A GRC Roadmap for Companies Under 50 Employees

Small businesses face the same threats as large enterprises—but with fewer resources. Nearly half of small companies experience a cyberattack, and many never recover. The key is building a lean, resilient GRC program early on.

Here’s a practical roadmap to get started.

1. Establish Simple Governance

Even in small teams, define who owns security and compliance—whether it’s the founder, IT lead, or shared responsibility.

Create basic policies:

• Information Security Policy
• Data Privacy Policy
• Incident Response Plan

Leverage cloud-native governance tools like AWS Organizations, Azure Management Groups, and GCP IAM to enforce access controls automatically.

2. Identify and Assess Risks Regularly

Maintain a simple risk register listing key assets, threats, and likelihoods. Update it quarterly or after major changes. Use built-in tools like AWS Trusted Advisor or Azure Defender to identify misconfigurations.

This proactive approach keeps your security posture current.

3. Implement and Map Controls

Deploy essential controls:

• MFA for all accounts
• Encrypt data at rest and in transit
• Restrict administrative access
• Regularly back up data

Map controls to multiple frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) to save effort and reduce audit fatigue. Automate enforcement with AWS Config or Azure Policy.

4. Monitor Continuously

Enable logging and alerting via AWS CloudTrail, Azure Activity Logs, and GCP SCC. Use dashboards like AWS Security Hub or Azure Defender to centralize visibility. Let automation detect and alert you to drift or anomalies in real time.

5. Centralize Documentation

Maintain a single source of truth for all policies, procedures, and audit evidence. Whether it’s a shared drive or GRC tool, consistency and accessibility matter more than complexity.

6. Train and Review

Conduct ongoing security awareness training and annual GRC reviews. Treat governance and compliance as part of your company culture, not just an IT checklist.

Key Takeaways

• Assign clear ownership for security and compliance.
• Maintain a lightweight but consistent risk register.
• Automate enforcement and monitoring where possible.
• Centralize documentation for easy audit readiness.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.

Even with fewer than 50 employees, these steps can build trust, resilience, and security maturity without requiring enterprise-level resources.