The future of GRC: Why a unified approach is no longer optional
Organizations don’t fail because they take risks — they fail because they mismanage them. In a world where regulatory pressures are rising, cyber threats are evolving and corporate accountability is under a microscope, governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) can no longer be an afterthought.
Yet, many companies still rely on disjointed processes, outdated tools and fragmented reporting — leaving them vulnerable to oversight failures, inefficiencies and strategic missteps.
A recent report by GRC analyst Michael Rasmussen of GRC 20/20 explores the shifting GRC landscape and the advantages of a unified, technology-driven approach. It highlights how organizations can move beyond fragmented systems and manual processes to build a more proactive, data-driven GRC strategy.
Here, we summarize the key insights from the report and explore how organizations are leveraging the Diligent One Platform to enhance risk and compliance management.
You’ll discover:
- What defines the future of GRC and why integration has become business-critical
- How fragmented GRC systems create blind spots in risk visibility and compliance
- Why unified platforms deliver competitive advantages in strategy execution
- How Diligent enables unified GRC for the future
What is the future of GRC?
The future of GRC centers on unified platforms that connect governance, risk and compliance functions into integrated workflows supported by artificial intelligence and real-time analytics.
This transformation replaces the siloed, reactive approaches that characterized traditional GRC with proactive, intelligence-driven oversight that aligns with strategic business objectives.
Recent data reveals the urgency: According to Diligent Institute's Q3 2025 GC Risk Index, business risk levels surged to 7.9 out of 10, representing a 36% increase since the start of the year.
Meanwhile, Diligent’s Transaction Readiness Report found that 60% of organizations maintain siloed or only partially integrated GRC and finance systems, with a mere 4% achieving full platform integration. These statistics spotlight why unified GRC is now critical for effective governance.
From reactive compliance to strategic enablement
Traditional GRC operated as a cost center focused primarily on regulatory compliance and audit preparation. Organizations implemented separate systems for each function, creating disconnected islands of risk information that prevented comprehensive enterprise visibility.
The future of GRC repositions these functions as strategic enablers. Unified platforms provide leadership with enterprise-wide risk intelligence that informs strategic decisions, identifies growth opportunities and prevents governance gaps that could derail transactions or damage stakeholder confidence.
According to What Directors Think 2025 research from Corporate Board Member, FTI Consulting and Diligent Institute, 76% of directors now prioritize growth opportunities, a sharp turnaround from recent years' focus on cost-cutting measures.
This strategic shift requires GRC infrastructure that accelerates rather than impedes business velocity.
The integration imperative
"There needs to be collaboration between risk and the business, vertically up and down, but then also horizontally across the organization," says Michael Rasmussen, CEO of GRC Report. "The problem is there are silos."
These silos create dangerous blind spots. Organizations cannot effectively assess enterprise risk exposure when threat information remains trapped in departmental systems.
They struggle to demonstrate comprehensive compliance when control evidence lives in disconnected repositories. Additionally, they fail strategic objectives when governance processes operate independently from business operations.
The future of GRC eliminates these barriers through unified platforms that break down organizational silos and create single sources of truth for enterprise risk, compliance status and governance effectiveness.
Real-time intelligence over periodic reporting
Monthly risk committee reports and quarterly compliance updates no longer provide the velocity that business decisions require.
The future of GRC delivers real-time intelligence through continuous monitoring, automated alerts and dynamic dashboards that give stakeholders immediate visibility into emerging threats and compliance status changes.
This shift from periodic reporting to continuous intelligence fundamentally changes how boards and executive teams engage with GRC. Rather than reviewing historical summaries, they assess current conditions and predict future scenarios using AI-powered analytics that surface patterns human analysis might miss.
From siloed to strategic: A new era of GRC
Governance, risk and compliance have traditionally been treated as separate disciplines, each managed with its own systems, teams and reporting structures. This fragmented approach leads to blind spots, inefficiencies and increased risk exposure.
The report, Connecting GRC vertically and horizontally, highlights key pain points organizations face when GRC functions remain disconnected:
- Limited visibility into enterprise-wide risks
- Compliance gaps due to inconsistent data and reporting
- Inefficiencies from manual workflows and redundant processes
- Lack of alignment between governance, risk, and strategic priorities
To overcome these challenges, organizations must adopt a unified GRC strategy — one that connects governance, risk and compliance in a holistic framework.
Key findings on the future of governance, risk and compliance
The report emphasizes that companies embracing an integrated GRC platform see measurable improvements in risk management, compliance efficiency and governance effectiveness.
Instead of reacting to risks as they arise, these organizations use real-time insights, automation, and cross-functional collaboration to anticipate challenges, drive smarter decisions and align GRC with the board’s strategy.
1. Breaking down barriers: Seamless integration & collaboration
One of the most significant barriers to effective GRC is organizational silos — where risk, compliance and audit teams operate in isolation, each relying on separate tools and datasets.
Technology plays a critical role in dismantling these silos. Platforms like Diligent One integrate seamlessly with existing workflows, eliminating manual data entry, reducing errors and ensuring real-time visibility across departments.
By connecting teams, automating processes and delivering real-time risk intelligence, organizations can proactively manage threats rather than react to them.
2. Scalability and adaptability: Future-proofing GRC
As regulatory landscapes shift and risks evolve, organizations need GRC solutions that scale and adapt over time. A rigid, one-size-fits-all approach no longer works.
Unified GRC platforms are designed for flexibility — allowing companies to customize their GRC framework to fit their unique needs. With modular capabilities spanning enterprise risk, audit, third-party risk, policy management and more, organizations can evolve their GRC strategy in lockstep with their growth.
See AI's impact on GRC firsthand
Missed the Diligent AI Innovation Summit? Access expert sessions on-demand to discover how AI is transforming governance, risk and compliance.
Watch sessions on-demand3. The value of a unified GRC platform: What organizations are achieving
The report highlights how companies that transition to a centralized, technology-driven GRC platform experience tangible benefits, including:
- Proactive risk identification and prioritization — reducing surprises and crisis management
- Increased compliance efficiency — minimizing regulatory penalties and audit failures
- Significant time and resource savings — freeing teams for more strategic initiatives
- Enhanced resilience and agility — adapting quickly to emerging threats
- Greater accountability and transparency — ensuring governance aligns with business strategy
- Streamlined reporting — delivering leadership with real-time, data-driven insights
How Diligent enables unified GRC for the future
The Diligent One Platform integrates governance, risk, audit, compliance and ESG functions on a single cloud-based infrastructure with 100+ third-party system connections, including Salesforce, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle.
AI capabilities embedded across the platform accelerate risk identification through benchmarking against 180,000+ real-world risks, automate regulatory monitoring and synthesize complex data into board-ready intelligence.
Diligent ERM delivers centralized enterprise risk management with Moody's benchmarking data, real-time dashboards and workflow automation. Organizations achieve significant cost savings versus manual management and FedRAMP and DoD IL5 authorization for stringent security requirements.
Additionally, Diligent Internal Audit provides AI-powered analytics and continuous assurance with integrated ACL Analytics, enabling 100% data coverage rather than sample-based testing.
These solutions integrate on a unified platform, eliminating multiple vendors while enabling organizations to start with specific capabilities and expand as requirements evolve.
Client validation: Real-world GRC transformation
Organizations using the Diligent One Platform consistently praise its ability to unify GRC functions, enhance board-level engagement and integrate seamlessly with existing systems.
"Diligent was an incredible partner in our implementation. They were open to our ideas and customer needs, ensuring we could be working in the tool immediately," shared a Chief Risk Officer at a global financial institution.
Beyond technology capabilities, Diligent's customer support and commitment to continuous innovation differentiate the platform. Clients highlight enhancements like advanced risk quantification, operational resilience and improved internal reporting already in development pipelines — ensuring long-term value rather than static solutions.
Ready to see how unified GRC transforms governance, risk and compliance oversight? Request a demo to discover how Diligent's AI-powered platform modernizes GRC infrastructure while delivering the real-time intelligence your board needs.
GRC is no longer just a compliance issue — It’s a competitive advantage
The insights from Michael Rasmussen’s report make one thing clear: A fragmented approach to GRC is no longer sustainable.
Organizations that continue to rely on disconnected processes and manual workflows are exposing themselves to greater risks — not just compliance failures, but strategic misalignment and missed opportunities.
A unified, technology-driven GRC approach is now a business imperative — not just for regulatory compliance, but for resilience, agility, and long-term success. The question isn’t whether your organization needs an integrated GRC strategy — the question is, how quickly can you implement one?
Get the full GRC 20/20 report
To explore the full findings and insights, download the complete GRC 20/20 Analyst’s Report.
Yes, I'd like a free copy!FAQs about the future of GRC
What are the biggest mistakes organizations make when modernizing GRC?
The most common failure is implementing technology without addressing organizational silos and change management.
Even the most sophisticated platform delivers limited value if teams continue working in isolation using old processes. Successful GRC modernization requires executive sponsorship, cross-functional alignment and clear communication about how new workflows change responsibilities.
Another critical mistake is underestimating data quality requirements. AI-powered platforms require clean, consistent data to generate reliable insights. Organizations should establish data governance standards, conduct data cleansing and implement validation procedures before deploying unified platforms.
How long does unified GRC implementation typically require?
Implementation timelines vary based on organizational complexity, existing system landscape and integration scope. Most organizations see value in three phases:
- Initial deployment (3-6 months): Core platform implementation, essential data migration and initial user training. Organizations typically focus on the highest-priority capability areas, achieving quick wins that demonstrate value and build stakeholder support for broader rollout.
- Process integration (6-12 months): Aligning GRC processes across functions, establishing common frameworks and building cross-functional workflows. This phase addresses organizational change management alongside technical implementation.
- Full optimization (12-24 months): Embedding risk-aware decision-making throughout the organization and realizing complete strategic value from integration. Most organizations see measurable benefits within the first 6 months, even while working toward full transformation.
What innovations will shape GRC in 2026 and beyond?
Several emerging trends will define the next evolution of GRC platforms:
- Predictive risk modeling: AI algorithms that forecast risk likelihood and potential business impact based on historical patterns, enabling organizations to allocate resources proactively rather than reactively addressing issues after they arise.
- Natural language interfaces: Conversational AI that allows stakeholders to query GRC data using plain language questions, eliminating the need for specialized platform training and democratizing access to risk intelligence across organizations.
- Ecosystem integration: Deeper connections between GRC platforms and broader enterprise systems, including ERP, CRM and financial planning tools, creating unified data flows that inform strategic decisions.
- Continuous stakeholder reporting: Evolution from periodic board reports to continuous stakeholder dashboards providing investors, regulators and other external parties with real-time visibility into governance effectiveness and risk management performance.
Organizations selecting unified GRC platforms today should evaluate whether vendors demonstrate commitment to innovation and have roadmaps addressing these emerging capabilities.
Request a Diligent demo and discover how unified GRC platforms deliver the integrated oversight capabilities your board demands.
More to explore
The Diligent effect: Proven savings in one consolidated platform
Explore the benefits of consolidating your GRC software with Diligent, the leading provider of governance, risk, audit, compliance and ESG solutions.
Uniting governance, risk and compliance: The power of a centralized platform
Discover why an integrated platform for governance, risk, audit and ESG reporting is critical to leveraging data and driving strategic insights.
Holistic GRC: An operational imperative
The objective of the GRC framework is to eliminate information silos and create a holistic approach to risk management across each function that operates to inform corporate decision-making.
