Why Manual GRC Processes Don’t Work
- July 22, 2021
- Quantivate
The realm of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) is constantly changing and becoming more complex. Organizations are quickly realizing that manually managing their GRC initiatives with tools like spreadsheets, word processors, and shared files and drives don’t meet the requirements of a modern, efficient GRC program.
While office software is functional and requires minimal IT knowledge to operate effectively, it falls short in managing risk and compliance data and policies for two primary reasons:
1. Disconnected tools can’t provide a single source of truth for your GRC data and management activities.
Working on documentation through Word or similar software requires the editor to create or revise the document or policy individually and then send it out to multiple locations for review. More than likely, the file will then circulate among several other people, returning to the original editor in different forms and creating a confusing cluster of documents that need to be reconciled and aggregated. This creates a long, hands-on, and expensive process that is prone to error.
Organizations need a solution that supports automation and collaboration, providing employees with a single database where they can find the most up-to-date information and analysis.
2. Manual management methods can’t scale to meet future risk and compliance needs.
While Microsoft Word, Excel, and SharePoint have unlimited uses, often organizations must spend significant time and resources on perfecting the configuration of their software, creating workarounds, and wrangling data. If organizations invest in technology that provides flexibility and adapts to their needs, teams responsible for GRC management can spend their time and budget in other more strategic areas.
Governance, risk, and compliance will continue to become more complicated and difficult to manage. Keeping future growth and program maturity in mind, organizations need to modernize their GRC processes to ensure all business units follow standardized, compliant procedures. Without an integrated approach, organizations are vulnerable to risk and regulatory issues. However, adopting a GRC solution equips organizations to maintain effective management and program oversight, while implementing automated workflows and reducing time-intensive manual processes.