While 95 percent of organizations have implemented some automation in their governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) processes, only 4 percent have achieved full automation, according to Regscale’s 2026 State of Continuous Controls Monitoring Report.
Stuck between adoption and implementation
Surveying more than 250 information security leaders, including CISOs, CIOs, Chief Risk Officers, and Directors of Security across a range of industries, the report found that businesses are still facing significant barriers with automation despite widespread AI adoption.
“This year’s data shows that AI and automation are transforming manual GRC processes and delivering significant time savings for those who have made the leap,” said RegScale CISO Dale Hoak.
“Unfortunately, most organizations are stuck in the gap between knowing what works and actually implementing it,” Hoak added.
The report found that while 94 percent of organizations believe Continuous Controls Monitoring can improve both compliance and security, only 28 percent continuously monitor their security controls in real time.
Manual compliance work as a barrier
One significant barrier that the GRC provider identified is manual work.
The report revealed that 83 percent of organizations attributed moderate or major delays in meeting regulatory requirements to manual compliance work.
Evidence collection was highlighted as a stark example, with 58 percent of respondents reporting that they dedicated more than 2,000 person-hours to data collection.
“In highly regulated industries, these delays can mean heavy reputational risks, missed market opportunities, failed audits, or regulatory penalties,” RegScale said in the report.
Bright spots and looking ahead in 2026
Despite the ongoing burden of manual work, the report also highlighted encouraging benefits of AI-driven automation in cyber GRC.
100 percent of AI adopters reported positive outcomes, and 64 percent said AI delivered significant, transformational benefits when integrated into their cyber GRC programs.
Time savings also stood out, with 23 percent of respondents saying AI cut the time spent on compliance tasks by more than half.
Given the disconnect between tangible AI benefits and organizations’ struggles to achieve full automation, RegScale argues that organizations need a deliberate strategy to achieve true continuous monitoring.
“By 2030, we envision a GRC landscape that looks radically different from what we have today. Continuous Controls Monitoring will be the default rather than the exception. Manual evidence collection will be relegated to edge cases and legacy systems,” RegScale said in the report.
“The only question is whether organizations will act with the urgency that the data demands. The cost of delay — measured in person-hours, audit findings, and organizational risk — can no longer be ignored,” it added.
Last year, we spoke with RegScale CRO Eric Erston about the state of the GRC industry. Read more from our conversation to learn why he believes GRC programs need automation today.