How to Optimise Your GRC Program

GRC program optimisation is the process of improving how your organisation manages governance, risk, and compliance. It focuses on reducing friction, aligning GRC to business strategy, automating routine tasks, and embedding continuous improvement — turning GRC from a compliance burden into a growth enabler.

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It’s Q4. Your audit is next week. And your GRC dashboard? It's a mess.

Your team is buried in spreadsheets. Controls are half-updated. No one knows who owns what. Sound familiar?

Here’s the good news: you're not failing. You’re just working inside a system that wasn’t designed for speed, scale, or strategic alignment.

That’s where GRC optimisation comes in.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to transform your GRC program into a high-impact, low-friction engine that supports real business growth.

Not with theory — but with grounded steps, practical tools, and stories from the field.

Ready? Let’s get to work.

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If you're still building the foundations, check out our guide to implementing a GRC program for step-by-step setup advice.

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What GRC Program Optimisation Really Means

Optimising your GRC program isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things, better.

A well-optimised GRC program is:

• Aligned to strategy
• Measured with clear metrics
• Supported by automation
• Owned across the business
• Built for continuous improvement

Think of it as tuning an engine — not overhauling it. You're improving the maturity of your GRC program.

That means faster response, clearer visibility, and stronger control without starting from scratch.

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This shift from static compliance to dynamic, outcome-driven GRC is what separates reactive teams from resilient ones.

So how do you actually raise your GRC maturity?

That’s where the GRC Optimisation Framework comes in.

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The GRC Optimisation Framework

You don’t need a big bang overhaul. You need momentum.

The GRC Optimisation Framework is a 5-phase model that helps you gradually improve your governance, risk, and compliance program — one practical win at a time.

Each phase builds on the last, creating a compounding effect that improves performance, transparency, and business alignment.

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Phase 1: Find the Friction

This is where we start. The pain points. The blockers. The bottlenecks.

What to look for:

• The task everyone dreads (manual audits, duplicate evidence requests, unclear ownership)
• Repeat findings in audits or assessments
• Inefficient workflows that require constant human follow-up

🔍 Real Talk: I worked with a mid-sized fintech where the audit prep took over 100 hours. By identifying just two key friction points — manual evidence requests and undocumented processes — we cut that time in half in one quarter.

What to focus on next:

• Ask: "What part of GRC causes us the most frustration or delay?"
• Map the pain to real risks or outcomes
• Prioritise based on business impact and visibility

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Phase 2: Reconnect to Strategy

Too many GRC programs operate in isolation. To optimise, you must make GRC a business enabler.

You’ll recognise this need if:

• GRC feels like a checkbox exercise
• Leadership is disengaged
• Controls don’t align with core objectives

What to focus on next:

• Map GRC activities directly to business goals (e.g., customer trust, resilience, speed to market.) To make this tangible, explore how to align GRC with business strategy and drive executive engagement.
• Use risk and compliance as strategy inputs, not afterthoughts
• Reframe GRC as performance protection, not paperwork

🎯 Pro Tip: Link your top 5 business priorities to your top 5 risk themes. Present that alignment at the next leadership meeting.

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Phase 3: Close the Gaps

This is where you identify weaknesses and fix them. Not all at once — but with purpose.

According to NC State ERM Initiative, only 37% of organisations have a complete enterprise risk management process — a gap that presents both risk and opportunity.

Here's how to close the gap:

• Run a quick GRC maturity assessment
• Score your program across dimensions like ownership, automation, documentation, engagement, and response speed
• Triage and prioritise based on risk exposure and effort

🧠 Tip: Every gap should have a named owner, a defined timeline, and a success metric. Not sure who should own what? This guide to GRC roles and responsibilities breaks it down clearly.

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Phase 4: Streamline and Automate

Now that you’ve mapped the problems and aligned the strategy, it's time to get lean.

Where to begin:

• Pick one high-friction process (e.g., quarterly access reviews)
• Document the manual workflow
• Choose a tool that integrates with your tech stack
• Automate one small step: reminders, evidence pulls, approvals, etc.

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According to Vanta, organisations that adopt GRC automation report stronger decision-making and increased stakeholder trust.

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What to focus on next:

• Build momentum with low-risk wins
• Standardise and test new workflows
• Involve control owners early to ensure adoption

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Phase 5: Build the Feedback Loop

Optimisation isn’t one-and-done. You need to inspect, adapt, and evolve.

What this looks like:

• Quarterly retrospectives with GRC stakeholders
• Learning from audit findings, incidents, and control breakdowns
• Adjusting metrics, roles, and documentation as needed

📈 Metrics to watch:

• Audit cycle time
• Number of repeat issues
• Policy acknowledgement rate
• Time to remediate high-risk findings

🔥 Pro Tip: Publish a "GRC Pulse" dashboard each quarter. Show trends, wins, blockers, and one bold next step.

This framework turns GRC optimisation into a practical, repeatable loop — not a one-time project. Every success builds confidence and fuels the next improvement.

Ready to get started? Choose one phase. Take one step. Let momentum do the rest.

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Quick Checklist: Is Your GRC Program Optimised?

Use this to gut-check your current state:

• ✅ We've mapped our current GRC maturity and know where we stand  
• ✅ Our GRC activities align directly with business goals  
• ✅ We've automated repetitive tasks like evidence collection and risk reviews  
• ✅ Metrics like audit readiness and remediation times are tracked monthly  
• ✅ Each GRC process has a clear owner, workflow, and timeline  
• ✅ We conduct quarterly retrospectives and update our GRC roadmap accordingly

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Real-World Wins: What Optimisation Looks Like in Practice

1. ‍Fintech Scale-Up: From Chaos to Confidence - A fintech I worked with was drowning in manual audit prep. We automated their AWS, GitHub, and Okta evidence collection. Result? SOC 2 readiness in 3 days instead of 3 weeks — and a 60% reduction in audit-related stress. For more ideas, check out this breakdown of GRC automation opportunities.
2. ‍Regional Bank: From Siloed Risk to Strategic Oversight - Risk data lived in silos. We implemented a shared risk taxonomy and centralised dashboards. Execs started getting weekly risk insights tied to KPIs. Quarterly reviews shifted from fire drills to foresight.
3. ‍SaaS Provider: Unlocking Capacity with Automation - Their CISO was spending 30+ hours/month chasing evidence. We mapped workflows, identified bottlenecks, and automated controls. She now uses that time to coach teams and drive strategy.

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Metrics That Matter

To track the effectiveness of your GRC program, focus on metrics that measure both outcomes and maturity. Here are six high-impact metrics to start with:

• Residual Risk Score: Quantifies the level of risk remaining after mitigation. A lower score signals stronger control effectiveness and better risk posture.
• Time to Mitigate High-Risk Issues: Measures how long it takes to remediate critical risks from identification to resolution. A long cycle signals resource or ownership gaps.
• Audit Findings Over Time: Tracks the volume and severity of audit findings across reporting periods. The Ponemon Institute estimates the average cost of non-compliance at $14.8 million per incident — making preventive controls more than just a checkbox A declining trend shows your controls are getting stronger.
• Policy Acknowledgement Rates: Measures how many team members have read and acknowledged critical policies. This is your compliance awareness pulse check.
• Training Completion Rates: Reflects whether employees are completing mandatory training. High rates boost accountability and culture; low rates highlight enforcement issues.
• Escalation Rate of Key Issues: Tracks how often high-risk issues are formally escalated to leadership. A low rate may signal cultural or communication breakdowns.

🎯 Use these metrics as part of your quarterly GRC review. Tie them to your business goals — and use them to prioritise improvement.

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Common Bottlenecks to Watch For

If your GRC program feels stuck, look for:

• Siloed Ownership: Risk, audit, and compliance not talking to each other
• Manual Overload: Spreadsheets everywhere. No single source of truth
• Audit Anxiety: Panic before every review
• Low Engagement: Policies unread. Training ignored. Roles unclear
• Unclear Roles and Responsibilities: Ownership is undefined, duplicated, or absent — making decision-making slow and inconsistent
• No Feedback Loop: Incidents keep repeating. Metrics don’t improve

Fixing these doesn’t require a full rebuild. Just start with one.

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Quick Wins You Can Try This Week

• Run a 15-minute GRC stand-up with your top 3 control owners
• Identify one process to automate (e.g., access review reminders)
• Rewrite a 5-page policy into 1-page plain English
• Ask each team to list their top 3 risks
• Set up a dashboard for policy acknowledgment or risk status

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Final Thought: GRC Should Be a Growth Enabler

Optimising your GRC program isn’t just about compliance. It’s about creating clarity, consistency, and control across your business.

When done right, GRC becomes a competitive advantage:

• Your audits run smoother
• Your risks are easier to spot
• Your teams are aligned
• Your leaders make faster, better decisions

So start small. Pick one friction point. Spin the flywheel.

And remember: you don’t need to do everything. Just the next right thing — consistently.

Want a ready-to-use checklist to assess your GRC maturity? Subscribe to the GRCMana Newsletter and get the tools, templates, and strategies you need to build a program that works in the real world.

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