GRC Best Practices for SaaS Companies

SaaS

1. Governance

Objective: Ensure leadership, accountability, and strategic alignment across the organization.

Practice	Details
Define Clear Policies & Procedures	Establish and document IT security, data privacy, access management, incident response, etc.
Board-Level Oversight	Involve executives in security and compliance governance. Assign a CISO or GRC lead.
Integrate GRC into DevOps (DevSecOps)	Embed compliance and risk checkpoints in your CI/CD pipeline.
Vendor Governance	Maintain a vetted list of third-party vendors with regular reviews and DPAs.
Change Management Protocol	Establish controls around feature rollouts and infrastructure updates.

2. Risk Management

Objective: Identify, assess, and mitigate business, technical, and legal risks proactively.

Practice	Details
Perform Regular Risk Assessments	Classify and score risks related to infrastructure, customer data, and compliance obligations.
Asset & Data Inventory	Maintain an up-to-date inventory of data flows, services, APIs, and sensitive assets.
Business Continuity & DR Plans	Test and document disaster recovery procedures regularly.
Security by Design	Enforce secure coding, encryption, access controls, and separation of duties from day one.
Zero Trust Architecture	Limit access by user roles, device trust, and network risk.

3. Compliance

Objective: Meet regulatory requirements (GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, etc.) and customer expectations.

Practice	Details
Implement Compliance Frameworks Early	Choose frameworks (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001) and build controls into daily workflows.
Automate Evidence Collection	Use GRC tools (e.g., Drata, Vanta, Tugboat Logic) to track and automate audit evidence.
Regular Internal Audits	Conduct mock audits to detect gaps and prepare for real ones.
Data Protection by Default	Ensure all customer data is handled according to GDPR/CCPA. Use DPO or privacy officers where required.
International Compliance Readiness	Understand cross-border data transfer laws (e.g., SCCs, Schrems II compliance).

4. Tools & Integrations

Area	Recommended Tools
Risk & Compliance Automation	Drata, Vanta, Secureframe, Sprinto
Policy Management	Confluence, Notion, TrustCloud
Issue Tracking	Jira, ServiceNow
Vendor Risk	Whistic, SecurityScorecard
Data Discovery & DLP	Nightfall, BigID, OneTrust

5. Transparency & Customer Trust

Practice	Details
Trust Center	Publicly share your security posture, compliance certificates, and incident reporting info.
Clear SLA & DPA Agreements	Provide detailed Service Level Agreements and Data Processing Agreements.
Breach Notification Plans	Establish procedures aligned with GDPR/CCPA for prompt disclosure.
Customer Security Questionnaires	Standardize and automate how you respond to vendor assessments (e.g., via SIG Lite).

Bonus Tips for Scaling SaaS GRC

• Start small (SOC 2 Type I or GDPR mapping), then scale to ISO 27001, HIPAA, or PCI DSS if applicable

• Align your GRC with business KPIs — not just checklists

• Assign GRC ownership across engineering, legal, security, and product early

• Treat GRC as a competitive advantage — especially in enterprise sales

If you would like a GRC implementation roadmap tailored for your SaaS product’s size and maturity level (startup, scale-up, or enterprise), please reach us at info@dayslegal.com .