2024 GRC Trends: Future-Proof Your Organization Now!

Introduction

Yet another year has passed!! We witnessed some major events, including escalating geopolitical tensions, the collapse of banks in the US and Singapore, major mergers and acquisitions, and significant technological advancements in the field of generative AI. In a world where the volume and velocity of risks are increasing, navigating the complex landscape of governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) has become more crucial than ever. Consider these recent statistics: 

• 70% of all economic sectors worldwide are directly impacted by extreme weather events such as drought, heat waves, flooding, and hurricanes
• 98% of global organizations have integrations with at least one third-party vendor that has been breached in the last two years
• 93% of multinationals reported losses linked to political instability

The past year has been a testament to the evolving challenges faced by organizations globally, from economic uncertainties, geopolitical tensions, and new regulations and laws to the lingering repercussions of the 2019 global pandemic. Most importantly, none of these risks exist in isolation – they’re deeply interconnected, with cascading impacts for organizations.

Navigating the Interconnected Risk Landscape Needs New Strategies

Risks are no longer solitary entities; instead, they form a complex tapestry of interconnected challenges that are intensifying in both frequency and severity. A glimpse into the events of the year unveils the extent of this interconnectedness.

The Silicon Valley Banking Crisis in March 2023 saw several other banking failures as well, including Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, and Heartland Tri-State Bank being affected. In August 2023, the shutdown of the NATS flight planning system in the UK caused hundreds of thousands of passenger flights to be delayed or canceled. Over 2000 flights were canceled, leading carriers to face estimated losses of £100m, mainly comprising care costs and lost revenue. The tragic August 2023 Maui fire quickly unfolded as a series of failures, including communication breakdowns, severe weather conditions, miscalculations of fire severity, and issues with essential services like electricity and water, culminating in the destruction of Lahaina and substantial loss of life. The incident underscores how the convergence of various failures swiftly escalated what could have been an isolated event into a catastrophic crisis. 

As we approach 2024, the expectations for GRC professionals are to connect the dots, see issues coming, and engage in some level of predictable forecasting. Now, more than ever, understanding and adapting to the upcoming GRC trends is not just a strategic advantage—it's a necessity for thriving in an increasingly interconnected world.

2024: A Confluence of Challenges and Opportunities

The forthcoming year promises a confluence of challenges and opportunities, making it an urgent requirement for organizations to reevaluate their strategies and fortify their GRC frameworks. So, what are the top trends that will shape the narrative of tomorrow? 

• Connected GRC Programs Powered by Flexible and Easy to Use Platforms

  
  To effectively respond to the growing network of interconnected risks, a connected GRC strategy that seamlessly extends across the enterprise, facilitating cohesive visibility, communication, and information, emerges as a crucial solution. Next-gen GRC cloud platforms that unify risk, compliance, audit, cyber, and ESG functions and offer the elasticity and scalability through low code/ no code and user-friendly interfaces play a pivotal role in this paradigm shift. 

• Cognitive and Continuous Technologies for GRC 

  
  AI for GRC holds tremendous promise in 2024 and beyond. The power of cognitive AI to turn data into real-time decisions is immense, with powerful use cases in AI-powered threat intelligence, automated planning and scoping of risk assessments, and AI-powered fraud detection capabilities. Techniques and solutions like continuous control monitoring and risk and regulatory intelligence feeds will further be embraced as organizations seek to proactively identify vulnerabilities and enhance the risk and control oversight capability. 

• Strengthening of Resilience and Business Continuity Programs 

  
  Resilience will take center stage as organizations will prioritize the need to predict, anticipate, and manage risks before they manifest, and bounce back quickly if impacted. Globally, the regulatory discussion around operational resilience is evolving as well. The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which came into force this year (and will apply from 17 January 2025 in the EU) aims to strengthen the digital operational resiliency of the financial sector. Organizations will pay more attention to enable and empower the frontline to ensure resilience across entities and third parties. 

• Shift from Reactive to Proactive Compliance 

  
  To meet the rising compliance demands, organizations will continue to build compliance resilience and agility in 2024. Centralized platforms that help them automate control testing and evidence collection for all their enterprise controls, continuously scan the horizon with automated feeds from trusted content sources, integrate compliance management systems with other enterprise systems, and apply AI and automation for automated recommendations will be adopted.

• Fortifying the Extended Enterprise 

  
  With the high volume of fourth and fifth-party risks and events resulting from the complexity of extended ecosystems, the focus on third-party risk management (TPRM) will get stronger in 2024. To own risk in the extended enterprise and construct a more resilient third-party ecosystem, organizations will increasingly adopt automated end-to-end processes for information gathering, onboarding, real-time monitoring, risk assessments, compliance, and control assessments.

Elevate your GRC strategy with our eBook – a detailed exploration of 2024's top 10 risk trends.

Stay Future Ready with MetricStream

At MetricStream our ConnectedGRC solutions help your organizations go beyond the traditional integrated approach that focuses merely on technical integration of different tools to a more connected approach at the business level to help analyze and understand the interconnectedness of risk and resilience by connecting data to generate meaningful insights. With ConnectedGRC, your organization is now empowered to break down enterprise silos and establish a single source of truth with all the risk insights you need to navigate the future. Packed with best practices, deep domain capabilities, AI-powered intelligence, and risk quantification tools, you are all set to tackle the most pressing GRC challenges of today and tomorrow. 

Interested in learning how you can power your GRC program with a connected strategy? Request a demo now!