Five Reasons Customers Are Demanding GRC Software

In our ever-changing industry, the surge in demand for governance, risk, and compliance expertise, puts MSSPs in the perfect spot to ride the GRC wave and capture this thriving new revenue stream. Here are five catalysts behind the current GRC swell

The increase in vendor questionnaires and third-party due diligence.

More and more third parties want visibility into your customers’ security and compliance postures before they’ll do business with them. This is getting the attention of your customers’ CEOs and Boards to spend more money on cybersecurity and compliance that follow industry frameworks like CIS, ISO, PCI, SOC 2, CMMC and many others. MSSPs can leverage this strong third-party demand by using GRC software that easily builds, manages and instantly reports their customers’ security and compliance more easily than any other approach.

Multiple security frameworks are now the norm.

As threats increase, regulatory requirements do too. Companies are finding they must implement not only core frameworks that fit their industry like SOC 2, PCI, HIPAA, etc., but also emerging frameworks like GDPR & CCPA and CMMC. New frameworks are being introduced every year, putting pressure on an organization and their MSSP to quickly map them into their current program. For MSSPs, new frameworks create more revenue streams. With GRC software, MSSPs can instantly add new frameworks to any program while increasing revenue.

Security talent shortage affects every company’s ability to build great compliance.

With a significant cybersecurity talent shortage (over 2.7 million unfilled security jobs in the U.S. alone according to (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study), the paradigm of how companies build, manage, and report their cybersecurity programs is shifting. The combination of an MSSP’s expertise with a GRC platform helps automate governance, risk and compliance 50% more efficiently to both the MSSP and the end customer vs. relying on high-paid talent alone.

Ransomware insurance is becoming scarce, forcing companies to rethink security.

Ransomware claims grew 485% in 2020 and ransomware itself is expected to be even higher in 2022, causing insurance companies to struggle with pricing premiums and paying ransomware claims. Cyber insurance will no longer be a safety net, and many insurance experts believe ransomware insurance will be discontinued altogether in 2022, if not impossible to even obtain. Companies can change their tune by turning to an MSSP who builds great security and compliance programs to decrease the likelihood of ransomware attacks instead of thinking “if we’re attacked, insurance will pay for it.” On the positive side, GRC software can provide deep insights and reporting to insurance underwriters who struggle to capture enough data in the underwriting process. This is a big trend every MSSP should watch.

Reporting. Reporting. Reporting.

As more departments, CEOs, and Boards of Directors participate in and are held accountable for their company’s cybersecurity and compliance, reporting is critical. The adage “if you can’t report on it, it doesn’t exist” is becoming more important in cybersecurity. Platforms like Slack and Salesforce act as central systems for global teams to build, manage and report each department’s respective development, sales and marketing initiatives, and progress. Security and compliance are no different. But reporting needs to be easy, concise, and highly visual for non-IT stakeholders. Pulling data, evidence and risk levels from dozens of systems and platforms to create ad hoc reporting is time consuming and grossly inefficient. GRC software that delivers real-time, one-click reports in multiple formats instantly delivers the insights companies need to be confident in their cybersecurity and compliance managed by their MSSP.

Are you riding the GRC wave rising from your customers?

These five trends begin and end with a severe lack of security talent that every company needs. Even with 8,000+ security tools in the market, companies are struggling to build great security and compliance programs themselves – keeping track of threats, finding the right security tools, stitching them together, generating reports, and managing dozens of individual vendor SLAs. More and more companies are turning to MSSPs to outsource their compliance and GRC software is a natural way to efficiently meet the demand while growing new revenue streams and reducing operational expenses.

It has been said before…the GRC wave is here. Will you ride it or miss the boat?