The Most Important Use Case for AI in GRC Right Now and Next Year
By George Totev, Chief Information Security Officer
Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) professionals face an increasingly complex and dynamic landscape. As regulations evolve and organizations grow, the need for efficient and scalable solutions has never been greater. AI is emerging as a transformative tool, helping us cut through the complexities of managing compliance. In this post we will review what’s the most important use case for it in GRC today—and what will it be next year?
The Most Important Use Case Right Now: Simplifying Framework Adoption
Today, one of the biggest challenges in GRC is onboarding new frameworks and regulations. Whether it’s achieving compliance with baseline frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST CSF or preparing for sector-specific standards like HIPAA, FedRAMP or DORA, organizations struggle with the time and resources required to map controls, identify gaps, and develop implementation plans. Very often the implementation timeline is driven not only by customer needs but also very often by regulatory pressure, as is the case with DORA and EU AI, for example. Such external pressure, combined with long preparation time may impact and change our prioritization - something that we do not want. We do not have much control over the regulatory schedule; however, we could affect the preparation/implementation timeline.
This is where AI offers a solution by significantly reducing the effort and time needed for these tasks. An AI GRC Assistant like Trustero stands out in this space with features designed to streamline framework adoption:
- Automated Control Mapping: Trustero uses AI to analyze your existing policies, controls, and processes, mapping them to the requirements of new frameworks. This significantly reduces the time and efforts necessary to determine the delta between the existing and desired state, and come up with an implementation plan.
- Gap Analysis and Recommendations: As you design and implement the new controls, the platform identifies gaps in your compliance posture and suggests actionable steps to address them. For example, if there is a misalignment between a newly updated policy and corresponding controls, Trustero will flag it and recommend specific updates.
- Pre-Audit Readiness Checks: Audit readiness is probably one of the most stressful times for a GRC team. Trustero conducts automated pre-audit scans, providing a clear picture of your compliance status before engaging with external auditors. This feature has helped organizations reduce audit preparation time from months to weeks.
These capabilities could not only significantly reduce time, efforts and stress related to onboarding a new framework or regulation but also allow for more in-depth analysis. For example, we can sit down with a stakeholder and explore “What If?” scenarios to come up with an optimal solution in terms of impact to the organization.
The combination of new regulations and business expansion create pressure on GRC teams and tools like Trustero become indispensable in reducing that stress.
The Most Important Use Case Next Year: Continuous and Agile Compliance
We cannot overemphasize the impact agile development had on the software industry. It significantly reduced time to market, allowed for companies to more closely follow customer needs and reduced the risks associated with infrequent, big changes. Arguably, it made software development less expensive.
At the same time, GRC is still in the “Waterfall World”. We think in terms of audit schedules, control periods, onboarding large control sets, etc. - all the while the business itself is becoming more agile. This paradigm is not sustainable anymore.
Considering that the goal of compliance is really risk reduction, what if we borrow some pages from agile development:
- As the regulatory environment and business necessities change, continuously assess the risks and address them, independent but in conjunction with frameworks
- Continuously assess policies, controls, standards, procedures, evidence and react in real time.
- Continuously evaluate the compliance posture and look for opportunities to optimize cost/risk reduction and provide benefits for teams outside of GRC/Security
Many organizations are there, in terms of the mindset. However, in the current environment such an approach will require so much effort that it could be adopted only by some companies, on a very limited basis. On the other hand, continuously monitoring and analyzing large quantities of data is a prime case for AI use. Properly trained AI GRC Assistant like Trustero could make the “Agile Compliance” dream a reality. Here are some of capabilities that directly support such vision:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Trustero’s continuous monitoring capabilities allow organizations to track their compliance posture in real time. The platform analyzes data from multiple sources, detecting deviations or risks as they occur. The issues could be resolved when they occur, not when they are discovered during audit readiness or, worse, audit.
- Dynamic Adjustments: As regulations or business necessities change, Trustero automatically updates its mappings and recommendations to reflect new requirements. For example, when, as a result of changes in the risk profile, a policy is changed, Trustero will check all the associated controls, evidence, etc. to make sure that everything stays aligned and suggest remediations, if necessary.
- Integrated Analysis and Reporting: Trustero simplifies reporting with real-time dashboards tailored to auditors, regulators, and internal stakeholders. The platform ensures that reports are always up-to-date and ready for review. It also allows for “What If?” analysis to answer Sales questions like “What would it take for us to implement X?” or Legal inquiries like “Are we compliant with Y?”.
By automating these processes, Trustero empowers organizations to move beyond static, point-in-time compliance and embrace a more dynamic, proactive approach.
How Trustero Bridges the Present and Future
Trustero’s AI-powered platform is uniquely positioned to address both the immediate and long-term needs of GRC professionals.
- For Today: It simplifies framework adoption, helping organizations achieve compliance faster and with greater precision.
- For Tomorrow: It lays the foundation for Agile Compliance, ensuring organizations remain adaptive and resilient in the face of evolving regulations and business necessities.
AI is not just a tool for managing today’s challenges—it’s the foundation for navigating the future of GRC. Whether you’re focused on achieving compliance now or maintaining it seamlessly next year, Trustero is your partner in turning compliance into a strategic advantage.
What use cases do you see as most critical for AI in GRC? Let’s discuss—I’d love to hear your thoughts.
George