The last two years have shone the spotlight on the need for enhancing regulatory compliance in businesses of every size and in every industry, as cyber attackers have taken advantage of workforces that were no longer operating from behind the corporate perimeter.

Fortunately, there are two technologies that have shown great potential when it comes to enhancing cyber security and alongside it, compliance, and these are artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA).

By harnessing the benefits of AI in security and compliance initiatives, businesses can protect their most critical assets and ensure total compliance with the regulations implemented by government bodies.

AI can also be used to sift through vast amounts of internal and external data to help generate predictive, usable insights, helping entities across the board make better decisions and protect themselves from non-compliance.

Similarly, automation enables companies to ease the compliance burden, by making it part of daily operations by using automation to guarantee compliance across multiple regulatory jurisdictions and data types.

To unpack this further, on 10 February, Arlene-Lynn Volmink , president & chair of the board, ISACA South Africa Chapter, will be presenting a keynote address on “Leveraging new technologies such as AI and RPA to build more robust and effective compliance”, at ITWeb Governance, Risk & Compliance 2022. This will be a hybrid event at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton, and online.

According to Volmink, the focus of governance, risk and compliance activities needs to change from reactive to proactive and from siloed to integrated risk thinking.

She says this is where leveraging new technologies in GRC applications such as AI and RPA is rapidly gaining traction. GRC practitioners, professional bodies and regulators are looking to use emerging technologies to expand or shape compliance strategies and capabilities.

During her address, Volmink will look at the main reasons to consider new and emerging technologies in compliance applications, as well as the benefits of a tech-enabled compliance strategy.

She will also unpack the attributes and outcomes of a modernised compliance programme using new and emerging tech, as well as the associated risk and control considerations.