ServiceNow GRC: Trends and Predictions for Governance in 2025

Posted on April 1, 2025 Virtuxient Technologies

Countries and companies protect their sensitive information, encounter cyberattacks, and make sense of new technologies that constantly evolve the type of businesses they run. 

According to the latest report, experts have seen a dramatic increase in global regulatory alerts, up 30% in just one year, highlighting the ever-growing complexity of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) 

Modern businesses combine technological advancements, regulations, and cyber threats.  By considering all these aspects, organizations preferred the ServiceNow GRC to bring efficiency to their business workflow. 

However, in contributing towards improved efficiency, ServiceNow has recently come up with its latest update, which is recognized as Yokohama.  

With this recently advanced version, the ServiceNow GRC offers a list of advanced tools and features that allow organizations to navigate the complexities of risk and compliance easily.

Given this environment, organizations are reaching out to robust platforms such as ServiceNow GRC to help them find their way around these challenges. 

In this article, we will look at the critical trends that will influence the future of GRC and how ServiceNow GRC will respond and transform by 2025 to enable organizations to stay ahead of the curve.  

We’ll explore the effects of AI, the shift toward integrated risk management, the weighting of regulatory changes, and what’s in store for the future of the platform.

What Exactly is ServiceNow GRC?

Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) is the foundation of responsible and sustainable business.

Governance: Sets the guidelines for decision-making, accountability, and an ethical guide of how an organization acts.  Its role includes processes, roles, and responsibilities that ensure alignment with strategic goals.

Risk: It is a process of identifying, assessing, and managing potential risks that could affect the ability of the business to operate or succeed (such as financial risk, operational risk, and others.)

Compliance: Similar to regulatory, a focus on not only relevant laws, rules, or regulations, but also applicable guidelines or internal policies to reduce legal and financial liability. 

ServiceNow GRC offers a centralized platform to address these interrelated components, enabling transparency, efficiency, and resilience.

Understanding ServiceNow GRC With Relevant Example

Organizations are under increasing pressure to remain compliant. A major driver is increased Regulator Scrutiny, International regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and the developing ESG reporting standards that are getting more complex and strict.

For instance, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is imposing new layers of cybersecurity standards on the financial sector that will force organizations to fundamentally adjust how they approach risk management. 

At the same time, Digital Transformation and Emerging Risks are altering the risk landscape. The fast-paced embrace of technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) brings new vulnerabilities.

Emerging threats to cybersecurity: Cloud security breaches and AI bias of devices. If devices can be hacked, there is little need for increased complexity of all IoT devices. 

An agile and flexible GRC solution is essential to managing these risks effectively. 

When all is said and done, organizations are turning their attention more to Resilience. Withstand and Recovery are not just compliance things.

Building Resilience is the foundation of all GRC strategies (governance, risk management, and compliance), which aligns business continuity, disaster recovery, and operational resilience with vision-driven goals. 

Therefore, these organizations must develop strong structures able to adapt very quickly and recover from unexpected events. 

Why is GRC Important Now?

In the business world, changes are emerging at a rapid pace. There are new rules, new risks, and new technologies. ServiceNow GRC provides a solution to this problem by helping companies keep self-pace.

Latest Trends Shaping the Evolution of ServiceNow GRC

As we look ahead to 2025, several key trends are shaping the evolution of ServiceNow GRC:

1. Smart Automation with AI

AI & ML will transform GRC in advanced ways. AI/ML in predictive modeling will help organizations minimize or take proactive actions on those risks even before they happen. 

Automated compliance surveillance monitoring will help simplify compliance checks, resolve anomalies, and reduce the cost of manual audits. 

Intelligent automation for GRC will automate routine tasks to free human resources for more strategic initiatives.

Furthermore, Natural Language Processing (NLP) will continue to parse and interpret complex regulatory language, automating the generation of regulatory change management.

2. Data Privacy and Compliance

Data Visualization and Extraction play a vital role in transforming raw data into usable insights.

Updated risk dashboards in real-time will help stakeholders make informed, risk-based decisions.

Comprehensive reporting and analytics will enable a more detailed analysis of risk data, enabling organizations to identify trends and patterns.

3. Integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) into GRC

With the continued Integration and Ecosystem Expansion, ServiceNow GRC will grow by leaps and bounds with each iteration that we see. Jean identified seamless integration with other enterprises (e.g., HR, IT, finance) as key to ensuring a holistic view of risk across the enterprise.

Partnerships and integrations with third-party risk intelligence providers will enable the acquisition of valuable risk data and insights.

API-first development will allow for greater flexibility and customization.

4. Focus on User Experience (UX)

This highlights how important User Experience (UX) will be for realizing user adoption and engagement. A new generation of software will have intuitive interfaces and workflows that basic users can understand more easily than ever before.

Multi-use cases for different user roles with specific personalized dashboards and notifications. 

Mobile allows GRC management on the move, access to key data, and task performance anywhere. 

Find the exact link in the context of Main Trends Shaping the Evolution of ServiceNow GRC.

5. Integrating Cybersecurity with Data Privacy

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy are being integrated with GRC workflows as simplicity and prevention of loss are now paramount. 

The security operations will have better integration with GRC, which takes into account the same page of risk areas, such as compliance infrastructure or the asset that is subject to risk. 

Automated data privacy assessments and compliance checks will simplify data protection.

Security controls will need to be monitored continuously for compliance and security.

6. The Imperative of Integrated Risk Management (IRM)

The siloed approach to risk management is no longer good enough. 

The Rise of Integrated Risk Management (IRM) is crucial for gaining a holistic view of risks. IRM dismantles data silos and harmonizes risk management processes within an organization to allow a comprehensive risk metric across the board. 

Connecting different risk domains is essential in this context and is where ServiceNow GRC excels.

The fragmented risk management approach led to blind spots and impeded efficient decision-making. 

Integrated Risk Management (IRM) gives an enterprise-wide view of Risk. 

• Centralized Risk Repository: The IRM aggregates every risk from various datasets together in a single platform, providing an overall picture of the risk landscape. 
• Risk Correlation and Analysis: Risk Correlation and IRM empower organizations to map interdependencies between risk and analyze the compound effect of potential threats. 
• Risk-Based Decision Making: Real-time risk information provided by IRM enables stakeholders to make decisions in alignment with strategic objectives. 

7. Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Becomes a Priority

As businesses expand their digital ecosystems, managing third-party risks is becoming crucial. ServiceNow GRC will enhance vendor risk assessment, continuous monitoring, and compliance checks for third-party entities, ensuring organizations mitigate external threats effectively.

Predictions for ServiceNow GRC in 2025

In 2025, ServiceNow has already updated many of its features, like Yokohama. Also enters into the CRM market with its Customer Support Management (CSM). These are all ServiceNow has accomplished in the early months of 2025. However, for the rest of the year, ServiceNow has planned to serve its users with many of its user-friendly features. A list of a few is detailed below.

1. Proactive Risk Management: Anticipating Risks Before They Occur

ServiceNow GRC has decided to be defined by Proactive Risk Management. These organizations will use advanced predictive analytics to identify and mitigate risks. This progression from reactive and opportunistic risk management will create a new level of organizational resilience.

2. Continuous Compliance Monitoring: Real-Time Regulatory Visibility

Continuous Compliance Monitoring updates will be the new standard that ServiceNow is planning to provide to its customers. AI-powered continuous monitoring will reduce the need for manual audits, wherein one will be able to see real-time regulatory compliance through Artificial intelligence. Organizations will be able to get real-time visibility into their compliance posture through dashboards.

3. Automated Policy Management: Streamlining the Policy Lifecycle

Rather than manually creating, distributing, and enforcing policies, policy management will be conducted automatically, leaving security teams to focus only on those recommendations needing their immediate attention. ServiceNow GRC will fully automate the policy lifecycle from start to finish, ensuring that organizations always have up-to-date policies in the right hands. Automatic version control and audit trails will ensure compliance and accountability.

4. Personalized GRC Experiences: Tailored User Engagement and Efficiency

Personalized GRC Experiences will enhance user engagement and efficiency. Users will see custom dashboards and workflows relevant to their roles and responsibilities. AI-powered recommendations will lead through complex GRC processes, making them more efficient and effective.

5. Increased Focus on ESG: Enhancing Environmental, Social, and Governance Management

The ServiceNow platform will extend its functionality to enable organizations to manage and report on environmental, social, and governance considerations. Standardized ESG reporting will be critical, and ServiceNow GRC will provide the tools to facilitate this.

Conclusion

The GRC landscape is changing rapidly and is being shaped by changes in regulations, new technologies, and increasing complexity and volume. 

The changing landscape calls for organizations to keep pace and adopt strong GRC platforms such as ServiceNow GRC. 

ServiceNow GRC is designed to help organizations manage their risk and compliance needs even better by utilizing AI, improving data analytics, and focusing on integration and user experience.