Overview : Many Organization face challenges due to Changes in Business Environment. Many solution, tools and platforms are operated in silos face higher cost and inefficiency. Integrated GRC solution helps Organization to define their Business Rules ,achieve Objectives and manage uncertainties.

What is GRC : GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) is a set of Process and Procedure guidelines to help Organization achieve their Business Objectives and ensures they are meeting Compliance Requirement and Business Risk. GRC is not only a technical solution, but a structured approach to aligning IT with business objectives, effectively managing risk and meeting compliance requirements, across your entire organization.

Let’s look in to each Components

Governance:

Governance is the set of rules, policies, and processes that ensures corporate activities are aligned to support Organization Business goals. Governance Activity ensures Critical Information are reaching appropriate stakeholders on time for Decision making and instructions are followed systematically and in effective manner. This Governance Activity should be Designed and applied for the entire Organization and also make sure it is tracked and Audited.

Risk:

 A risk is a probability that a threat will exploit a vulnerability causing harm to your organization like Data Exploitation, Ransomware attack etc.. Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and controlling financial, legal, strategic and security risks in an organization. In an Organization Risk strategies such as Risk acceptance, Transfer, avoidance and reduction should be clearly defined.

Compliance :

Compliance involves adhering to rules, policies, standards, and laws set forth by industries , Institutions or government . Being Non-Compliant Cost the Organization heavily in terms Performance and  Penalty There are two main types of compliance , Corporate and regulatory. Both types of compliance involve a framework of regulations, practices, and rules to follow. Regulatory compliance for Industries differs based on the Domain.

Why we Need GRC Framework:

GRC framework helps an organization align its all  Business Units  with business objectives, managing risk and meeting regulatory compliance requirements. GRC helps to assesses whether controls have been deployed and are functioning correctly. Organization adopting GRC Framework helps in Proactive approach in Governance Practices ,Risk Controls, Decision making, Communication process and Business Continuity.

For Example a Financial Service deals with people money & Financial information like Credit Card Data etc.. so a regulation entity should make sure that Information Security standards are met like data encryption, security Certificate, Firewall etc..

How to Implement GRC

GRC Implements processes involves in identifying Security Controls, Risk , identifying key stakeholders who know and understand the organization’s vision and strategy well.

Implementation Steps:

• • • Understand GRC Needs  on the Current Platform
    • Assessment on Organization Risk & Controls
    • Select the Right GRC Solution, Tools and Platform.
    • Create Project Roadmap in Phased Approach
    • Implement & Monitor/Improve

The OCEG (“Open Compliance and Ethics Group”)has defined an open source approach called the GRC Capability Model.

Compliance – Industry domains :

• • • BFSI – SOX, FFIEC, PCI-DSS, BASEL
    • Healthcare & Life-sciences – HIPAA, Hi-Trust, FDA CFR, GxP.
    • Telecom-TRAI,TCM
    • Data Privacy -GDPR, CCPA
    • Energy & Utilities – NERC, FERC
    • Information Security – ISO 27000, NIST, CIS

GRC Benefits

GRC is necessary for all organizations irrespective of their Size. Below are the few benefits in implementing GRC Strategy.

• • • Improved Effectiveness of Governance.
    • Transparency & Accountability.
    • Elimination of silos in organization.
    • Increased visibility in to Risk , Threats and Vulnerabilities.
    • Compliance with required standards and regulations.
    • Reduced cost to organization.

Overall Successful GRC Implementation needs Leadership/ Stakeholders  and cultural changes with Consistent support from the IT Teams.

GRC software and tools

 

GRC software combines applications that manage the core functions of GRC into a single integrated package.

Most of the below features are included in the GRC tools .

• • • Dashboard
    • Risk Management Process
    • Content & Document Management
    • Automated Workflow management
    • Report & Analytics.
    • Auditing Tools.
    • KPI & Business Process

Also more advanced tools may leverage technology like artificial technology (AI) or machine learning (ML) .

Regarding Certification, they are desirable but not essential . ISACA,CISA (IT Audits), CISM / CISSP (Information Security)and CRISK (Risk Management)are few to mention.

GRC  pricing

Licensed Software for legacy solution are bit Costly .The Quotes  are based on Company size, no of users, and the required integration Components. The Cloud Based approach in SaaS model is cost effective. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) GRC platforms are generally very affordable and they billed on a monthly or annual basis. SAP GRC charges between $500-15,000 per license. Opensource GRC is free, this is a collaborative platform to share GRC compliance mappings, controls and policies templates.

Conclusion

GRC brings together different part of Business . GRC system is a value-added process and needs to be embedded in the Organization Culture and it  requires continuous evaluation and improvement.