If you work in GRC, you’re expected to spot issues early, keep pace with regulation and provide clear assurance — even as risks grow more complex and workloads keep expanding. 

Throughout 2025, Diligent focused on making risk and audit professionals’ lives easier. That means reducing manual work, bringing clarity to complexity and using AI where it adds real value — not noise. 

From AI-powered risk identification to intelligent evidence collection and clearer risk scoring, here’s how our latest innovations help audit and risk teams move faster, work smarter and stay confidently in control. 

Launch ERM faster with AI: AI Risk Essentials

As risks multiply, many organizations still rely on spreadsheets and ad hoc processes that make ERM slow and reactive. AI Risk Essentials gives risk professionals a practical, defensible way to identify, assess and mitigate enterprise risks with the help of AI-powered benchmarking — without a complex implementation.

Rather than starting from scratch, teams can use AI-powered benchmarking to surface relevant risks from a library of 200,000+ real-world risks drawn from external data sources, including SEC 10-K filings — building a consistent foundation for assessment, oversight, and governance in days, not months. 

Identify potential enterprise risks earlier using AI-powered risk identification and benchmarking

Establish a consistent approach to assessing and documenting risks with a guided, three-step workflow

Strengthen governance and regulatory readiness with a centralized risk library and interactive heatmaps for clearer visibility 

Resolve what matters, faster: Issue Manager

Across audits, risk assessments and compliance reviews, issues can easily fall through the cracks. Issue Manager brings everything together in one place, giving teams a unified way to track, prioritize and resolve issues — no matter where they originate. 

With standardized workflows and real-time visibility, risk and audit leaders gain confidence that issues are being addressed consistently and on time.

Centralize issues from audits, risk assessments, and controls testing

Define ownership, priorities and timelines with configurable workflows

Track progress with dashboards showing overdue items and bottlenecks

Strengthen accountability and accelerate remediation

Clearer risk insight: Risk Rating Aggregation

When risks are assessed multiple times, clarity can quickly disappear. Risk Rating Aggregation gives risk professionals a transparent, standardized way to consolidate assessment results into a single, meaningful risk score. 

No spreadsheets. No workarounds. Just a clearer, more defensible view of risk.

Combine multiple assessments into one consistent risk rating

Choose aggregation methods such as Average, Minimum, Maximum or Median

Preview results before applying them to ensure accuracy

Improve comparability and confidence in risk reporting

Cut audit admin, not corners: AI Request Agent for Internal Audit

Evidence collection is essential — but it shouldn’t consume weeks of an audit cycle. The AI Request Agent was built to remove the manual friction that slows audit teams down, without sacrificing control or traceability. 

By automating how evidence requests are created, tracked, and followed up, internal audit teams can spend less time chasing documents and more time delivering assurance.

Automatically draft clear, context-aware evidence requests

Route requests to the right owners and track responses in real time

Handle reminders, overdue follow-ups, and escalations automatically

Maintain a complete, auditable trail of requests and responses

What else is new for audit professionals?

AI-powered audit analytics, without the complexity: ACL AI Studio

Advanced analytics have long been powerful — but often limited to specialists with scripting skills. ACL AI Studio changes that, bringing sophisticated audit, risk and compliance analytics within reach of every professional, no coding required.

By combining natural-language querying, AI-guided test recommendations and full compatibility with existing ACL Analytics scripts, ACL AI Studio removes technical barriers while preserving organizations’ existing investments in analytics. Teams can analyze millions of records, surface anomalies quickly, and produce audit-ready results with confidence.

It’s AI-powered GRC analytics — without the complexity.

How this helps audit, risk & compliance teams:

Run advanced analytics using natural-language queries — no scripting required

Analyze large, complex datasets and surface anomalies faster

Get AI-guided recommendations for relevant tests and procedures

Preserve and extend existing ACL Analytics scripts and investments

Maintain complete, audit-ready documentation of all analytics activity

Why these updates matter for risk & audit professionals

Taken together, these innovations are designed to solve real, everyday challenges for audit and risk teams:

Less manual work, more time for analysis and insight

Earlier visibility into emerging and AI-driven risks

Stronger assurance through consistency, traceability, and clarity

AI isn’t replacing judgment — it’s helping professionals apply it where it matters most. 

If you’re already a Diligent customer, log into the Diligent One Platform — or talk to your account team — to explore how these AI-driven capabilities can streamline your risk and audit workflows.

 → and see how Diligent helps risk and audit professionals stay ahead — with confidence.

These capabilities are available today for entitled customers — contact your Customer Success Manager to confirm and activate the right modules.

Yes, some features (like automated workflows, AI capabilities and integrations) require admin configuration and appropriate user permissions before they’re available to your team. 

Access the Governance, Risk & Compliance Education & Templates Library at 

diligent.com/platform/governance-risk-compliance-education

 for role-based learning, templates and best-practice guidance, and use Diligent Academy for product training on Diligent Risk & Audit apps. 

Yes. Many Risk & Audit workflows are available through the Diligent One / HighBond mobile app for iOS and Android, so entitled users can review tasks, respond to requests and update items on the go (subject to your organization’s configuration and policies). 

 to request a demo and see how our Risk & Audit solutions centralize ERM, audit, controls and monitoring in a single, AI-enabled platform.

Work smarter across risk & audit: How our AI innovations are making every review count

This article originally appeared in our January 15th edition of the Diligent Minute Newsletter. For more insights like these, delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe

After three quarters of near-record low confidence levels

, America’s boardrooms ended 2025 on a surprisingly hopeful note, even as directors brace for another demanding year. The latest 

, our quarterly survey of U.S. public company directors conducted with Corporate Board Member, shows sentiment rebounding sharply after three consecutive quarters at a five-year low throughout much of last year.

Why U.S. board confidence rebounded at the end of 2025

Confidence rose 23% in the final month of the year, climbing from 4.9 to 6.0 on a 10-point scale and finally nudging back into what respondents consider “good” territory. As a key driver behind the shift, directors point to:

In other words, after a year of policy whiplash, boards feel they at least understand the playing field a bit better - even if they don’t like it.

That late-year rally, however, shouldn’t be mistaken for a victory lap. For 2025 overall, average confidence registered just 5.0, well below 2024’s 6.2 and far short of the 6.9 directors had forecast a year ago.

Three quarters of respondents say tariffs were a primary reason conditions fell short of expectations, far outpacing any other factor. Their comments underscore how hard it is for boards to plan when rules change midgame; familiar playbooks don’t work when trade policy and enforcement shift repeatedly.

Tariffs, uncertainty and a new risk landscape

Directors in sectors long considered resilient

, like life sciences, describe this period as unlike anything they’ve seen in decades. Many point to deferred capital spending and elongated decision cycles as companies try to model scenarios that are, frankly, impossible to model with precision. That reality is reshaping how boards think about risk, resilience and the very nature of their oversight role.

Their outlook for business conditions by late 2026 is 6.0, essentially flat from today’s reading. CEOs, by contrast, are modestly more upbeat: in a parallel survey by Chief Executive, they project a 6% improvement to 6.4, and 44% say they expect conditions to improve, compared with 32% of directors. That gap is telling. CEOs are closest to near-term operations; boards are increasingly focused on longer-horizons, compounding risks.

Those directors who are optimistic tend to anchor their confidence in 

 seeing opportunities to transform productivity and reimagine business models. Among those who expect deterioration, concerns skew heavily toward macro and geopolitical risk, with uncertainty emerging as a dominant theme -— on par with inflation for many neutral respondents.

How boards can strengthen oversight and learning in 2026

directors emphasize adaptability, deeper engagement and faster learning, recognizing that they must connect dots across 

5 years of the Director Confidence Index: Tracking a more demanding role

This quarter also marks five years of fielding the Director Confidence Index, and we asked respondents how their roles have evolved since 2020.

Board members say they are spending far more time on risk in a “more complex and faster moving” environment, with cybersecurity, AI, geopolitical shocks, supply-chain integrity and policy volatility now standard agenda items. Many describe a shift from “managing the present” toward future-oriented scenario planning and strategic resilience, alongside heightened scrutiny from investors and activists that expands the mandate beyond financial performance to culture, human capital and corporate character.

Taken together, the picture is clear: being a director today is more time-intensive, strategically demanding and consequential than it was in 2020 and perhaps than it has ever been. One director distilled the 2026 playbook to three words: “Defend and survive.” I would add a fourth: learn. Boards that invest in learning about AI technology, geopolitics, regulation and stakeholder expectations will be best positioned not just to endure whatever comes next, but to help their organizations emerge stronger on the other side.

Boards brace for 2026: Confidence rebounds, risk looms 

This article originally appeared in our December 18th edition of the Diligent Minute Newsletter. For more insights like these, delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe 

As we close out 2025, I’ve been reflecting on what this year taught us and the word that comes to mind is “unprecedented.” Insights from the Diligent Institute’s research show how directors navigated multiple unprecedented challenges – often simultaneously – while also driving major change. The lessons we learned this year aren’t just a look back. They can be a compass pointing to the directional shifts boards will need to embrace as governance moves into a faster, more AI-enabled era.

Five governance shifts boards must prepare for in 2026

What will change: Boards will move beyond passive reporting and lean into more 

 Predictive analytics and scenario planning will become part of everyday conversations, helping directors navigate volatility before it hits.


Why? Director confidence hit historic lows in 2025. Our 

 conducted in partnership with Corporate Board Member, landed at just 4.8 out of 10, among the lowest since the pandemic. That’s a wake-up call for faster, smarter decision-making. If you’re curious whether sentiment is shifting, our Q4 results will be live by the time this issue hits your inbox. Check them out to see if optimism is making a comeback.

What will change: Dashboards won’t just summarize risks. They’ll surface them within hours, and crisis protocols will kick in during the first 72. AI-powered assurance will scan massive datasets to catch anomalies as they happen, and directors will be able to ask complex questions in plain language and get instant answers. Oversight will move from reacting after the fact to staying ahead of the curve, a fundamental change in risk management.

 7.9 out of 10. Quarterly updates aren’t enough anymore. Boards need early-warning systems and integrated intelligence to keep pace.

3) AI governance moves to the top of the agenda

What will change: Agentic AI is moving fast, from assisting to acting. Boards will need to build AI literacy, test for bias and keep humans in the loop to manage less visible risks.

Why: Two-thirds of directors used AI tools in 2025, but 

, 57% of respondents said their organizations had deployed AI in one or more areas of the business, but only 36% had audited usage.As AI deployment climbs higher on the priority list for 2026, closing this governance gap is critical.

4) Integration becomes a growth essential

What will change: M&A ambitions will stall without tech integration. Boards that prioritize scalable platforms will unlock faster, cleaner transactions and reduce risk during rapid growth periods as integration readiness becomes a board-level KPI.

 conducted in partnership with Wilson Sonsini and NetSuite, found only 4% of organizations had fully integrated GRC and financial systems.

What will change: Board agendas will shift toward forward-looking conversations powered by predictive analytics and cultural insights. Directors will widen their lens beyond financials to include culture and workforce resilience, using anonymized data to spot risks before they surface.

Why: The ability to anticipate, not just react, will define effective governance in 2026. Boards that lean on AI-driven scenario modeling and continuous feedback loops will stay aligned with fast-changing realities.

Turning 2025 board lessons into a 2026 action plan

2026 will reward boards that act, not just react. That means pairing human judgment with AI-driven foresight, embedding continuous assurance and integrating systems for scalability. Governance is moving from static to dynamic – and the boards that thrive will be ready to keep pace.

Check out the full blog on trends shaping governance in 2026.

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Work smarter across risk & audit: How our AI innovations are making every review count

Boards brace for 2026: Confidence rebounds, risk looms

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