Page 277 - Cyber Defense eMagazine Annual RSA Edition for 2024

of the past? By tying risks directly to cybersecurity controls, compliance obligations, incidents, policies,
and other factors, GRC leaders gain a more complete understanding of their risk profile. This enables
them to look at risk through a business lens, driving strategic value enabling the organization to engage
in effective risk-based decision making.

Talking about risk in business terms

Ultimately, the mission for a GRC team is to add value to the organization. That might come in the form
of driving greater efficiencies, limiting costs, reducing risk, or providing a framework to make risk-based
decisions. While a non-holistic approach to GRC might be able to tackle some of those goals, holistic
GRC allows an organization to tackle all of them. For most businesses, the only inevitability is change—
which means the ability to clearly illustrate the downstream effects of those changes is critical. A holistic
approach to GRC built on modern data management capabilities can dramatically reduce the amount of
time it takes to assess the impact of policy changes, understand the value of a new cybersecurity solution,
or determine how risky a new acquisition might be. Rather than relying on relational data to tell one, very
specific story, organizations can see the real-time impact up and down the value chain.

What does this mean in practice? It starts with examining how an organization’s risk posture looks when
stacked up against its business objectives. That means that while the ability to link risks to things like
security controls and policies is important, the real value of holistic GRC comes in its ability to overlay
those things with business analysis. For example, if an organization wants to break into an international
market, there are a wide range of elements that will impact its business operations. What compliance
standards does that new market have, and has the organization met them? If not, what will it take to meet
them, both in time and cost? Do the organization’s suppliers meet international standards, or will new,
local vendors be required? There are countless variables to consider when making a change to the
business, and a holistic approach to GRC allows the organization to see the impact that change will have
through one centralized solution.

A business might realize that while acquiring a competitor will generate new revenue, the cost of bringing
its aging cybersecurity program into compliance would be prohibitively high. On the other hand, that same
business might determine that while breaking into a new market will incur significant compliance demands
and require them to source new suppliers, demand is high enough in that market to justify the expense.
Holistic GRC allows organizations to quickly and easily assess these different variables through a
business lens—something that might otherwise have taken weeks or months. That means businesses
are armed with the data and visibility they need to make informed decisions, helping them understand
what risks an acquisition, new security investment, or expansion opportunity might carry and whether or
not moving forward is ultimately worth it.

Why is holistic GRC gaining momentum now?
Because holistic GRC can transform the way leaders approach risk-based decision making, it has long
been considered a holy grail for businesses – so why is it only gaining traction now? The answer is
simple: until recently, most compliance and security data was stored in rigidly structured relational

277