Why Generative AI Is the Next Best Investment for GRC Teams

Generative AI has been one of the top buzzwords in tech and business for the past couple of years. From lightning-fast content creation to optimal customer service, this breakthrough has overhauled how companies operate and interact with their customers.

With an increasing number of positive use cases, gen AI is continuously proving that it's not just a trend but a game-changer that has revolutionized various industries in more ways than one.

Gen AI Dominating Industries and Sectors

Sales and marketing are two of the top sectors that have greatly benefited from generative AI, demonstrating remarkable creativity and efficiency. Content creators now have powerful tools at their disposal, saving them time and effort while maintaining high-quality output.

In fact, Salesforce recently reported that 76% of marketers rely on generative AI tools for basic content creation and writing copy, while 7 out of 10 testify that these solutions help them eliminate busy work and focus on strategic work.

Other industries are not shying away, including healthcare, eCommerce, banking and finance, automotive, and agriculture, just to name a few. With its promising benefits and top-notch technology, generative AI has become a cornerstone in modern business strategies.

The GRC Dilemma

One of the more apprehensive sectors is Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC). GRC teams are the ones who manage and mitigate risks, ensure compliance with regulations, and maintain ethical standards within an organization.

Their role is crucial in safeguarding a company's reputation, financial stability, and legal standing.

Given these responsibilities, it’s understandable why GRC teams are equally skeptical and apprehensive about delegating critical tasks to a machine. They’re keenly aware that any misstep or oversight in risk management or compliance could have far-reaching consequences, both financially and reputationally, for the organizations they serve.

For one, GRC teams operate within highly regulated sectors where adherence to laws and regulations is paramount. The ever-evolving nature of regulations, coupled with the potential legal consequences of non-compliance, makes GRC professionals cautious about relying on AI systems that may not fully comprehend the intricacies of these rules.

Moreover, concerns about data privacy and security loom large. Generative AI often necessitates access to extensive datasets for training and optimal functioning. GRC teams are acutely conscious of the critical significance of data privacy and security.

They harbor apprehensions that the use of AI might inadvertently expose sensitive information or introduce vulnerabilities that malicious parties could exploit, potentially jeopardizing an organization's integrity.

But as the digital age further advances, it’s becoming increasingly clear that generative AI is a groundbreaking investment that can change the face of compliance, security, and risk management, as long as GRC teams proceed with a cautious, measured, and responsible approach led by strong and forward-thinking GRC leadership.

Reaping the Benefits

Without AI, keeping data secure and ensuring that systems are in compliance with government and industry standards is not just prolonged, but also exposed to heightened human error risks.

However, keep in mind that AI can be trained to execute these functions with a high degree of accuracy within shorter timeframes.

Accelerate GRC Processes, Minimize Errors

Gen AI not only accelerates the GRC process but also enhances security by minimizing the chances of human-induced leaks of sensitive information. Consequently, AI contributes to bolstering compliance standards, ensuring the maintenance of rigorous levels of privacy and quality assurance.

Beyond the added efficiencies, generative AI is also a strategic investment that saves both time and money, effortlessly addressing intricate GRC queries, from deciphering evidence requirements to comprehending risk nuances.

Automate Routine GRC Duties

Embracing a forward-thinking stance is paramount in today's digital landscape. As other departments forge ahead with generative AI adoption, lagging is simply not an option for GRC teams.

The benefits are evident: AI seamlessly automates routine GRC duties, such as compliance monitoring and risk assessment, liberating GRC professionals to channel their efforts towards strategic and value-driven tasks.

This transformation leads to heightened efficiency and scalability, enabling GRC teams to handle more extensive compliance responsibilities and adapt to evolving regulatory landscapes.

Uncover Patterns Fallible to Humans

Generative AI's rapid data analysis uncovers patterns often eluding human perception. This invaluable capability empowers GRC teams to make more informed decisions and foresee potential risks and compliance challenges.

With real-time compliance and risk monitoring, AI enables organizations to proactively tackle issues, reducing the likelihood of costly regulatory violations.

Armed with data-driven insights, AI becomes an invaluable ally in the decision-making process, enabling GRC teams to make more precise and timely choices.

Thus, embracing generative AI not only future-proofs GRC operations but also paves the way for a more agile and effective compliance approach.

Third-Party Risk Management

Anyone in third-party risk management knows the following facts:

• Managing the risk of your vendors is crucial because vendors are involved in most security incidents.

• The process done today delays and prevents the adoption of new technology vendors, and therefore prevents enterprises from accessing technology and innovation.

• Despite the investment, you can’t really secure your technology supply chain. There are just too many vendors and too much data to analyze on each vendor.

With gen AI, this problem can finally be solved. LLMs are great at analyzing enormous amounts of data, and generative AI can generate relevant reports.

What’s Next?

Linguistic Generative AI is the latest breakthrough that goes beyond standard GRC workflow optimization and acts as the next-gen security expert that supports the heavy lifting – from understanding the meaning of the text to shortening security assessments and tasks that can be conducted manually.

This means that GRC teams can rely on AI to not only automate routine operations but also to uncover subtle threats and vulnerabilities that might elude traditional approaches, due to AI’s capability to connect dots from international attacks and vulnerabilities, in order to point out malicious trends.

As a result, security and GRC teams are empowered to reduce risks, save time, gain competitive advantage, and hyper-accelerate sales cycles at a faster, more efficient pace than traditional practices.