5 Ways a GRC Platform Can Elevate Your Security and Compliance Programs With Fewer Resources

Do More with Less: 5 Ways a GRC Platform Can Elevate Your Security and Compliance Programs With Fewer Resources

Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) requirements have been cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive. Worst yet, the outdated programs that were traditionally designed to manage GRC requirements can bust budgets, take months—if not years—to select and implement, and often have low user engagement. 

As a result, many employees come up with their own ways to tackle their GRC requirements. They might write it down in a word processing document and create customized and often complicated spreadsheets to manage what’s required and how it’s being done. 

While it’s always been important to ensure you’re running the most efficient organization possible, that may not have ever been truer than in today’s economy and complex threat landscape.  

So, how can you maximize your cybersecurity and compliance resources and get the most out of what your team can do? Here are five ways to elevate your program using fewer resources and ultimately saving you time, money, and hassle. 

1. Don’t build your frameworks from scratch. Instead of piecemealing your controls and sub-controls in a spreadsheet to attempt to replicate a required or wanted framework, use a SaaS-based GRC platform that has the most common industry frameworks—including all controls and sub-controls—already ready for you in an expansive (and growing) library. Apptega’s library, for example, empowers you to adopt existing frameworks and controls instantly and has the power to let you create and manage custom frameworks that are unique to your organization’s unique needs. Eliminate the guesswork and implement and track framework compliance within an easy-to-use GRC platform like Apptega.  
2. Automate tasks. Security and compliance teams often get bogged down in technical work and unfortunately if your organization uses multiple frameworks that could mean your key team members are too busy juggling manual, repetitive tasks. Instead, consider adopting a GRC platform that can simplify these tasks and automate them for you. And, that includes replicating controls used in one framework across multiple so you don’t have to do the same work twice (or more). GRC Platform capabilities like Harmony (Crosswalking Frameworks) enable organizations to manage multiple frameworks as one mapped program. Free up your employees so they can focus on more important tasks at hand. 
3. Instantly know how well you’re doing. Have you ever heard you have an impending audit and for the next few weeks, sometimes months, you’re drowning in pulling data across disparate systems to create reports you think your auditor may need? And then what happens when mid-audit your auditor requests something you haven’t thought about? It becomes an all-hands-on-deck race to the finish to get what they need as fast, and as accurately as you can. Instead of trying to guess what you need, use a GRC platform that has real-time compliance scoring, a document repository, and reporting capabilities so what you need is always at your fingertips, even when auditors think about something you have not. 
4. Put the brakes on hiring. It’s incredibly difficult right now to attract and retain skilled security and compliance professionals. And, if you’re lucky enough to get the right people in the right roles, it’s not uncommon for them to eventually become stretched too thin, taking on a growing number of responsibilities as your organization and your requirements change and scale. There is a better solution. By adopting a GRC platform, you can get the most out of your people without overtaxing them. Look for a SaaS-based GRC platform that can automate manual tasks for you, provides you with a growing library of industry-recognized frameworks and controls, and can even help you quickly and clearly identify where you have gaps, then offer recommendations on how you can address them. 
5. Know when regulations change, without all the legwork. In the past several years, many organizations face an increased workload from a regulatory and compliance perspective. In addition to new mandates, existing compliance standards and frameworks are evolving to keep pace with the constantly changing threat landscape. Traditionally, keeping up with these changes requires a lot of legwork and time, seeking out updates, news reports, and bulletins to know what’s coming next and when. However, with a SaaS-based GRC platform that has framework and control libraries built right in, anytime one changes, it’s quickly evident right in the platform, meaning you’ve got less research to do so you can spend more time making the changes you need to stay compliant. 

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