MetricStream State of Compliance Survey Reveals Tracking Third-Party Compliance and Automating Manual Processes are Key Risk Priorities

SAN JOSE, Calif., September 1, 2021 – MetricStream, the global market leader in integrated risk management and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC), today announced the results of the MetricStream 2021 State of Compliance Survey Report. Compiled from organizations across various sectors, the survey was done to understand the state of compliance programs and the impact of the pandemic on compliance management. Key findings show that almost half of the surveyed organizations found it challenging to track third-party compliance. Respondents are focused on three key areas: (1) enhancing regulatory and internal compliance assessments, (2) improving employee awareness with more compliance training, and (3) elevating third-party management.

“Keeping pace with the velocity of changing regulations while managing third-party vendors presents a significant challenge for organizations dependent on manual processes,” said Gaurav Kapoor, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, MetricStream. “To address the volume and complexity of regulatory challenges, organizations need tools that protect their brand reputation, while minimizing the risk of compliance violations as it relates to their organization and partners.”

The survey also highlights that compliance professionals are still largely dependent on manual processes, with just 19 percent using dedicated GRC or compliance management software. Tools such as spreadsheets, which are used by 40 percent of organizations, are not scalable and open organizations up to further risk. To proactively address compliance issues and conduct more frequent assessments, organizations must adopt more advanced, automated tools. Third-party regulatory content providers offer AI-powered solutions to automatically analyze content. Because of this, it is likely that more organizations will shift away from their manual processes to automation.

The Compliance Survey is based on the responses of executives from a range of industries, including banking and financial services, telecom, healthcare and life sciences, and manufacturing.

Key takeaways from the survey include the following:

• Tracking third-party compliance is the primary concern for almost half the organizations in this survey (48%). Manual compliance assessments and processes come a close second (44%), followed by the challenge of regularly updating policies and procedures (43%).
• 64% of organizations said that their top priority was to enhance regulatory and internal compliance assessments.
• 76% still manually track regulatory websites to map changes and analyze their impact on their business.
• 63% of organizations are still using inadequate productivity and knowledge management software to manage compliance.
• 57% of compliance managers engage with the frontline to respond to queries related to policies, regulations, processes, and controls, strengthening their risk processes by engaging business-facing teams.

For the complete findings and to learn what’s next for compliance, download the complete State of Compliance Survey Report 2021 from MetricStream.