Technology and Intelligence: Trends and Predictions 2018

GRC - THE BACKBONE OF A SYSTEM OF INTELLIGENCE

Gunjan: GRC is no longer only about apps or workflows or checklists. It’s about building a true system of intelligence that can harvest critical insights from huge volumes of data. This curated intelligence will not only be meant for GRC professionals, but also for executives, CEOs, and boardrooms. Soon, we might be able to automatically group thousands of suppliers based on specific data points, and then, in those groups, zero in on those suppliers that pose the highest risk. In fact, just as enterprise resource planning (ERP) became the backbone of the system of transactions, and customer relationship management (CRM) became the backbone of the system of customer engagement, GRC will become the backbone of a system of intelligence.

THE PROMISE OF AI

Gunjan: What we may have considered science fiction is already happening! Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world as we know it, and GRC will be impacted too. Entire pizzas are being made using AI, and you can have personalized robotic chefs in your own kitchen, thanks to companies like Moley Robotics Meanwhile, in health care, exciting advances are being made in predictive intelligence tools to diagnose and manage new diseases even before their symptoms are detected. I would not be surprised if future generations of GRC software have natively built AI algorithms that could perhaps discover risk automatically, or anticipate compliance behaviors and patterns based on machine learning. Many GRC tools are already incorporating capabilities such as predictive modeling, mind maps, and advanced visualization. But these are just baby steps. GRC teams and solution providers will need to collaborate, and collectively find ways of making AI a real asset in GRC.

REGTECH - THE PRIME FOCUS OF GRC INNOVATION

French: Just as biotech and fintech are driving innovation in the life sciences and financial services industries respectively, regulatory technology (regtech) will drive R&D investments among major GRC technology providers. The obvious leaders in innovation are AI technologies with their ability to extract new risk and cyber threat intelligence from large volumes of unstructured and structured data. However, other focus areas are also emerging. Soon, Alexa-like chatbots will allow GRC technology users to swiftly navigate applications, build reports, and uncover the relationships between risks and other data objects such as controls, performance indicators, processes, and assets.
Hybrid human-machine scoring of third-party risks, including cybersecurity and financial risks, will enhance third-party onboarding and governance programs. Facial recognition will provide a new way to control data access and separation of duties. To gain a competitive advantage, GRC vendors will increase their investments in regtech, both organically and through acquisitions.

AUGMENTING HUMAN DECISION-MAKING

Brenda: Disruptive innovations in technology will strengthen risk management programs, and augment human decision-making with forward-looking risk insights. Cognitive and algorithmic risk intelligence (“what happened and why”) will give way to anticipatory and assistive risk intelligence (“what is likely to happen and what has to be done”). Aided and unaided machine learning will create business rules that drive intelligence. Advances in natural language processing will enable organizations to intuitively explore and analyze risk data on compliance, people, processes, applications, assets, and business continuity. These tools will intelligently connect to multiple data sources and databases, pulling together information, and extracting the insights needed by companies
to make swift, risk-aware decisions.