What is GRC and How Can it Help Your Business?

What is GRC?

GRC is an acronym for Governance, Risk, and Compliance. It refers to a business or organization’s ability to synchronize its processes to achieve business objectives. It’s an integrated collection of practices that enhance your business’s ability to achieve goals while addressing risks and acting with integrity.

Let’s break this down letter by letter.

Governance

Governance is about building and developing strong governing structures, procedures, and practices for your business. Think of governance as the formal rules of the road that keep everything running smoothly and on track.

Risk or Risk Management

Risk Management is all about the ability to predict, mitigate, and manage the risks that could negatively affect your business. This increases the stability of your operations while decreasing liability.

Compliance

Compliance is about maintaining your industry’s specific regulations and frameworks to keep your business operating legally and efficiently. It’s also about demonstrating an ability to adhere to the controls.

What Does a GRC Program Do For You?

In short, it’s a scary world out there with risks seemingly increasing all the time and with increased risk comes increased regulation.

A strategic GRC program can save your business, especially for those operating in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, engineering, and government industries. These industries are heavily regulated and require strict compliance with a myriad of frameworks and regulations because they have a lot at risk. So what do we mean by “save your business”? Heavily regulated industries must comply with various regulations and frameworks specific to their industry. If found out of compliance, businesses can incur fines, fees, and even lawsuits. Additionally, a well-designed GRC program can help keep your business operating smoothly and efficiently while helping you achieve your company’s goals.  

What Industries Benefit Most from GRC Programs?

As you’ve just read, some industries have stricter compliance needs and typically get the most benefit from a GRC program. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

• Healthcare
• Finance
• Pharmaceuticals
• Manufacturing
• Engineering
• Government Organizations

What Regulations & Frameworks Do We Help With?

With over 600 clients, ISOutsource helps with many businesses across 4 states and a variety of regulation and standards compliance needs. Below are some core regulations for which we offer support.

Regulations

• • EAR – Export Administration Regulations
  • FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corp
  • HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  • PCI – Payment Card Industry
  • SEC – Securities Exchange Commission
  • FFIEC – Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
  • FINRA – Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
  • GDPR – General Data Protection Regulation (EU)
  • GLBA – Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
  • ITAR – International Traffic in Arms Regulations
  • PIA – Privacy Impact Assessment
  • SOX – Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Frameworks

• • COBIT – Control Objectives for Information Technologies
  • COSO – Committee of Sponsoring Organizations Controls & Frameworks
  • DFARS – Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement
  • GRI – Global Reporting Initiative Standards
  • ITAF – Information Technology Assurance Framework
  • ISO27000 Family/Series – International Standards Organization
  • ISO38500 – International Standards Organization
  • HIITRUST – Health Information Trust Alliance
  • ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library
  • NIST – National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • SANS CIS – SANS Institute, Center for Internet Security Controls
  • SOC 2 – Standard Occupational Classification

Take Our GRC Assessment Quiz

To see where your business stands currently, head over to our GRC Assessment and take a short quiz to grade the preparedness and maturity of your business’ security.

Have more questions? Let us know! We’re looking forward to it.