources and protections, and where there are opportunities for improvement. It also involves assessing how risks are identified and addressed, what regulatory and compliance mandates your company is subject to, and how governance standards and expectations are defined.
Grc Software Key Features
Here are a few features that are absolute must-haves for any GRC solution.
- Risk Analysis Can the software analyze and assess risks and provide suggestions for future mitigation?
- Compliance Database Does the tool track and teach compliance initiatives in a way that keeps each team informed and on track?
- Auditing Tools Is the software built for appropriate financial, resource, or procedure audits as needed?
- Reporting and analytics Are the reporting tools robust, customizable, flexible, and visually appealing? Can they be exported into popular files types for review?
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Features Of Grc Software
Most of the vendors listed above were recognized by Gartner in its 2021 Magic Quadrant for IT risk management as well as Forrester in its Q3 2021 GRC Wave. What helps these platforms gain recognition? According to Forrester, a GRC solution should have the breadth and depth to support a wide range of GRC use cases, capabilities to align GRC efforts across multiple business functions, and advanced risk analysis. Most GRC programs employ some combination of features in the following areas to accomplish these goals:
- Risk and control management
With so many GRC solutions on the market today, it can seem like a challenge to know where to begin. Thankfully, there are a few discerning factors that can separate the solution that will be best for you from the crowd.
Kinds Of Grc Platforms
GRC suites GRC suites are made of multiple software products that are used in various combinations. Each of them usually specialize in one or a few of the main GRC features, such as policy management, regulatory change management, compliance learning, or risk management. Companies using GRC suites may choose to implement all or only some of the components mentioned above, with the option to scale up or scale down . The main benefit of GRC suites is that they provide better integration between the components of the suite and are developed and supported by the same vendor.
Best-of-breed GRC software This type of software provides multiple modules for GRC that are delivered as part of a single product and cannot be sold and used separately. Best-of-breed GRC software is highly beneficial to mid-market companies that dont need advanced features to manage risk and compliance.
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