5 Things We’re Hearing in Customer Demos About The Future of Compliance

Over the past several weeks, we’ve had in-depth conversations with compliance, privacy, and risk leaders across industries. From financial services and healthcare to automotive and insurance, the message has been clear: regulatory compliance is more complex and more resource-intensive than ever before.

As organizations grapple with control compliance, regulatory monitoring, and rapidly evolving requirements, the future of compliance will depend on automation, transparency, and trust. Here are the recurring themes we’ve heard in demos.

1. Manual Burden and Compliance Fatigue

Organizations continue to face a significant manual effort in achieving compliance.

• A financial services leader described compliance knowledge as something that “lives in the DPO’s head” and would be almost impossible to prove systematically.
• Another team reported spending 20 hours a week on horizon scanning and mapping regulatory changes.
• Others called control-to-requirement mapping a “huge lift” to maintain over time.

Takeaway: There is a broad demand for automation that reduces repetitive, manual work and ensures organizations aren’t relying on tribal knowledge. The next generation of regulatory intelligence tools must streamline gap analysis, requirement traceability matrices (RTMs), and ongoing regulatory watch activities.

2. The Push for “Comply Once, Comply Many”

Across industries, leaders seek a single effort to satisfy multiple frameworks and jurisdictions.

• Global companies need crosswalks to compare requirements across borders.
• Legal teams require an LRR-to-LRR comparison to identify overlaps and unique obligations quickly.
• Healthcare and finance require single mappings that support both regulatory and vendor assessments.
  

Takeaway: The vision of “comply once, comply many” resonates everywhere. Compliance frameworks that support control harmonization will be critical for reducing redundant effort.

3. Custom Frameworks and Control Libraries

No two organizations are alike in their control structures.

• Insurance and financial firms often stitch together multiple frameworks.
• Some even prefer to think in terms of a compliance controls library rather than a rigid framework.

Takeaway: Flexibility to upload and manage custom control sets is now a table-stakes requirement. Harmonizing controls across frameworks helps reduce friction and strengthens defensibility.

4. The “Why” Behind Every Control

Many teams are unaware of the purpose behind specific controls, which creates a significant gap in their defensibility.

• Controls are in place, but they lack a clear linkage to the laws or regulations they support.
• Leaders emphasized that rationale and citations are crucial in helping teams understand why a control is necessary.
  

Takeaway: Connecting each control to its corresponding legal or regulatory requirement fosters both trust and adoption. A robust control-to-requirement mapping process ensures compliance is both traceable and auditable.

5. Trust, Validation, and Transparency

With AI in the mix, “trust but verify” has become a recurring theme.

• Organizations want citations to refer back to the regulatory requirements quickly
• Rationale to explain why a control matches a requirement or why it does NOT match a requirement is impactful.
• Complete transparency into the control coverage will provide organizations with a stronger and clearer understanding of their compliance posture.

Takeaway: Compliance leaders need confidence that they can defend every decision. This means transparent requirement traceability matrices (RTMs) and validations that clearly demonstrate how each control aligns with specific regulations.

Looking Ahead

The voices we’ve heard in these demos paint a consistent picture:

• Automation is crucial in reducing compliance fatigue.
• Comply once, comply many is a rising expectation.
• Transparency and trust are non-negotiable for AI-enabled compliance tools.
• Integration is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.
  

As compliance leaders navigate increasing complexity, the future of compliance solutions lies in simplifying compliance, enhancing defensibility, and integrating it across the entire enterprise. By focusing on control harmonization, requirement traceability, and horizon scanning, organizations can transform compliance from a burden into a strategic advantage.