Automation and AI Are Essential to the Future of Compliance
There’s no doubt about it: AI and automation are trendy right now. While some of today’s uses may come and go, we see an enduring case for them in GRC.
Not only is compliance increasingly critical to every organization’s operations, but the old ways of doing things no longer keep pace. Manual processes, spreadsheets, and outdated systems are slow, prone to errors, and fail to keep up with the ever-evolving regulatory landscape. The pressure on businesses to stay compliant while managing increasing amounts of data and risk is at an all-time high. Automation and AI unlock new ways to address these challenges.
The time is now. Leveraging automation and AI technology is increasingly imperative for managing compliance correctly.
The future of compliance is not just about avoiding penalties—it's about deeply understanding the risk landscape, driving business growth, and staying ahead of the curve. Automating GRC accelerates time to market, reduces risks, and aligns security and compliance programs to maximize value. AI can streamline GRC and make it smarter, faster, and more adaptable to today’s complex business environment.
But how do we move from traditional, manual processes to automated solutions?
Compliance as Code: The Foundation for Automation
The key to modernizing GRC lies in treating compliance requirements as executable code. This "Compliance as Code" approach is more than a buzzword; it represents a shift in how to think about compliance.
This mindset embeds compliance directly into the development and operational workflow, ensuring that checks and enforcement happen by default instead of being tacked on as an afterthought. This method, modeled on the DevOps cycle, leverages automation to reduce manual workload while making compliance activities faster, more intelligent, and more resilient.
Proactive and Continuous Compliance
This shift towards automation is directly linked to bringing compliance into the early stages of development. Threading compliance throughout the process makes adapting to changing threat environments, regulations, and compliance requirements much easier.
Continuous compliance supports business goals without slowing down innovation. Teams can identify and address potential issues early on, proactively minimizing risk and building trust right into products.
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Taking a Thoughtful Approach to AI in Compliance
Looking ahead, AI will revolutionize compliance automation. These systems won’t just exist to speed up the work by taking over routine tasks; their primary purpose will be to enhance human effort.
Anecdotes believes that AI for GRC should entail intelligent, purpose-built solutions that are deeply integrated into your systems and workflows. AI designed for GRC and trained on an organization’s unique business context has a superhuman ability to identify emerging risks, flag them for human attention, and help the GRC team address issues proactively. This approach raises the bar for more efficient and effective risk management than the world has ever seen.
The future of compliance is not just about avoiding penalties—it's about deeply understanding the risk landscape, driving business growth, and staying ahead of the curve. Automating GRC accelerates time to market, reduces risks, and aligns security and compliance programs to maximize value. AI can streamline GRC and make it smarter, faster, and more adaptable to today’s complex business environment.
— Ruchi Khurana, Lead Product Manager, Cybersecurity and Compliance, Google Cloud
Addressing the Challenges
While AI and automation offer enormous potential in GRC, the road ahead is not without its challenges. Adopting AI is easier said than done because it’s not just onboarding new technology. The Compliance as Code approach involves a fundamental shift in mindset, which will require change management.
You’ll need to find ways to address cultural issues, skills gaps, and initial costs. But the long-term benefits of efficiency, risk reduction, and enhanced security are well worth the investment.
The first step is to build a business case for achieving continuous compliance. Highlight the ROI of automation and prioritize initiatives to maximize the technology’s impact.
<span class="blue-box-span">A large American personal finance and financial technology company reported that automation saved their cybersecurity engineers 40–50% of their time — equal to roughly $300,000 annual savings.</span>
Key Questions for the Future:
- How can we ensure automated compliance solutions are adaptable to evolving regulations?
- How can we mitigate potential security risks associated with automation?
- How do we balance the need for automation with human oversight, especially in decision-making processes?
- What are some of the critical first steps or initial investments to prioritize?
This Moment Is a Call to Action
While some teams are excited enough about task automation, emerging technologies hold much more potential. The future of GRC is about integrating compliance into the DNA of our organizations, from products to processes.
We are at an inflection point. Organizations that fail to take advantage of it will fall behind, while those that make the most of it will set themselves up for success.
To shine in the decade ahead, now is the time to shift left, embrace AI, and transform compliance from a cost center into a source of value.
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