COVID-19 has brought about unprecedented challenges and as companies resume operations and adapt to new ways of working, many are looking inwards to see how they can tackle urgent and complicated governance, risk and compliance (GRC) issues.
According to a new report ‘Next generation digital GRC’ published by PwC, companies are shifting the focus of compliance activities from those which result in high costs on customer experience, finances and culture to those which build trust, enhance resilience using technology and support competitive advantage.
The survey involved 95 senior leaders in eight territories, exploring the sources and outlook of uncertainties and how risk and compliance leaders are taking action to address them. Conducted between August and October 2020, the survey focuses on insights in the following areas: GRC maturity, technology maturity and GRC vision.
PwC global risk assurance leader Jennifer Ho said, “In a world of rapid change, digitisation and disruption – trust has been eroded across many parts of society. Stakeholders are seeking trusted sources of information around issues such as effective management of cyber risk, reliability of data and transformation programmes. Focusing on strategy execution and transforming risk into confidence will drive your business forward.”
A digitalised GRC could be the solution in dealing with new and emerging risks for all organisations while creating long-term value. While compliance, IA, and risk professionals understand the need for GRC technology, the common challenges or barriers to implementing the solution are management buy-in, cost vs benefit, and lack of understanding of the technology capabilities.
Success factors to start a GRC journey are a strategy/roadmap in GRC and business, support from business champions and product design experts, a clear future plan to enable the GRC process to evolve with the business, supplementary training and effective integration processes that align with the solution and technology strategy. M