15 policy management & compliance statistics for 2026
- Dan Hawtrey
2026 will be another busy and demanding year for compliance professionals. They will continue to play a critical role within organisations, ensuring compliance, keeping track of regulatory changes, reducing risk, navigating emerging challenges, and more. But that task is not getting any easier, with most compliance professionals feeling their jobs are getting more difficult.
In 2026 technology will also continue to play a critical role in compliance and policy management with the use of automation, AI and more. The Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) tech space is mature with a lot of choice, with is great news for compliance teams. In particular, policy management software continues to add massive amounts of value, reducing risk and manual effort.
These compliance trends are reflected in various industry statistics that draw on the views of compliance professionals and demonstrate both their strategic importance and reliance on technology.
In this post we’ve gathered 15 essential policy management and compliance statistics for 2026, the large majority of which are from the past 12 months. Use these numbers to:
- help compliance and digital workplace teams plan how they can overcome challenges.
- spark useful conversations with business stakeholders.
- plan appropriate strategies and tactics to support compliance.
- insert into a business case for policy management software and other compliance solutions.
Ready to dive in? Here are 15 essential compliance and policy management statistics for 2026!
32% of compliance professionals say regulatory changes are their primary challenge
A survey of compliance professionals from Compliance Week found that “regulatory changes” was the most commonly mentioned ”top challenge”, reported by 32% of those responding to the survey.
85% of compliance leaders say requirements have become more complex
The latest PwC Global Compliance Survey suggests that 85% of compliance and governance leaders believe that compliance requirements have become more complex over the past three years.
92% of compliance professionals say their role has become harder
Research from Regology shows that 92% of compliance professionals report that their job has got more difficult, while 44% struggle to keep up with regulatory changes.
28% of organisations have experienced a cybersecurity or privacy breach in the last 3 years
Research from NAVEX reports that 28% of organisations have experienced a “privacy / cybersecurity breach” in the past three years, the most commonly reported type of compliance incident.
60% of compliance professionals expect compliance-related costs to rise
Cube’s annual Cost of Compliance Report 2025 (previously produced by Thomson Reuters) shows that 60% of compliance professionals expect the cost of compliance to rise in the next 12 months.
71% of organisations will undertake digital transformation needing help from the compliance team
According to PWC’s Global Compliance Survey for 2025, 71% of organisations expect to execute digital transformation within the next three years that will require support from the compliance team.
A third of compliance teams regard their own compliance programme as industry-leading
NAVEX’s State of Risk and Compliance Report suggests that 33% of compliance professionals believe their current compliance programme is “leading the industry” with a further 57% identifying it as being “middle of the pack”. Only 10% feel they are behind others in the industry.
64% of compliance teams say compliance technology provides better risk visibility
Most compliance teams report benefits from deploying compliance technology. According to PwC research, 64% say it provides better risk visibility, with 53% saying it offers faster and more proactive responses to compliance issues.
71% of compliance professionals are enthusiastic about using AI
Research from Regology suggests that 71% of compliance professionals are “enthusiastic” about AI and the market is responding to this opportunity.
98% of organisations are using some automation to drive compliance
Cube’s Cost of Compliance Report 2025 also finds that almost all (98%) of organisations have applied some automation to their regulatory compliance processes.
The policy management software market is growing by nearly 10% each year
According to Imarc Group, the policy management software market is set to grow to $USD 4.58 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 9.87%.
68% of large organisations use policy management software
Market Growth reports that 68% of large enterprises use dedicated policy management software.
62% are using cloud-based policy management solutions rather than on-premises
Market Growth also says that of those organisations using policy management software, 62% use cloud-based solutions, with 38% using on-premises.
77% of organisations using a solution like Xoralia achieve attestation rates greater than 75%
Our own survey of Xoralia customers shows that 77% of organisations achieve employee attestation rates for their policies of greater than 75% when using Xoralia, while over 50% achieve above 90%. 27% of Xoralia customers achieve a rate of more than 95%.
Half of all organizations use employee training results to measure policy management effectiveness
According to NAVEX, 50% of organisations use employee training results to measure the effectiveness of policy management programmes. Correspondingly 43% use survey feedback and 38% measure improved efficiency in policy management tasks.
The importance of policy management and compliance solutions
So, the numbers are in! Overall, these statistics show:
- Compliance is getting more complex and expensive.
- The strategic importance of compliance professionals.
- The major contribution of technology to support compliance.
- The growth and value of policy management software.
Considering these numbers, solutions such as Xoralia look set to make a real difference in 2026, supporting compliance professionals in their everyday work while continuing to anchor approaches to regulatory compliance and policy management.
Why not arrange a free demo of Xoralia to see how it can help make your role easier in 2026?
Frequently asked questions
What are the latest policy management and compliance trends reflected in statistics and surveys?
They suggest that compliance professionals believe compliance is getting more complex and expensive, particularly due to the pace of regulatory change. They also show a major reliance on technology and a continuing growth in the use of policy management software.
What are some key policy management statistics?
The policy management software market is set to grow by nearly 10% each year. Research also suggests that 68% of larger enterprises use dedicated policy management software. Individual policy management software solutions such as Xoralia can improve processes such as employee attestation, with 77% of organisations achieving rates of above 75%.
The story behind Xoralia
Xoralia was built by the team at Content Formula, an intranet and digital workplace consultancy that has built SharePoint intranets for some of the world’s most famous companies. Now, most companies want their policies and procedures on the intranet but they don’t just want to store them there, they also want tools to help better manage them. Over the years we came across just about every single requirement for a policy management system. As this article above explains, there are gaps in SharePoint and so we never built what in our mind was the perfect policy management system.
However, one of our clients challenged us to build something for them that filled all the gaps but still used SharePoint at the back end. We had a great relationship with them and agreed to share the budget to do this, provided we could then market the solution to others. That was in 2019. We’re now on version 3 of Xoralia and the product has grown and evolved a lot.
3 benefits you can expect from Xoralia
Make it easy to find policies
Centralised policy library with powerful search and filtering
Reduce administrative burden
Automations and notifications so that all policy tasks are carried out on time
Demonstrate compliance and best practice
Sophisticated tracking and dashboards to drive and measure compliance.
And lots more!
What our clients say
A great time saver and tool for document management
We have found Xoralia to be very beneficial to us as it has allowed us to focus on other area’s as Xoralia will take care of who has read the documents and notify them if they have not. A great time saver and tool for document management all together.
Tim Galer
IT Coordinator
Hughes
Ideal partner for our regulated environment
LifeArc operates in a strictly regulated sector where compliance and information security are critical. It is essential that LifeArc’s workforce have easy and effortless access to the latest up-to-date policies and procedures, which is the structure Xoralia gave us.
Adam Lythgoe
IT Manager
LifeArc
How to get started with Xoralia
Step 1: Explore or request a demo
Start a free trial for instant, hands-on access, or fill out our form to book a personalised demo at a time that suits you.
Step 2: Get a price proposal
If Xoralia looks right for your organisation, ask us for a tailored quote. We’ll outline any options and packages to fit your needs.
Step 3: Install and launch
Set up Xoralia in your environment with our support. We’ll provide onboarding, training, and full assistance to get your team up and running quickly.
Here's what you'll get
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Central policy library
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Search and filter tools
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Mandatory read policies with attestations
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Quizzes
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Notifications and alerts
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Employee dashboard
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Line manager dashboard
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Works on mobile, in Teams and SharePoint
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New policy creation workflows
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Policy update workflows
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Review and approval gates
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Policy version history
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Compliance dashboard
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Audit trail
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Full reporting
And last but not least:
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Professional implementation service and support
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Evergreen software – frequent updates and improvements
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Comes with our "it just works" support warranty – we’ll fix any bugs, often before you even notice
Ready to get started?
Connect with us to streamline your policy management and ensure effortless compliance.
Uniting excellence in integration and features for seamless policy management
As the newly appointed IT Manager at our company, I was tasked with implementing the Xoralia policy management tool, and the experience has been nothing short of impressive.
Rian Stuart
IT Manager
TwinStream
