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Blogs

Power Reads For GRC Professionals: Top Blogs, eBooks and Webinars

blog-dsk-Weekly-Blog-Upload-Feb-4th-2024
7 min read

Introduction

As organizations navigate an increasingly complex risk and compliance landscape, staying ahead of the latest insights is more critical than ever. Over the past year, our community has engaged with a wealth of thought leadership—from insightful blogs and eBooks to impactful webinars. In this roundup, we’re spotlighting the most-read and most-watched resources that resonated with governance, risk and compliance (GRC) professionals worldwide. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your risk management strategies, enhance compliance frameworks, or explore emerging trends in cyber and IT risk management, these standout reads are packed with valuable takeaways you won’t want to miss.

Must-Read Blogs

Check out the blogs that have highlighted timely trends in risk and compliance from evolving regulatory mandates to emerging threats like cyber risk and third-party vulnerabilities along with providing actionable insights and expert perspectives.

Are Risk Heatmaps Really Dead? What’s Next?

While heatmaps have been popular for visually representing risks based on their probability and impact, their oversimplification and inability to capture complex, interconnected risks in modern organizations have made them less effective. This blog explores the reason why risk heatmaps must be modernized and combined with other tools—like risk registers, quantitative assessments, and scenario testing—to provide a more nuanced, dynamic approach to enterprise risk management.

Update on the SEC’s New Cybersecurity Rules: Insights and Outlook

Since the SEC's cybersecurity disclosure rules were finalized in July 2023, companies have been navigating new reporting requirements for incident and risk disclosures. While some organizations have voluntarily filed disclosures, the process of defining materiality for cybersecurity events has posed challenges. This blog discussed how companies must balance the need for compliance with the risk of over-disclosure, which could expose vulnerabilities.

Changing Face of Cyber and IT Compliance Calls for Automated Compliance

The rise in cyberattacks and data breaches has made regulatory compliance a complex and urgent task for organizations. New regulations, like the SEC’s cybersecurity rules and the EU's DORA, are driving increased scrutiny on IT security and data privacy, with penalties for non-compliance growing. This blog focuses on how automated compliance solutions, like MetricStream CyberGRC, are key to helping organizations efficiently manage this evolving landscape, by streamlining processes, and reducing the risk of penalties.

DORA Compliance Guide: The Road to Building Digital Operational Resilience

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a key EU regulation set to enhance the operational resilience of financial organizations by focusing on ICT risk management, incident classification, third-party risk, and operational testing. With DORA now live as on 17 January 2025, organizations must plan next steps to align their risk management frameworks to meet these comprehensive requirements.

The Case for an Integrated Approach to GRC in the Modern Enterprise

This blog emphasizes the importance of integrating GRC functions to improve decision-making and operational efficiency. By breaking down silos, organizations can gain real-time visibility, enhance collaboration, and predict risks more accurately.

Excited to read our other blogs? Access all of our blogs here!

eBooks Packed with Insight

Equip yourself with the knowledge needed to thrive in an increasingly complex landscape and stay ahead of the curve. These highly relevant titles address the pressing challenges and trends shaping the future of GRC by covering topics such as GRC trends, the role of AI in compliance, and strategies for enhancing compliance resilience.

Interested to discover more eBooks on GRC? Access all eBooks here.

Webinars That Redefined GRC Thought Leadership

Our monthly webinars hosted analysts, experts, thought leaders, and GRC professionals from diverse industries resulting in interesting discussions, best practices and valuable insights. The recordings are available for you to watch. Click on the links to access the recordings.

Cyber Compliance and Resilience: From DORA to NIST & Beyond

In today’s evolving cyber risk landscape, two themes are at the forefront—regulations and resilience. Dorian J. Cougias, Lead Analyst and Co-founder, Unified Compliance Framework (UCF) and I had an interesting conversation on how strong controls and governance are key to cyber resilience regulations like DORA, ensuring compliance through harmonization, metrics, and system continuity. A common controls framework enhances consistency, while rigorous implementation, testing, and monitoring strengthens overall cyber protection.

Looking Forward to 2025: Strategies for Modern GRC in the New Year

In this webinar, GRC Pundit Michael Rasmussen of GRC 20/20 and I had a lively discussion where we examined key trends, opportunities, and risk resolutions for 2025. We covered what remained relevant in risk as 2025 began—and what needed an update along with top trends in operational, enterprise, cyber, compliance, audit, and interconnected risk management.

Compliance Automation: A Must-Have for Modern Compliance

As regulatory demands grow more complex, compliance automation has become essential for modern businesses to streamline processes, reduce risks, and enhance efficiency. Sumith Sagar, Associate Director, Product Marketing, MetricStream, and I discussed the role of automation and analytics in modern compliance along with proactive compliance strategies for implementing a positive compliance culture.

Navigating NIS2: How to Mitigate Cyber Risk, Ensure Compliance & Resilience

The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (NIS2) alongside other cyber risk-focused regulations, such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CER), demonstrates the increased attention paid to enhancing digital resilience and navigating constantly changing risk environments. In this webinar, experts from Deloitte and MetricStream provided essential guidance and practical insights on how companies can identify, assess, and mitigate cyber risks effectively to protect their operations.

Mastering GRC Implementation: Proven Strategies for Success

Whether you're in the initial stages of your GRC journey or seeking to optimize existing frameworks, your organization needs actionable strategies to ensure a smooth and effective GRC implementation. In this webinar, Somkant Mishra, Senior GRC Manager, CRH and along with MetricStream GRC experts shared expert knowledge on implementing GRC frameworks that align with business goals and regulatory demands.

Find out more about the other webinars we hosted. Watch the recordings here!

Ensure GRC Efficiency and Effectiveness with MetricStream

MetricStream's and ConnectedGRC—along with the three product lines BusinessGRC, CyberGRC and ESGRC--empowers you to manage all your GRC needs on a single, integrated platform. From enterprise and operational risk management to compliance, audits, third-party governance, cyber risk management, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance), our solutions streamline your processes and provides a unified view of risk and compliance.

With ConnectedGRC, you can:

  • Gain a comprehensive view of risks across your enterprise and third-party network
  • Minimize regulatory risks with structured compliance assessments, continuous control monitoring, and regulatory change management tools
  • Enhance governance through robust policy and procedure management solutions
  • Leverage AI and advanced analytics for timely risk and compliance insights
  • Align GRC strategies with industry standards, best practices, and frameworks

Discover how MetricStream can accelerate your GRC journey—request a personalized demo today!

Pat McParland

Patricia McParland AVP – Marketing

Pat McParland is AVP of Product Marketing at MetricStream. She is responsible for creating product messaging, product go-to-market plans, and analyzing market trends for MetricStream's cyber compliance and third party risk product lines. Pat has more than 25 years of financial data and technology marketing experience at Fortune 1000 brands as well as startups and has led product and marketing teams at Dow Jones and Dun & Bradstreet. She has a BA from the College of William and Mary and lives in Summit, New Jersey.