Techie Tonic: Why 'GRC-by-design' is redefining cost, risk and operational performance

Economic uncertainty, rapid digital transformation, and intensifying regulatory scrutiny, organizations are under growing pressure to do more with less. Rising operational costs, expanding compliance obligations, and increasingly complex risk landscapes have made traditional approaches to governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) both expensive and inefficient. Against this backdrop, a new paradigm is gaining traction across industries “the GRC-by-design model”.

Unlike conventional GRC frameworks, which are often layered onto existing processes as afterthoughts, GRC-by-design embeds governance, risk management, and compliance requirements directly into business processes, technology architectures, and decision-making workflows from the outset, “it’s but built-in, not bolt-on”. This shift represents not merely a change in tools, but a fundamental rethinking of how organizations manage risk and compliance while driving operational efficiency.

For many organizations, GRC has long been synonymous with siloed teams, manual controls, redundant audits, and reactive compliance efforts. Separate departments often manage regulatory compliance, internal audit, cybersecurity, and enterprise risk management, each using different tools and frameworks. The result is duplication of effort, inconsistent reporting, and inflated costs.

Compliance activities frequently rely on manual documentation, spreadsheet-based tracking, and point-in-time assessments. These approaches are labour-intensive and error-prone, increasing the likelihood of control failures while driving up operational expenses. Moreover, as regulations multiply across jurisdictions, from data privacy and financial reporting to environmental and operational resilience, complexity grows exponentially.

The cost is not only financial. Overly complex GRC structures slow decision-making, frustrate employees, and hinder innovation. In some cases, compliance becomes perceived as an obstacle to business agility rather than an enabler of sustainable growth.

GRC-by-design takes inspiration from principles such as “security by design” and “privacy by design.” Instead of bolting controls onto processes after they are built, organizations design processes, systems, and products with governance, risk, and compliance requirements inherently embedded.

In practice, this means integrating regulatory requirements into process workflows, automating controls through technology, and aligning risk management with strategic objectives. Policies are translated into system rules, compliance checks are automated, and risk indicators are monitored continuously rather than periodically.

For example, in a GRC-by-design environment, a new product launch would automatically trigger risk assessments, compliance checks, and approval workflows within existing project management and IT systems. This reduces the need for separate reviews, manual signoffs, and last-minute remediation.

One of the most compelling advantages of GRC-by-design is cost reduction. By eliminating duplicate controls and automating compliance activities, organizations can significantly reduce the resources required to manage risk and regulatory obligations. Continuous monitoring replaces periodic audits, lowering audit costs while improving control effectiveness.

Automation also reduces human error and rework, which are common drivers of hidden costs. Standardized controls and shared data models enable teams to reuse evidence across multiple regulatory requirements, further reducing compliance overhead.

In addition, embedding GRC into digital transformation initiatives, such as cloud migration, enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations, or DevOps pipelines, ensures that compliance is addressed once, correctly, rather than repeatedly and expensively.

Beyond cost savings, GRC-by-design simplifies organizational complexity. A unified approach to governance, risk, and compliance breaks down silos and creates a single source of truth for risk and compliance data. Leadership gains clearer visibility into enterprise-wide risk exposure, enabling faster and more informed decisions.

Simpler, integrated GRC processes also enhance business agility. When compliance is built into workflows, teams spend less time navigating approvals and more time focusing on innovation and value creation. This is particularly critical in highly regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, and energy, where speed and compliance must coexist.

As regulatory expectations continue to evolve and digital ecosystems become more interconnected, the cost and complexity of traditional GRC models will only increase. GRC-by-design offers a proactive, scalable alternative, one that aligns risk management with business strategy rather than treating it as a standalone function. A “predictive Risk Management often helps informed Decision Making”.

Organizations that embrace this model are better positioned to reduce operational and compliance costs, improve resilience, and build trust with regulators, customers, and stakeholders. More importantly, they transform GRC from a necessary burden into a strategic advantage.

This approach consolidates fragmented, siloed operations into a unified framework, often leading to a 70–90% reduction in time spent on manual compliance activities and up to 30% reduction in overall compliance costs.

In a world where efficiency and accountability are paramount, designing governance, risk, and compliance into the fabric of the organization is no longer optional. It is a business imperative.

Wonderful solutions and platforms in the market, and some promising startups as well challenging each other to showcase this capability to deliver a holistic solution, we are evaluating, stay tuned…