Governance Risk and Compliance

In 2026, you make Governance Risk and Compliance a business enabler by wiring it directly into ITSM and IT operations: linking controls to tickets, assets, changes, vendors and SLAs, and using AI plus continuous monitoring to prove resilience and compliance in real time rather than once a year.​​

What is Governance Risk and Compliance for modern IT teams?

Today, Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) for IT is the discipline of defining how technology decisions are made (governance), how technology-related threats are identified and treated (risk), and how obligations from laws, standards and contracts are evidenced (compliance) using integrated, data‑driven workflows. It has shifted from static policy libraries and annual audits to continuous, real‑time visibility across systems, services and vendors.​

Governance sets decision rights, policies and accountability across IT, security and business stakeholders so technology stays aligned to strategy and risk appetite. Risk focuses on quantifying and prioritizing threats such as outages, cyberattacks, third‑party failures and AI model misuse, then linking them to controls and remediation work. Compliance operationalizes regulatory and framework requirements—such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, CSRD or DORA—into controls, tests, evidence and attestations embedded in daily IT and security operations.​​

Key drivers behind modern GRC include rising cyber threats, expanding regulation in privacy, ESG and AI, and stakeholder expectations for transparency and resilience. For CIOs and CISOs, this means GRC can no longer live in spreadsheets and email; it must be integrated into ITSM, ITOM and security tooling so risk posture is always visible to the board.

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Why does the GRC market matter to CIOs and CISOs?

You should care about GRC now because it is becoming a core investment category, with budgets shifting from reactive audits to proactive, platform‑based risk management. Analysts estimate the enterprise eGRC market around USD 70 billion in 2024, with forecasts towards roughly USD 300 billion by 2034 and mid‑teens annual growth. Other studies project eGRC and GRC software segments growing at 11–14% CAGR into 2029–2031, underlining sustained double‑digit expansion.​

For IT leaders, this money is increasingly tied to technology and operations, not just legal and internal audit. Boards expect CIOs and CISOs to demonstrate quantified risk reduction, to show which services, vendors and regions drive residual risk, and to evidence compliance with complex regimes across privacy, financial crime, ESG and AI. That pressure is impossible to meet with siloed tools; it demands connected data across CMDBs, incident and change records, asset inventories, vendor contracts and security events—exactly where ITSM and ITOM platforms sit.​​

This is why integrated GRC is emerging as a “platform play” in many market forecasts. Vendors with strong workflow engines, CMDBs and analytics—such as ServiceNow, Freshservice, ManageEngine and HaloITSM—are increasingly positioned as foundations for enterprise GRC programs, not just IT ticketing.​​

What are the top Governance Risk and Compliance trends for 2026?

How is AI transforming GRC in 2026?

AI and machine learning are being embedded into GRC platforms to automate control monitoring, anomaly detection, evidence collection and regulatory change tracking, making compliance faster and more continuous. At the same time, leaders must manage AI‑specific risks such as model bias, opaque decisions and over‑reliance on automated recommendations.​

On the positive side, AI models can scan logs and tickets to flag control breakdowns, auto‑match policies to regulations, and generate audit‑ready evidence from ITSM data without manual screenshot hunting. Some eGRC offerings now advertise predictive analytics for risk trends and embedded AI copilots for compliance teams, reducing cycle times and headcount pressure. However, regulators are increasingly scrutinizing AI governance itself, pushing organizations to inventory models, document training data, and treat AI as a regulated asset class within their GRC scope.​

DataLunix’s own EchoViz framework reflects this direction by using an enterprise LLM and a common information model to automate continuous DORA/CSRF compliance monitoring across ICT assets, incidents, third‑party data and testing results. That pattern—AI over a unified risk and control data layer—is exactly where many ServiceNow and comparable platform roadmaps are headed.​​

Why is cyber GRC moving to continuous monitoring?

Cyber GRC is converging security, IT operations and compliance so you continuously monitor critical controls rather than rely on point‑in‑time audits. Ransomware, SaaS sprawl, cloud complexity and software supply‑chain risk mean that an outdated quarterly view of controls is no longer acceptable to regulators or boards.​

In practice, this pushes you to treat ITSM and ITOM data as first‑class inputs into cyber risk scoring. Incidents, vulnerabilities, configuration changes, failed patches and asset inventories from tools like ServiceNow, Freshservice, HaloITSM and ManageEngine can be mapped directly to cyber controls and reported as real‑time risk metrics. For DORA‑style frameworks, event logs and service maps from these platforms become evidence that critical ICT services, third‑party dependencies and resilience tests are governed and monitored end‑to‑end.​​

Continuous monitoring also changes how you work operationally. Instead of treating security exceptions as “one‑off” tickets, you standardize risk‑based workflows: high‑risk changes trigger additional approvals, certain incident types force root‑cause and control‑effectiveness reviews, and overdue remediations automatically escalate in both IT and risk dashboards.​​

How are ESG, privacy and AI rules being baked into GRC?

ESG and sustainability are now core parts of the GRC stack, particularly in Europe. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) dramatically expands mandatory ESG reporting, covering tens of thousands of companies and phasing in requirements from 2024 onwards. Recent reforms aim to simplify and digitize ESG compliance while still demanding robust, auditable disclosures on environmental, social and governance metrics.​

This is pushing enterprises to use eGRC platforms for both traditional risk/compliance and ESG. Organizations centralize greenhouse‑gas data, energy consumption, diversity and human‑rights metrics alongside policies, controls and assurance workflows. Many sustainability guides now explicitly recommend integrating ESG reporting with broader risk and control frameworks so climate, supply‑chain and reputational risks are managed like any other enterprise risks.​

Privacy and AI regulations follow a similar path: firms maintain processing registers, DPIAs, AI model inventories and vendor assessments within the same GRC tooling used for security and operational risk. That lets you link data‑protection and AI controls directly to IT assets in your CMDB and to incidents raised in ITSM, so privacy or AI failures flow into the same governance and remediation machinery.

How is GRC shifting from siloed tools to connected platforms?

Analyst research in 2026 highlights the limits of fragmented GRC functions and stresses the need for unified, integrated platforms. Many organizations still run separate tools for operational risk, compliance, audit, IT risk and vendor management, making it hard to align taxonomies, aggregate risk, or explain overall posture to executives.​

Modern best practice is to move towards enterprise GRC platforms that share a single data model and workflow engine, tying together governance, risk, compliance, audit, security operations and ITSM. McKinsey’s latest GRC survey emphasizes integrated risk taxonomies, consistent control frameworks and real‑time dashboards as hallmarks of high‑maturity organizations.​

ITSM and ITOM are central in this shift. Because platforms like ServiceNow, Freshservice, HaloITSM and ManageEngine already host tickets, service catalogs, CMDBs and automation, they are increasingly extended with GRC modules or integrated with eGRC suites to provide a connected “system of control.” That is exactly the integration pattern DataLunix helps clients design and implement.​​

How do ITSM and PSA platforms enable Governance Risk and Compliance?

At a practical level, your ITSM and PSA tools hold the operational data needed to make Governance Risk and Compliance measurable: incidents, changes, assets, service maps, SLAs, vendor tickets and time/financial controls. By configuring these platforms with the right workflows, fields and integrations, you effectively turn them into continuous control and evidence engines for GRC.​​

Below is a GRC‑relevant snapshot of the platforms DataLunix works with most often.

How do key platforms compare for IT‑centric GRC?

Platform	GRC‑relevant strengths	Best suited for
ServiceNow	Native integrated risk, policy, compliance and audit modules that sit on the same platform as ITSM, ITOM, SecOps and CMDB, enabling automated control testing, real‑time risk indicators and unified reporting.​​	Large, digitally mature enterprises needing end‑to‑end, enterprise GRC plus deep IT and security workflows.
HaloITSM	Modern ITSM with strong automation, reporting and flexible configuration that can feed risk and compliance dashboards; aligns well with ITIL and can be extended for practical GRC in mid‑market environments.​​	Mid‑size organizations wanting IT‑aligned GRC without the overhead of a full eGRC suite.
HaloPSA	PSA capabilities (projects, SLAs, contracts, billing) provide “operational governance” over service delivery, time, cost and scope, which can be mapped to client‑facing obligations and internal control requirements.​	MSPs and service providers needing to demonstrate governed, compliant delivery across multiple clients.
Freshworks Freshservice	Cloud ITSM focused on usability and fast deployment, with incident, change, asset and project features that can act as a hub for IT controls and audit trails, especially when combined with lightweight GRC tooling.​​	Mid‑market IT teams prioritizing speed and user experience while still needing auditable IT controls.
ManageEngine (ServiceDesk Plus & ITOM suite)	Broad portfolio across service desk, endpoint, network and application monitoring, plus strong ITAM and UEM; together these provide rich logs, access controls and asset data for compliance and IT governance.​​	Mid‑size enterprises seeking cost‑effective IT governance, asset and access control with regional deployment flexibility.

DataLunix’s company profile underlines that all four stacks—ServiceNow, HaloITSM, Freshservice and ManageEngine—are already used to standardize IT processes, maintain audit trails and enforce policy adherence, which are foundational GRC capabilities. The choice is less about “can this tool do GRC?” and more about “what level of maturity, automation and scale do we need, and at what cost?”​​

Which practical GRC use cases can you deliver on these platforms?

How can you automate IT controls and stay audit‑ready?

You can make audits dramatically easier by mapping IT controls to workflows in your ITSM platform and automating evidence collection. For example, change‑management policies, approval thresholds and segregation‑of‑duties rules can be enforced through mandatory fields, multi‑step approvals and role‑based workflows in ServiceNow, HaloITSM, Freshservice or ManageEngine.​​

On ServiceNow, integrated risk and ITSM modules let you link specific controls to change, incident and access records, schedule automated control tests, and auto‑generate audit workpapers. On lighter platforms, you can still standardize ISO 27001 or SOC 2 controls using templates, approval chains, attachment requirements and robust reporting across incidents, changes and problems.​​

DataLunix frequently helps clients move from spreadsheet control lists to workflow‑driven control catalogs, aligning each control with a ticket type, asset class or CI and then defining how evidence is captured and retained. That shift alone can cut audit preparation time and demonstrate a clear, repeatable GRC framework to regulators and customers.​​

How do you connect third‑party and vendor risk to ITSM?

Third‑party risk is no longer just a procurement concern; it is deeply operational. By using the CMDB and service catalogs in your ITSM tool, you can map which business services depend on which vendors and then link vendor incidents directly to those CIs and services. This provides an instant view of which contracts drive the most operational and cyber risk.​​

For MSPs leveraging HaloPSA, vendor and client SLAs, service credits and scope are already modeled as projects and contracts; linking this to incident and change data allows you to evidence governance across your client base. On ServiceNow or ManageEngine, you can integrate vendor risk assessments with operational data—such as uptime, ticket volume and security incidents—to drive more accurate, dynamic vendor risk scoring.​​

DataLunix’s EchoViz information model for DORA/CSRF compliance shows how third‑party registers, contracts and ICT assets can be unified with incident and testing data to meet strict regulatory expectations on ICT third‑party risk. The same architecture can be applied beyond financial services to any industry with critical supplier dependencies.​

How do you make policies real for IT operators?

Policies only matter if they are embedded into everyday workflows. In ITSM terms, that means your policies show up as catalog items, approval rules, mandatory fields, change models and SLA definitions rather than PDF attachments nobody reads.​​

For example, you can configure change types that automatically require risk ratings and impact assessments, and route “high‑risk” or “production” changes through enhanced approvals that include risk and security stakeholders. Policy exceptions can trigger special ticket types that demand documented justification, risk acceptance and time‑boxed remediation, all of which becomes audit evidence.​​

ServiceNow, Freshservice and ManageEngine all support knowledge bases and service catalogs that present policies in contextual, task‑oriented ways—such as “Request privileged access” or “Onboard new SaaS vendor”—each wired into the appropriate approval and logging flow. DataLunix typically layers on reporting that shows which policies generate the most exceptions, helping risk leaders refine both policies and processes over time.​​

How does DataLunix help operationalize Governance Risk and Compliance on your ITSM stack?

DataLunix is not a generic systems integrator; it is a specialist across ServiceNow, HaloITSM, HaloPSA, Freshworks and ManageEngine, with deep experience turning these tools into integrated service and operations platforms. That makes it a natural partner when you want to translate regulatory and framework language into concrete workflows, fields, automations and dashboards on your chosen ITSM or PSA stack.​

Typical engagement patterns include:

• Mapping frameworks like ISO 27001, SOC 2, DORA/CSRF, CSRD‑related IT controls, and internal policies into control libraries tied to ServiceNow or alternative platforms.

• Designing unified CMDB and catalog structures so business services, critical ICT assets, vendors and processes are consistently modeled and available to both IT and risk teams.​

• Implementing continuous control monitoring and risk dashboards using existing operational data, rather than asking teams to maintain parallel GRC spreadsheets.​​

• Advising on platform selection and licensing when ServiceNow is powerful but over‑sized for the budget or maturity level, and when mid‑market tools like HaloITSM, Freshservice or ManageEngine are a better fit.​​

  
  

EchoViz, DataLunix’s framework for DORA and similar regulations, demonstrates how it approaches complex regulatory change: a common information model, integrated registers, and AI‑enabled monitoring that can ingest data from multiple enterprise platforms. The same principles can be applied when you are building your IT‑centric GRC roadmap on top of ITSM.​

What next steps should IT and risk leaders take?

If you are responsible for technology risk and compliance, the path forward is less about buying another tool and more about integrating what you already have. Start by baselining your current GRC maturity—governance model, risk taxonomy, control coverage, evidence quality and reporting—and then identify where ITSM and ITOM data is underused.​​

From there, practical next steps include:

1. Unify service and asset data. Clean up your CMDB and service catalog so critical services, assets and vendors are clearly mapped, making risk scoping and impact assessment realistic.​​

2. Prioritize high‑value control workflows. Choose 5–10 controls (e.g., change approvals, privileged access, backup verification) and embed them deeply into ITSM workflows with clear evidence capture.

3. Pilot AI‑assisted compliance. Explore AI features in your tools or frameworks like EchoViz to reduce manual evidence collection and provide narrative risk insights from operational data.​​

4. Integrate ESG, privacy and AI into IT risk. Ensure ITSM captures the data you need for CSRD, DPIAs and AI model governance, and link those to your GRC registers.​

5. Engage a specialist partner. Work with a provider like DataLunix that understands both the regulatory language and the practical realities of ServiceNow, HaloITSM, HaloPSA, Freshservice and ManageEngine.​

   
   

If you want a more structured journey, you can treat this as a 60–90‑day “control and data integration sprint,” followed by phased expansion into vendor risk, ESG reporting integration and enterprise‑level dashboards. DataLunix is well positioned to co‑design this roadmap, leveraging its implementation track record and regional delivery centers to keep both timelines and budgets under control.​​

FAQ

How is Governance Risk and Compliance different when you run modern ITSM?

In a modern ITSM environment, Governance Risk and Compliance is no longer a separate reporting layer; it is an operating model embedded into tickets, changes, assets and SLAs. Your ITSM platform becomes both the control execution layer and the primary evidence store for audits and regulators.​​

Can mid‑market tools like HaloITSM, Freshservice or ManageEngine really support enterprise GRC?

Yes—if you design them thoughtfully. While they may not match ServiceNow’s native GRC modules, they can still enforce standardized processes, approvals, logging and reporting that satisfy many ISO 27001, SOC 2 and internal IT control requirements. You can always integrate them with lighter eGRC tools for more advanced risk analytics.​​

Where does ESG fit into Governance Risk and Compliance for IT?

ESG becomes part of GRC when IT systems are used to capture, govern and report the data that underpins sustainability disclosures, such as energy usage, incident response to environmental events, or supply‑chain dependencies. ITSM and ITOM platforms supply the operational telemetry and asset context that ESG and sustainability teams increasingly require.​

How should we think about AI in compliance and risk?

Treat AI as both an accelerator and a new risk surface. Use it to automate control monitoring, anomaly detection and evidence generation, but enforce clear governance around model training, validation, explainability and access controls. Many regulators now expect formal AI governance structures integrated into your broader GRC framework.​

Why partner with DataLunix instead of going directly to the tool vendor?

Vendors focus on selling and supporting their own platforms; DataLunix focuses on integrating those platforms into a coherent service, operations and GRC strategy across your environment. Its teams work across ServiceNow, HaloITSM, HaloPSA, Freshservice and ManageEngine, plus specialized frameworks like EchoViz, to help you design a technology‑agnostic, regulation‑aware operating model.​

Ready to turn GRC into a business enabler with DataLunix?

If you want Governance Risk and Compliance to feel less like a reporting burden and more like a reliable engine for trust, resilience and faster change, the next move is yours. Start by assessing how well your current ITSM and ITOM data supports risk, audit and ESG conversations, then identify the top control workflows you want to automate.

From there, a conversation with DataLunix can help you decide whether to deepen ServiceNow, modernize on HaloITSM or Freshservice, extend ManageEngine, or blend multiple platforms into a unified GRC architecture that fits your region, sector and budget. Visit DataLunix.com, explore its ITSM and digital resilience services, and invite the team to co‑create an integrated GRC roadmap that your CIO, CISO and board can all stand behind.