These days, there are many Webinars, white papers, and so on relating to digital transformation. And most of them refer to supply chain or finance. But what about governance, risk, and compliance?<\/p>\n
In a blog I wrote in 2016, I suggested a few potential scenarios. Some are now mainstream \u2026 but I have to admit that some are still a few years from full maturity. Many existing technological advances can be leveraged to \u201ctransform\u201d the way we do risk and control today. This doesn\u2019t mean changing it completely, just making the best use of technology to support the process. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n
Big Data and analytics<\/strong><\/p>\n Big Data and analytics are the most mature technologies that GRC can leverage, in my opinion.<\/p>\n Instead of testing a sample of data for a control on a monthly basis, why not test ALL the data continuously? This helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks and that no data has been altered since the last test, for instance.<\/p>\n Similarly, being able to leverage the power of Big Data means that companies can run multiple risk scenarios and find the most likely outcome \u2013 either to prevent it, if it is a threat, or enhance it, if it is an opportunity. And this power is also supported by analytics that enable rapid creation and visualization of the relevant information, presented in a manner that suits each user and, of course, adapted to their needs.<\/p>\n Mobile \u2013 but not only<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a time where convergence of user interface was key. The goal was to have the same look and feel on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. But often, this simply meant having a user interface and mobile app that resembled each other in design.<\/p>\n What has changed is that the user experience is now the same with a single entry point, whatever the device. Meaning no more apps to download and update whenever necessary \u2013 and often when you most need to check a risk status. No more integration; the single source of truth is what you access.<\/p>\n #AI<\/strong><\/p>\n Artificial intelligence seems to be a buzzword, it\u2019s true, but it includes facets that GRC can leverage. Let\u2019s take machine learning, for instance. Fraud detection can use this technology to ensure that the software solution learns from previous decisions made by the fraud investigators, thereby reducing the number of false positives that are flagged by automatically discarding the irrelevant ones. Predictive technology is another facet of artificial intelligence that can be used to run simulations and determine which approaches are the most effective in deterring anomalous and fraudulent activities.<\/p>\n Head to the cloud<\/strong><\/p>\n Last but not least \u2013 and this list, of course, is not exhaustive \u2013 is the cloud. It\u2019s not a new way of \u201cdoing GRC\u201d per se, but a new way of \u201cconsuming\u201d it. The cloud enables businesses to be much more flexible and nimble in the way they adopt GRC solutions. They can really tailor them to their internal, evolving organization by increasing or reducing the scope, as they see fit, more rapidly than ever before.<\/p>\n Bottom line<\/strong><\/p>\n As you can read, most scenarios I had imagined for 2021 are not yet fully here. But others are mature, and I recommend investigating them. Governance, risk, and compliance is not just a tick-the-box exercise to ensure compliance. It is much more than that, and can enable competitive advantage over other players in a market by reducing exposure and increasing opportunities encountered.<\/p>\n Similar to the way some organizations use IT to provide an edge in their supply chain practices or customer relationship approach, I firmly believe that tech can be leveraged to deliver what GRC has to be: a business tool.<\/p>\n What about you? Does your company already leverage some of these technologies to transform its GRC approach?<\/p>\n