7 Best Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Tools

IT systems have improved the ease of access to data but, unfortunately, modern data analysis systems can also lead to the corporate abuse of data. This adds an extra layer to the issue of protecting the personally identifiable information of private individuals, which has always been at risk of theft, even in paper-based systems.  

Since the beginning of the century, legislation has evolved to extend the protection of data from the prevention of theft to the enforcement of appropriate use. This has created an entire industry that strives to protect data while still making it available for appropriate use. This sector is known as Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC).

What is GRC Software?

GRC stands for Governance, Risk, and Compliance. This is the discipline of ensuring that data about private individuals is only collected where necessary, is only held with consent, and is only used for the stated business processes and by designated, qualified employees. 

The difficulty of enforcing GRC is that it requires honesty on the part of the businesses that hold data. Companies that want to gain a competitive edge would like to analyze the information they hold on customers or website visitors but, technically, that is an inappropriate use of data. However, if pushy marketers just ignored those rules that get in the way of their success, would anyone know?

GRC software is designed to enforce the legislation surrounding data privacy. Ultimately, the core of these systems is an activity logging process that can’t be turned off. Once all employees know that everything they do is being recorded, the temptation to break the rules subsides.

Our recommended GRC Tools

Data privacy rules are extensive – some are enforced by legislation while others are industry standards that are implemented through contractual obligations. The range of business activities that bump up against data privacy requirements is broad and not every enterprise will need to implement the entire complement of rules. Thus, there is a matching range of GRC software packages on the market.

When considering GRC software to include in this review, we needed to address the fact that not every business is the same and some do not qualify for every type of GRC requirement. There are rules that address the actions that many companies don’t ever take and so only the largest multinationals will need to get a GRC package that covers everything. For example, there is no point paying for a system that complies with South African regulations if you never do business there. 

There are different levels of services that need GRC software and it isn’t efficient to sell controls to companies that are never going to encounter the circumstances to which those restraints relate. 

Having said that, let's dive into our recommendations for the best GRC apps. 

1. Enzuzo

Enzuzo is a cloud-hosted platform that covers many types of businesses by managing their interactions with the general public. The top plan of Enzuzo is called the Enterprise edition, and this is a full GRC package. We will examine this plan for this review. 

The most important business activity that triggers the application of most data privacy rules is the storage and use of personally identifiable information (PII), which is also known as “sensitive data.”

The bedrock of the Enzuzo platform is its cookie consent system. This is available in its lowest plan, which is Free edition, and is present in all higher plans. The four highest plans include a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) function, in increasing levels of sophistication right up to a fully automated DSAR management package in the Enterprise edition. A DSAR service deals with the right of the people on whom information is held to see and, in some cases, correct that data.  

Enzuzo caters to websites and eCommerce enterprises and its service is available as a plug-in for some of the major content management systems, including Shopify and Webflow. Enzuzo gained Google Consent Mode certification, making it a partner of the program. This is important for a service that wants to attract online businesses because it is a requirement for involvement in the Google Ads and Ad Sense programs. 

The service offered by the Enterprise is sufficiently sophisticated that it will recall an individual’s consent for multiple visits and also across many domains. 

Features

Enzuzo’s Enterprise edition implements the following utilities:

• Cookie consent management
• Location-dependent wording for banners and privacy statements
• Google-approved protection according to GDPR standards
• Compliance with CCPA/CPRA, LGPD, PDPL, and Quebec Law 25 
• Third-party cookie discovery for websites 
• Cookie controls according to stated preferences
• Vendor risk assessments with regard to website cookie activity
• A privacy impact assessment
• Automated data subject access request (DSAR) management 

Data governance  

The main data governance issue that is addressed by the Enzuzo platform relates to the location of the site visitor or customer, particularly with respect to EU countries. 

Multinational operations

Location detection provides a useful feature for the Enzuzo platform. It allows the service to adapt the banners and notifications that are presented to visitors. The cookie consent banners offered by Enzuzo can be translated into 25 different languages. However, the language setting requires a manual selection rather than an automatic tuning of the presentation. The compliance management features of Enzuzo align with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, LGPD, PDPL, and Quebec Law 25.  

Policy statements

Many of the legal obligations for websites can be mitigated by policy notification pages. Enzuzo provides legal page generators for all of its customers. These include:

• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Banner
• Subscription Service Agreement
• End User License Agreement (EULA)
• Shipping Policy
• Returns Policy

This service is a great cost saver because it removes the need for small businesses to hire expensive legal services.

Free services and guides

Enzuzo provides a number of free tools that are accessible to all visitors to its site, not just its paying customers. These include:

• A glossary of relevant legal terms
• A website compliance scanner
• A blog that covers many of the issues encountered by online businesses

Subscribers to Enzuzo plans also get access to the system’s knowledge base

Customer Support & Onboarding

The Enzuzo system is incredibly easy to sign up for and get operational but the onboarding process gets progressively more complicated with successively higher plans. The process involves an automated scan of a website and the need to fill out a number of forms to set up banners and notification pages. 

The Enterprise edition is a customized package and so there is more work involved in settling the services that are included in a contract as well as setting those services up. That entire process is fully guided by the Enzuzo Customer Support team.

The review below is typical of the customer experience of Enzuzo. 

The only way you can find out how easy a platform is to use before signing up for it is to examine what existing users say about it. The reviews for Enzuzo are overwhelmingly positive. 

Pricing

The Enzuzo platform is very affordable with its entry-level plan being completely free to use. All of the editions of Enzuzo compete strongly on price with the system’s rivals. Unfortunately, as it is a custom plan, Enzuzo isn’t able to provide a set price for the Enterprise edition. 

Pros of Enzuzo

• A range of plans to suit SMBs and startups
• Free tools 
• Automated DSARs

Cons of Enzuzo

• No fixed price for the Enterprise edition
• No data discovery process for stored PII on servers

Overall Thoughts

Enzuzo competes in a very crowded market – data privacy services and consent management for websites. The company’s affordable prices and reliable service give it a good footing in that sector.

Are you looking to understand your options further, or do want a more detailed dive? Book a free demo to learn more

2. OneTrust

OneTrust is one of the leading GRC platforms in the world, designed for use by large multinational businesses. OneTrust provides a second division of privacy management tools for companies with 500 employees or less. These cheaper services are still at the top end of the market, being considerably more expensive than rivals such as Enzuzo. 

Pros of OneTrust

• A large data governance module 
• Sensitive data management including discovery and categorization
• Compliance with a large number of international data privacy standards

Cons of OneTrust

• Onboarding is a disruptive process
• Too complicated to install without specialized external consultants
• A confusing menu of services

Overall Thoughts 

OneTrust is an extensive platform that provides extensive GRC functions. The platform even caters to the management of an ethics program and ESG policies. The company doesn’t provide a price list for its GRC products but has an entire lower division of services for websites, which are much cheaper.

The company remarkets its lower plans at a cheaper price as OneTrust Pro and also operates the same services with another brand name of CookiePro for an even lower price. However, even the prices of CookiePro are undercut by many rival website consent management and compliance platforms.

The high prices of all of OneTrust’s brands set high expectations for a good quality of service, which the company fails to deliver. 

Large companies with big budgets are satisfied with the top-draw GRC packages.

3. LogicGate

LogicGate is recognized as a leading Governance, Risk, And Compliance platform. However, this is an emerging brand that is not so well known. The company excels at risk assessments for a range of issues, including AI  and third-party risk. The service focuses on data processing procedures and lists the gaps that need to be addressed in order to meet regulations. 

Pros of LogicGate

• System assessments for compliance gaps
• Compliance with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, CCPA, VCDPA, and CPA
• Provides goals to compliance and confirms conformance when it is achieved

Cons of LogicGate

• Focuses on applications rather than data
• Provides working practices for large businesses, not so great for SMEs
• No price list

Overall Thoughts 

LogicGate is a cheaper brand than OneTrust but it still doesn’t cater to the majority of the market, focusing instead on services for large companies. The platform provides excellent DSAR management, which competes well with the services of the Enzuzo Enterprise edition. However, like Enzuzo, LogicGate doesn’t include data discovery and protection services. 

LogicGate’s customers give the platform five stars – the top rating – in 122 of the 159 reviews on the G2 review site. One of the key points to note about LogicGate is that it is relatively new and still has teething problems.

4. Hyperproof

Hyperproof provides risk assessment and compliance management. The company doesn’t mention data governance in its sales pitch, however, that service is implied by its implementation of data privacy frameworks. The cloud-based platform provides compliance with specific industry data protection standards, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA as well as PII protection standards, such as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA.

Pros of Hyperproof

• Easy to onboard
• Implements risk assessments
• Imposes working practices for compliance through the application of templates

Cons of Hyperproof

• Risk focuses on processes rather than application security
• Doesn’t scan for data
• Doesn’t include DSAR automation

Overall Thoughts 

Hyperproof threatens OneTrust because this system covers a very long list of international standards and can implement multiple frameworks simultaneously. This is a package for multinationals, and it is a lot cleaner and easier to implement than either OneTrust or LogicGate.

The vast majority of Hyperproof's reviews on the G2 platform come from large organizations. Templates ease implementation, but they can also be restrictive.

Buyers will have to weigh up the relative benefits of process standardization and tailored solutions.

5. AuditBoard

AuditBoard categorizes compliance management as “InfoSec.” The platform also provides ESG programs and sustainability planning. The cloud-based system offers compliance with a healthy list of standards including HIPAA and PCI DSS as well as GDPR and CCPA/CPRA. The service is more focused on the USA and Europe than the standards enforced in other parts of the world, which customers of OneTrust and Hyperproof get coverage for. 

Pros of AuditBoard

• Easy to implement
• Can implement multiple standards simultaneously
• Risk management extends to third-party risk

Cons of AuditBoard

• No price list or description of plans
• No data discovery process
• Doesn’t integrate well with other systems and is difficult to adapt

Overall Thoughts 

AuditBoard is a good option for specific industries, specifically for its implementations of SOX, PCI DSS, and HIPAA. The package doesn’t compete well for multinational customers with OneTrust or Hyperproof. Like many of the rivals on this list, AuditBoard focuses on processes rather than data protection. 

This platform has 979 reviews on the G2 website and most of them are glowing. 

The strict pre-written controls of the system make the platform easy to implement but difficult to customize.

6. Workiva

Workiva offers ESG, GRC, and financial reporting controls from its platform and its unique selling point is that the company offers a unified service that links all of those systems together. That is an amazing opportunity for businesses that are implementing ESG and work in a sector that needs to comply with SOX.  

Pros of Workiva

• A joined-up solution that implements GRC, ESG, and financial controls
• Performs a gap analysis
• Adaptable implementation templates

Cons of Workiva

• Doesn’t list the standard it manages compliance for
• No price list
• Overengineered for companies that don’t implement ESG

Overall Thoughts 

Workiva has created a unique niche for itself with its proposal to tie together ESG and GRC controls. However, with ESG on the wane, the potential market for this combination of postures is shrinking. However, the package is very highly appreciated by its customer base. The G2 review site has 849 reviews for the platform and 632 of those give Workvia five stars.

Despite the accolades, even satisfied customers have complaints. 

7. Archer

Archer offers ESG controls and AI compliance management as well as a GRC package. The company also offers a consultancy service and training packages for compliance management. The GRC service is a customized proposal, developed as a bespoke package and so there is no fixed list of contents or prices.

Pros of Archer

• A customized package
• IT regulatory management
• ESG options

Cons of Archer

• No clearly defined packages
• No price list
• No list of data protection standards

Overall Thoughts 

Archer is a consultancy that will deliver a GRC package for a client. However, because it is a consultancy service instead of a platform of tools, there is no declared list of services or a declaration of which data protection standards can be delivered. 

Despite its tailored delivery, buyers report that the system they get is difficult to use.

Wrapup and Conclusion

A wide range of businesses have requirements for GRC in order to continue to operate in locations where data privacy legislation is in force. The packages that supply GRC are as diverse as the market, so you will need to assess your company’s profile and its data management needs in order to select an appropriate GRC platform.