Turning Compliance Into Competitive Advantage

Uploaded on 2025-07-10 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW

Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) has long been a critical business function, and in 2025, this domain continues to draw more attention than ever before.

With violations and fines regularly making headlines, and cybersecurity threats demanding more resources than in previous years, the foundational goal of these efforts remains the same: building and maintaining customer trust.

As a result, strong GRC practices have become a fundamental competitive advantage for organisations. GRC’s role is no longer just about managing risk and maintaining compliance; teams are now expected to deliver measurable ROI by optimising programmes and investing strategically in new compliance frameworks.

This fundamental shift positions GRC not merely as a cost centre but as a true business enabler and revenue unlocker, crucial for building and maintaining the trust of customers and stakeholders. When this approach works, it pays off: 98% of professionals say GRC achievements are worth sharing with customers and other key stakeholders, according to Drata's latest research report, The State of GRC 2025: From Cost Center to Strategic Business Driver.

But what’s actually at stake when organisations are planning their approach to GRC? Drata’s research reveals that 96% cite high-profile breaches and compliance fines as among the main reasons GRC has become such a significant priority. Other key issues include brand safety and reputation issues (51%), increasing regulatory complexity (46%), and data privacy and protection challenges (43%). The list of topics goes on, but the underlying point is that organisations want to do more, with 93% having critical aspects of their GRC programme that require manual intervention and need to be automated. This urgent need for automation is increasingly being met by AI-backed capabilities, which are poised to revolutionise GRC by automating tasks like data collection, control testing, and even the assessment of compliance against new or revised frameworks, drastically reducing manual effort and improving accuracy.

Translating objectives into results, however, is no easy task. Executing a comprehensive GRC program is a complex undertaking, demanding tremendous effort from critical (and already overburdened) professionals across various departments and teams, be that IT, Legal, Operations, Finance or Engineering, among others. Despite increased budgets and elevated awareness, GRC remains exhausting, highly manual and complex work.

Part of the problem is that GRC teams need to balance compliance complexity and business growth, despite a lack of time and resources. For example, GRC professionals manage an average of eight compliance frameworks, with 60% handling at least five. Nearly half of respondents say they struggle to keep up with updates to existing frameworks, while 52% find the process of identifying and integrating new ones exhausting.

Existing automation technologies promise to alleviate much of that work, and while a significant overlap in requirements across frameworks makes adoption more likely, implementation still lags. While GRC functions tend to be more automated (40%) than manual (28%), for the majority (83%), it’s a mix of both. Fintech and SaaS companies lead the way in automated GRC (43%) compared to other industries (40%), but almost all tasks have manual elements.

Commitment Pays Off

Despite the challenges, organisations everywhere are committed to GRC, with the vast majority embracing a “shift left” approach, whereby governance, risk, and compliance are integrated earlier into business processes. This building-in GRC can be during planning, development and decision-making processes, but the objective is to do so proactively, rather than addressing GRC after the fact. GRC teams should continue to set their sights on helping organisations continue to build-in expectations as far ahead as possible to maintain a firmly proactive stance rather than being purely reactive to these demands on an organisation.

On a practical level, shift left also fosters closer collaboration between GRC and operational teams, supporting more agile and resilient business practices. The net result is that organisations are much better placed to deliver on their GRC objectives more strategically, rather than reacting to issues after they’ve already impacted the business.

Unsurprisingly, AI continues to impact a number of areas of GRC, with teams increasingly optimistic about the role of AI in improving their operations, with many already recognising its potential to strengthen key capabilities. According to the research, 46% believe AI will improve regulatory compliance, while 44% expect enhanced data security and a more streamlined audit process. A similar proportion anticipates improved risk management and fewer errors in compliance tasks. AI is also seen as a valuable tool for speeding up security reviews and questionnaires, and for enabling better decision-making through predictive insights.

On the flip side, however, the rise in AI-specific regulations, such as NIST AI RMF and ISO 42001, adds more complexity for GRC teams to manage. While 100% of companies surveyed expect employees to increase their use of AI technologies in the next 12 months, only 10% have a GRC program fully prepared to manage it.

Trust The Process

So, where does that leave us? There can be no doubt that companies with strong, mature GRC practices in place enter new markets more quickly and effectively, adapt to changing regulatory landscapes, and close revenue faster. Yet, survey results demonstrate that most GRC programmes are not where they need to be in terms of maturity. 41% of companies see themselves at an adolescent stage, monitoring and scaling, or shy of full maturity (37%). While optimisation programmes have begun for many, few have been fully realised.

As GRC continues to evolve, organisations are shifting its role from a regulatory obligation to a strategic business enabler.

Rather than focusing solely on compliance or avoiding penalties, many now see GRC as a driver of growth and trust. In fact, 38% of companies cite business growth as the primary focus of their GRC programme, followed by 33% prioritising security and reputation protection.

Put this all together, and it is no surprise that 98% of companies see GRC as a business driver, with 91% now having a dedicated person in charge of their strategy and implementation. Cumbersome, manual processes are giving way to AI automation, cross-functional workflows are streamlined with workplace productivity tool integrations, and continuous controls monitoring enhances risk management and resource allocation. Furthermore, GRC's role is no longer just about managing risk and maintaining compliance; in 2025, it demands an increasingly integrated, collaborative, and comprehensive approach across security, privacy, and compliance domains to unite efforts.

In this context, GRC is not just about safeguarding businesses and their stakeholders; it has also offered a way to turn compliance into a competitive advantage and trust into a tangible asset. As such, it will quickly become a cornerstone of organisational resilience, driving business growth and ensuring customer confidence.

Matt Hillary is SVP of Security & CISO at Drata

Image: Ideogram

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