IT Compliance Trends for 2025: A Dynamic Regulatory Environment Increases Complexity, Scrutiny, and Pressure

Current trends underscore an altered IT compliance landscape: Recent regulatory changes are adding complexity, demanding transparency, and increasing pressure on CISOs to demonstrate governance and program effectiveness. The challenges embedded in these trends are simultaneously opportunities to increase the value and impact of IT compliance work. Emerging technologies can help teams navigate the growing governance demands and challenges of the future by enabling the transparency, scalability, collaboration, and efficiencies teams need. 

Trend 1: Rising Governance Demands on the CISO

As the costs and operational impacts of data breaches and other cyber attacks continue to skyrocket — IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 estimated the global average cost of a data breach at USD 4.88M — regulators, boards, and other stakeholders are demanding greater visibility into organizations’ IT risk and compliance program governance. In addition, recent changes to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and rulings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (e.g., cybersecurity disclosure rules) have introduced new layers of complexity to IT compliance processes.

CISOs are under increased pressure to provide robust proof of effective governance, including detailed reporting to the SEC on material cyber risks and incidents and cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance. At the same time, resource-constrained IT compliance teams are having a hard time keeping up with the new requirements — especially when they’re already complying with multiple frameworks. The growing pains are real, but IT compliance teams must nonetheless prioritize efforts to improve operational speed and program scalability and transparency.

How Tech Can Help

• Program management capabilities clarify and simplify scope-by-scope program management and reporting by enabling individual tracking/management of specific parts of the organization that are subject to one or more frameworks or certifications. Capabilities support evidence collection, scope assessment/maintenance, flexible permissioning, and more. Organizational controls, assets, and evidence are shared across programs, so one program’s results benefit all.

Trend 2: Dynamic Regulatory Environment

The speed at which regulatory changes are introduced is escalating in response to the fast-expanding risk landscape. Key IT compliance risks include an uptick in cybersecurity threats and data privacy concerns, growing demand for corporate accountability, and rapid adoption of AI. AI compliance risk is a growing concern: More than 45 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C., introduced AI-related legislation in 2024. The swift acceleration of regulatory changes makes it increasingly difficult for organizations to stay informed and compliant. 

IT compliance efforts often require multiple teams to collaborate, and many organizations lack adequate technology to streamline the work. As a result, teams often spend excessive time on manual data collection and manipulation across overlapping requirements — detracting from time spent on more strategic tasks. This heightens the risk of duplicated efforts, gaps, and noncompliance, which could lead to significant fines, penalties, and other operational impacts. 

How Tech Can Help

• Streamlined control assessments eliminate duplication of effort and improve efficiency by allowing control results to directly impact and update the organization’s compliance posture for all mapped frameworks. Assessing controls once demonstrates compliance across all frameworks.
• Centralized issue management capabilities facilitate collaboration across teams while streamlining and improving visibility into issue tracking and mitigation. 

Trend 3: Increased Regulatory Pressure

Growing security concerns in these key risk areas are heightening regulators’ expectations. IT compliance teams face mounting pressure to undergo frequent comprehensive audits to ensure compliance. Scrutiny is intensifying as compliance requirements become more complex. For example, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) 4.0 introduced enhanced authentication requirements, an increased focus on continuous compliance, and new guidance on emerging threats.

Compliance audits often involve multiple departments (e.g., legal, finance, IT), but teams are often insufficiently coordinated, prepared, or aligned, leading to significant delays, friction, and redundant efforts. Time-consuming, resource-intensive audits make it difficult to allocate resources effectively without impacting other critical areas of the business. 

How Tech Can Help

• External audit projects capabilities help teams manage external audit programs more effectively. Clearer audit request delegation, streamlined evidence collection, and easy evidence reuse reduce the burden on stakeholders while improving collaboration with both internal stakeholders and external auditors. 

Innovating IT Compliance Solutions for 2025 and Beyond

AuditBoard is purpose-built to help IT compliance teams transform challenges into strategic advantages. Every solution we build is designed around the use cases, workflows, pain points, and priorities of the teams we serve. Learn more about how AuditBoard’s industry-leading IT compliance management software can help you turn 2025’s trends into opportunities to increase automation, collaboration, and overall impact.