Only 2% Report Firm-Wide Cyber Resilience — The Governance Gap That Keeps CISOs Up at Night
The Resilience Gap
PwC's Global Digital Trust Insights 2025 highlights a stark reality: while 77% of organizations plan to increase cyber budgets, only 2% report firm-wide cyber resilience .
This gap points to missing governance structures, unclear decision rights, and insufficient board-level accountability .
What Is the Governance Gap?
The governance gap is the distance between what compliance documentation says and what the organization actually is . It manifests as:
- Fragmented ownership models
- Siloed data
- Legacy GRC tools
- Delayed risk insights
- Incomplete risk visibility
- Disconnected operational reality
Why the Governance Gap Exists
Assumptions That No Longer Hold
The systems, processes, and assumptions that got you here were built for a world that moves more slowly than the one you operate in now . Your GRC stack was built for a world that no longer exists:
- The pace of change is faster: Engineering deploys changes hourly; your quarterly access review captures a snapshot that has already changed by the time it's complete .
- New vendors appear daily: A new vendor gets embedded in production before procurement is notified .
- AI changes everything: A vendor you approved for one purpose now uses AI in ways you never signed off on .
The Assurance Gap
The result is an assurance gap: the distance between what your compliance documentation says and what your organization actually is . Your team fills that gap with judgment and extra hours, but that is not sustainable when the rate of change keeps accelerating.
The GRC Operating Model Problem
One head of GRC described: running audits, answering security questionnaires, managing third-party risk, maintaining the trust center, and setting the certification strategy—all on their own. Their tools automate the repeatable parts, but the judgment calls, the context shifts, the things that happen between scheduled reviews—those fall entirely on one person .
What Mature Organizations Are Doing
Connected GRC Platforms
CISOs are adopting connected GRC platforms that provide holistic visibility across risk domains. This connected approach is essential for understanding how risks cascade across the organization and for coordinating response efforts across security, risk, compliance, and the business .
Integrated Risk Management
Cyber risk no longer exists in isolation. It is deeply interconnected with third-party risk, operational risk, regulatory risk, and enterprise resilience. Connected GRC enables better prioritization, faster response, and stronger alignment between cyber risk management and business objectives .
The Trust Management Lesson
The trust landscape in 2026 is demanding more from GRC teams than the current operating model was designed to deliver . Recognizing that the model needs to evolve is the most important lesson of the year, and it is the first step toward building something that can actually keep pace.
Action Items for Your Organization
- Assess your current GRC operating model
- Identify gaps between documentation and reality
- Build governance structures with clear accountability
- Adopt connected GRC platforms
- Define clear decision rights
- Measure and close the assurance gap
