What is Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC)?

Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (“GRC”) are the principle drivers of organizational compliance, accountability and transparency. Companies must be able to update internal policies and procedures as changes in regulation or governance practices occur. Failure to do so exposes the company to investigations, fines, reputational risk and possible lawsuits. Other significant costs include the cost of investigations and professional services. This can have a direct negative impact to revenues and profitability. Companies that have effective processes in place to address changing regulations and the consequent risk to their business operations are at a competitive advantage.

Recent emphasis on risk and compliance practices coupled with developments in the IT arena have resulted in more effective GRC solutions that lower the overall cost of compliance within the organization.  Traditional GRC practices left management struggling to meet the increasing expectations of stakeholders and regulators. They were faced with consolidating their compliance and risk procedures across organizational silos in a manner that allows them to share information, cut costs, and provide greater transparency. Implementation of a successful GRC framework requires blending the technical legal requirements, policy & control features, and operational constraints of a corporate governance framework with an IT platform. Only in this manner can management ensure both the substantive and deployment needs of GRC are supported. Organizations that already have self-administered corporate governance systems in place often find they are unable to keep abreast with the rapidly changing regulatory environment, the administrative disruptions that come with revolving personnel, or the resources required to ensure an accurate institutional record.