Eight Trends Shaping GRC by 2025
Here’s a question to ponder: What the world of governance, risk, and compliance will look like by 2025?
Cynical people would say we can’t tell. And if we were trying to make specific predictions about how GRC will evolve in the future, those cynics would probably be right. This field is too broad and fast-changing to talk about the far future (and in GRC, 10 years definitely is “the far future”) with any precision. But when you consider the broad direction of trends in business, technology, regulation and economics—actually, you can draw a few general conclusions about where we will be a decade from now.
In my latest white paper, “What GRC Will Look Like in 2025 and How to Plan for It Now,” commissioned by NAVEX Global, I identify eight major trends likely to shape ethics, compliance, and risk management in the next 10 years. Give it a read and tell me what you think.
The easy response is to wonder which of those predictions are most important—but that’s not quite right. Every compliance officer will have his or her own unique experience in the next decade. The better question to ask is which of these trends are bound to affect you no matter what. Look at it that way, and two stand out.
Demographic Changes
Plenty of demographic changes coming in the next 10 years. Baby Boomers will exit the workforce; even the youngest will be over 60 by 2025, and half will be over 70. What’s more, we may well see a shortage of skilled labor until the Millennial generation (who still will largely be under 40) gain more career expertise.
In the business world, demographics are like the atmosphere: we all breathe the same one, and if there’s not enough of it, everything you do requires more effort. Compliance officers will work in that atmosphere, as companies try to find purchase in that challenging economy; and you will feel the results of it personally, too, as you manage more complex ethics & compliance programs with potentially fierce battles for the resources you need.
Data-Driven, Tech-Enabled Compliance Programs
You’ll need to use technology to enhance your compliance program’s capabilities—to do what you do now not just more efficiently, but more powerfully and intelligently. Imagine telling your CEO, “Let’s make this investment now so that in two years I can do the job of two compliance officers, since we might not see enough growth to justify a new hire and I might not find that second person anyway.” That’s the sort of conversation we’re likely to hear more often in the future.
How can you build programs where the technology augments the human labor, so you can confront more complex challenges? That’s one question you’ll need to answer.
Get the Full Picture
Download the full white paper today to read about the other trends explored in the paper. Some may affect you more directly than others, but all will force you (and your organization) to make better sense out of more complicated pictures.
It should be an interesting ride.
Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? What did I miss? Download the full paper on the NAVEX website, then share your thoughts in the comments on this post or over on Twitter with the hashtag #GRC2025 and let’s continue the discussion.