Key takeaways from Conquering compliance: Navigating the triple threat of a volatile regulatory landscape

Are you missing gaps in your regulatory compliance program?

While organizations may appear to have covered all their bases, many admit to using noncompliant vendors and relying on manual processes. A trio of factors is also compounding the challenge: Regulations are evolving faster than ever; new requirements span multiple domains; and teams and tools are fragmented, resulting in disjointed efforts.

How are GRC teams handling all this volatility? Panterra conducted a survey, sponsored by AuditBoard, of over 400 audit, risk, and compliance professionals in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Canada to find out. Read about some of the results below, then get your free copy of Conquering compliance: Navigating the triple threat of a volatile regulatory landscape for strategies to rally your teams and tackle regulatory compliance challenges, together.

Challenge 1: Keeping page with regulatory velocity

Regulatory velocity has become the top challenge for compliance leaders. In fact, 40% of survey respondents name it as their biggest concern, notably more than any other issue.

Regulatory complexity is rapidly intensifying across multiple domains. New and evolving requirements for data privacy, cybersecurity, ESG, and artificial intelligence are emerging at all levels, pressuring organizations to adapt quickly.

Regional differences further amplify the challenge. In Germany, 45% of respondents cite ESG regulations as their top concern, reflecting higher sustainability reporting expectations. Conversely, the strain is more operational in nature in the United States, with 47% of respondents identifying manual workflows as a key obstacle in keeping pace with the volume and fervor of regulatory change.

Gaps in automation continue to leave many organizations exposed to regulatory risk. Despite growing compliance demands, modern adoption of automation tools remains inconsistent. Currently, only 62% of organizations report using automated alerts and tracking systems to manage regulatory changes. Germany lags even further, with only 55% of respondents leveraging these same automation tools. This adoption gap leaves German companies particularly vulnerable to increasingly complex regulations.

Building future-ready compliance requires moving from reactive updates to continuous, automated monitoring systems that match global regulatory change.

Challenge 2: Navigating cross-domain complexity

What were once separate regulatory areas — ESG, AI governance, cybersecurity, and data privacy — now converge into broad and complex regulatory frameworks. This cross-domain complexity requires greater visibility and integrated, multidisciplinary expertise that traditional, siloed compliance teams cannot provide. As a result, organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to respond effectively to evolving requirements without overextending their existing resources.

This growing complexity is placing tangible pressure on innovation and strategic agility. Nearly 70% of survey respondents report that compliance requirements are directly hindering their organization’s innovation efforts. That number climbs even higher in the UK, where 79% of respondents note a negative impact. These figures underscore the urgent need for unified, adaptive compliance strategies that support both regulatory obligations and business growth.

Challenge 3: Overcoming functional fragmentation

Functional silos remain a persistent barrier to effective risk management, slowing progress and undermining organizational resilience. Even with overlapping responsibilities, only 39% of organizations say they are fully functionally integrated across regulatory compliance, infosec, and risk management. This lack of alignment leads to duplicated efforts, inconsistent priorities, and limited visibility across critical functions. Not only are inefficiencies increasing, but the misalignment also elevates the risk of regulatory missteps.

Several obstacles continue to impede cross-functional collaboration. 37% of respondents cite poor communication between siloed technology systems as a major challenge. Data security concerns are prominent for 44% of respondents (rising to 58% in the UK). Limited resources present another constraint, reported by 36% of respondents overall and 44% in Canada. Additionally, 35% report a lack of executive alignment on integration strategy, highlighting the need for stronger top-down support to drive cohesive, organization-wide risk management.

Disconnected workflows also pose a significant challenge, as 47% of organizations seek workflow automation to accelerate approvals and reviews, which increases to 53% in Germany. Meanwhile, 44% of respondents report a growing need for AI-driven applicability assessments to help determine whether specific regulations are relevant to their operations.

Meet the challenge of modern regulatory compliance with focused, coordinated efforts

Organizations that succeed in this environment take a proactive approach — not just checking a box and moving on but aligning teams and embedding compliance into daily workflows using automation and intelligent insights. In doing so, these teams turn would-be regulatory burdens into powerful innovation drivers.

Download the full survey report, Conquering compliance: Navigating the triple threat of a volatile regulatory landscape, for more findings and strategies for success.