S5E5: Why GRC Stabilized And IRM Took The Lead
Source: IRM Navigator™ Model, Wheelhouse Advisors
The latest episode of The Risk Wheelhouse tackles one of the strangest sights in this year’s risk technology landscape. The “2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Governance, Risk, and Compliance” arrives with an empty Visionaries quadrant. No challengers, no upstarts, just silence where innovation used to live. Rather than treating this as a warning sign, Ori Wellington and Sam Jones explain why the quiet is a signal that GRC has finally stabilized into what it was always best suited to be: the institutional assurance backbone that proves what happened, preserves the evidence, and keeps auditors, regulators, and boards on solid ground.
From there, they draw a clear line between GRC’s retrospective role and the forward-looking mandate of Integrated Risk Management. The conversation traces how GRC has narrowed to serve assurance leaders, why verification alone cannot answer questions about resilience and performance, and how IRM steps in as the unifying management layer that connects ERM, ORM, TRM, and GRC. Along the way, Ori and Sam unpack the PRAC model, position technology risk as the binding agent across the stack, and introduce “assurance intelligence” as the capability that turns static audit results into real-time decision input. A concrete firewall example shows what it looks like to move from “48 of 50 passed last quarter” to “our resilience score just dropped and we need action today.”
If you own risk, audit, compliance, or technology strategy, this episode will help you reframe GRC as essential infrastructure rather than a silver bullet platform. You will come away with a clearer understanding of why the Visionaries disappeared, how IRM now carries the integration agenda, and what it will take to move from evidence on paper to assurance that actually shapes decisions. For greater insights, read Wheelhouse Advisors’ IRM Navigator™ Vendor Compass for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) - 2025 Edition.
Podcast Episode Chapters
0:46 - The Empty Visionaries Reveal
2:27 - GRC Narrows To Assurance
3:35 - Verification Versus Foresight
5:44 - From Utility To Integration
7:59 - IRM As The Unifying Layer
9:49 - The PRAC Model Explained
11:44 - TRM As The Binding Agent
13:00 - Defining Assurance Intelligence
14:19 - Example: From Audit To Action
Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform—whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music.
Please contact us directly at info@wheelhouseadvisors.com or feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn and X.com.
Visit www.therisktechjournal.com and www.rtj-bridge.com to learn more about the topics discussed in today's episode.
