What are the latest IT GRC market trends? In 2022, there are 3 key IT GRC market trends that tech managers and business leaders should pay close attention to:
- Digitization through cloud computing
- Software advancements from AI and machine learning
- Increased cybersecurity and data privacy needs
Within the past decade, the enforcement of governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) standards has shifted from a secondary business function into a constant consideration across all departments in organizations both big and small. Finding ways to efficiently align IT practices with your organization’s goals means paying close attention to changes in the GRC market and digital regulations.
The global GRC market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8% from 2018 to 2025. Given the continued digitization of the business world, IT GRC will be a major part of this expansion and the changes coming to government, risk, and compliance practices.
How can your organization utilize the latest in business technology to streamline governance, risk management, and legal compliance standards? Keep reading to learn more about the current state of the IT GRC market and what IT can bring to an organization’s GRC needs.
1. Digitization Through Cloud Computing
For the past two decades, cloud computing has been one of the biggest trends in the IT GRC market and has contributed greatly to the digitization of modern business operations.
Cloud computing allows workers across departments and office locations to access data sets, files, and various system tools via a single, unifying platform. This enables employees to execute daily tasks and long-term projects digitally with more efficiency.
Cloud computing platforms such as Google Drive, Microsoft Azure, and CloudSigma have grown in popularity among personal users and professional organizations, with no signs of slowing down. Search and tech advisory firm Gartner estimated that the cloud services industry would continue to grow by at least 17% through 2020.
What will this widespread shift to cloud computing mean for the IT GRC market going forward? With nearly half of all government agencies now relying on cloud computing platforms, along with many private organizations, IT GRC professionals must take advantage of these technologies while understanding how cloud computing changes the nature of their field.
Ways Cloud Computing Has Changed IT GRC
Cloud computing is bringing major changes to the ways that enterprises are able to share and store valuable business information.
What are these changes? And how can IT GRC professionals ensure that their organization maintains key regulatory standards while making the shift to cloud digitization?
Continuous Compliance
The rapid expansion of cloud services has created many changes to data compliance standards that IT GRC professionals must follow. For multinational enterprises, these regulatory compliance standards vary from country to country, and organizations must be able to comply with these varied standards all at once.
IT GRC professionals should devote time and resources to the creation of continuous compliance databases. Through a continuous compliance database, you can map out digital compliance standards by country.
You should also enact processes to regularly update this database as these policies are updated or new ones are introduced. This creates a clear, active framework for maintaining up-to-date digital compliance standards.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
The integration of cloud computing into business operations has changed the ways that organizations recover from system crashes and cyberattacks. Because cloud technology integrates business data and tools into one unified platform, some cloud vendors are able to provide access to data backups and business continuity services.
However, due to the sizable expense of large-scale data backups, not all cloud vendors offer these services. Organizations looking into cloud computing should know whether or not the cloud service they are considering will provide access to data backups and recovery support. If not, they should be prepared to perform their own data backups.
Data Security
Many cloud providers advertise their own compliance with various cross-industry data privacy regulations, such as HIPAA and PCI. However, this does not mean that organizations using third-party cloud services have no responsibility concerning cloud data security.
Data encryption, password protection, and virtual private networks (VPNs) are all key aspects of maintaining the privacy of an organization’s data. They should continue to be taken into account when switching to cloud computing, along with the security challenges and risks unique to the cloud, such as cloud API exposure points.
2. Software Advancements from AI and Machine Learning
Because of GRC integration into daily business operations, risk management software has become one of the fastest growing technologies in today’s IT GRC market. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been rising trends across the tech industry in recent years, and these technologies have greatly advanced the capabilities of IT GRC software as well.
Learn more about IT GRC software advancements below! Please feel free to share our infographic on social media, or copy and paste the code below to embed it on your website:
<img src="https://bit.ly/itgrcmarkettrends">
<p>IT GRC Software Advancements - An infographic by the team at <a href="https://sdi.ai/">Sentient Digital, Inc.</a></p>Risk Management Software
Traditionally, computer programs such as Microsoft Excel have been used to manually track and monitor data on potential digital vulnerabilities and risks in IT systems. Now, risk management software programs are capable of automating both risk identification and reporting through the power of machine learning.
These new software tools can analyze a current system’s potential vulnerabilities based on data from previous successful cyberattacks. They can also provide auto-generated reports on how to rectify these vulnerabilities.
Modern risk management software allows IT professionals to spend less time on manual risk monitoring and recordkeeping through automated, proactive cybersecurity analysis.
Compliance Management Software
The rise of digitization in the business world has also brought about new, more complex compliance standards. Organizations must abide by these standards in order to ensure the security and legality of their operations.
Through AI technology, compliance management software can organize the files that are relevant to an enterprise’s adherence to current compliance standards. AI-powered software can also provide optimal workflows and processes for employees to follow regarding GRC, maintaining today’s ever-expanding compliance standards in an organized, efficient manner.
Data Analysis Software
The move toward big data in business analytics has created a need for more efficient data processing and analysis. AI-driven data analysis software is designed to accurately compile the large, complex data sets that are nearly impossible to handle efficiently with human labor alone.
Data analysis software also has the capacity to draw conclusions from data and make predictions about potential actions or behavior. This gives leaders more clear, accurate information regarding key business data and decisions.
IT GRC software guided by AI and machine learning technologies allow enterprise leaders to make faster, more accurate data-driven choices. Despite the challenges organizations have faced from AI and machine learning, there is little doubt that these technologies are driving the future of digital business operations.
3. Increased Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Needs
In an increasingly digital world, cyberattacks against government agencies and businesses are becoming more common, more complex, and more expensive to fix.
According to Forbes, businesses spend an average of $200,000 after experiencing a cyberattack. That includes small businesses, which accounted for over half of all cybercrime victims in 2018. Larger enterprises can expect to pay at least $1.67 million in damages, repairs, and other costs related to cyberattack recovery.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many organizations suddenly shifting their operations to a remote working environment, which puts unique strains on maintaining data privacy and security.
Professionals in the IT GRC market know that cybersecurity is becoming increasingly vital to ensuring the safety of business, client, and employee data. What are the key cybersecurity advancements reshaping the IT GRC market?
Proactive Cybersecurity
Aside from the cybersecurity measures that risk management software offers, there are other proactive cybersecurity practices that your IT team should take to keep your organization’s data secure. Ethical hacking, threat hunting, staff training, and endpoint monitoring are all proactive cybersecurity practices that can be used to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities before a cyberattack ever occurs.
Action Classification
Machine learning technology can learn to classify certain user actions as normal or abnormal based on various data factors that it is presented with. This strategy can greatly aid in your threat identification efforts.
For example, human programmers may flag user activity from a certain geographical location as suspicious or fraudulent. If they share that information with a machine learning system, it can learn to automatically flag any future activity that comes from that location.
Action classification has been especially useful in thwarting attempts at money laundering. In this application, the system learns to spot questionable transactions based on location and unusually high activity levels.
Internal Data Privacy Policies
The shift to cloud computing, as well as the rise of large-scale data breaches, has increased concerns over data privacy legislation and management.
The best way for an organization to maintain its IT GRC standards is to create clear, enforceable internal data privacy policies. These should align with both national and global compliance standards.
In other words, use legal GRC standards to shape your organization’s own internal data privacy policies. This allows you to naturally integrate GRC into your business operations.
The continued digitization of business operations has resulted in many new and altered responsibilities for IT professionals. IT team leaders need to be ready and willing to recognize their active roles in the maintenance of their organization’s GRC practices.
Follow the Latest IT GRC Market Trends with Sentient Digital
Understanding the rapidly changing IT GRC market means finding expert sources you can rely on for accurate news, data, and assistance. With our decades of expertise in the technology solutions field, Sentient Digital, Inc. can provide you with the latest intel and hands-on support for changes in the world of IT, GRC, and cybersecurity.
If you’re a business leader or director in search of high-quality technology solutions, contact us today to complete your next project, offer staffing support for your team, or even provide fully managed IT services. If you or someone you know may want to join our team, take a look at our competitive benefits and search our open positions today!
