In our last post, we explored how the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) landscape is evolving—and how AI is helping shape its future. We call this next phase GRC 4.0. While Generative AI (GenAI) has been around for a while, it wasn’t until OpenAI opened the floodgates that it became widely accessible. In just the past two years, we’ve seen an explosion of AI-powered SaaS tools that use large language models (LLMs) to automate repetitive work and support cross-functional collaboration.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently predicted that AI agents will reshape the SaaS world entirely. Some are even calling it the “Death of SaaS.” Controversial? Sure. But one thing is clear: SaaS products that only automate workflows are going to struggle in this new agentic AI era.
At Scrut Automation, we believe GRC should lead the charge. It’s time to move beyond chasing compliance checklists and start focusing on strategic impact.
Why Move to GRC 4.0?
Today’s GRC platforms—what we call GRC 3.0—have made meaningful progress in automating compliance basics.
They’ve also helped democratize security, enabling SMBs to lay a solid foundation for their programs. Some argue this has commoditized security audits, but I see it as a necessary shift—leveling the playing field between disruptors and incumbents, and encouraging startups to treat security as a core product pillar, not an afterthought.
That said, GRC 3.0 automation is limited to rigid, out-of-the-box compliance workflows. It often falls short for lean, overstretched security teams grappling with real, evolving risk.
GRC 3.0 automation helps streamline documentation, but it doesn’t support intelligent action.
Security teams are still left managing manual, repetitive tasks that keep them from focusing on active risk management. Let’s break that down with two examples:
Vendor Management:
GRC 3.0 tools can automate vendor questionnaires and tracking, but the heavy lifting is still manual.
You still have to identify which vendors to assess, dig through responses, analyze risk, and follow up on mitigation. Automation helps, but it doesn’t replace the judgment and expertise needed to make smart decisions.
Policy Attestation :
You can centralize policies, send reminders, and track completion with GRC 3.0.
But new hires still slog through dense, jargon-filled documents. That means more questions, more follow-ups, and slower onboarding. What’s missing is an intelligent layer that can surface clear answers from your policy docs instantly.
At Scrut, we believe that the next phase of GRC needs to be far more intelligent and context-aware.
Vertical Agents: The GRC Missing Link
In the fast-changing world of compliance and risk, Scrut isn’t the only one leaning into an AI-first product strategy. Horizontal LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity are celebrated for their ability to process vast datasets—and with low-effort wrappers, they can be adapted to many use cases.
So, why build a purpose-built vertical AI agent for GRC? Let’s break it down.
Where Horizontal LLMs Break
- Hallucinations: One of the most significant challenges with horizontal LLMs is their tendency to generate plausible-sounding but incorrect responses. For the GRC market, where accuracy is paramount, even small errors or misinterpretations can lead to serious compliance violations, security risks, or legal liability.
- Context Loss: LLMs often struggle to retain context during long conversations or complex tasks. GRC processes, especially those that span across departments or involve multiple systems, require a continuous understanding of an organization’s evolving policies, assets, and security frameworks.
- Restricted Access: Horizontal LLMs typically operate in isolation from your internal tools and systems. Without integration into your security infrastructure, these models can offer only superficial recommendations that lack the depth of insight required to verifying evidence, assessing the materiality of risks, or executing corrective actions.
- Scalability Limitations: While LLM wrappers make it easy to prototype use cases, they become difficult to maintain over time. As requirements evolve, these custom setups quickly turn into brittle systems that are painful to scale—becoming a bottleneck for fast-growing companies that need reliability and speed at scale.
The Case for Vertical Agents
These aren’t just surface-level limitations—they expose a fundamental gap between general-purpose AI and the needs of compliance and risk teams.
GRC workflows are complex, high-stakes, and deeply contextual. They require systems that can retain institutional memory, reason across interconnected controls, and take precise, audit-ready actions.
Plug-and-play models, even when customized, simply don’t go deep enough—they lack domain understanding, integration with core systems, and the ability to make decisions within the boundaries of your org’s risk posture.
What’s needed is a Vertical AI system that’s purpose-built for the problem — one that speaks the language of GRC, understands regulatory nuance, and operates inside your security and compliance ecosystem. Not just to suggest what might be wrong, but to help fix it—with the right context, the right evidence, and the right action at the right time.
Enter Scrut Teammates: Purpose-built Vertical GRC Agents
Scrut Teammates is a system of vertical AI agents designed specifically to understand your company’s GRC needs.
Here’s what sets it apart:
- Context-Aware Decisions: Unlike horizontal LLMs,Teammates has the knowledge of your organization’s security and compliance requirements. It understands the specifics of your internal processes, policies, and risk frameworks. This enables the agents to make more context-aware decisions like understanding the significance of a security incident in relation to your organization’s risk appetite or interpreting your compliance obligations.
- Actionable Automation: Teammates doesn’t stop at just offering suggestions—it can take actions directed by a human. Instead of simply flagging potential issues or suggesting fixes, it can directly engage with your systems to create new risks to track, build detailed tickets with execution steps and follow up with vendors on mitigation steps.
- Seamless Integration: Teammates seamlessly integrates with your existing security and compliance workflows, allowing it to gather evidence, assess risks, and take action directly within your established workflows. Vulnerability scanning, policy management, risk assessments; the vertical AI agents can interact with your systems to make data-driven decisions in real-time that are fully aligned with your existing frameworks.
In today’s rapidly evolving compliance and risk management landscape, Scrut Teammates offers a transformative solution that combines AI-driven automation with enterprise-grade security.
By integrating Teammates into your organization’s workflows, you can streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and maintain stringent security and compliance standards.
This is the future of GRC—automated, intelligent, and secure by design.
And with Scrut Teammates, that future is here.
Known for his clear and actionable leadership and guidance, Aayush is well-versed in the nuances of an organization's security posture and in navigating complex compliance requirements. He is a sought-after speaker and thought leader in GRC, contributing regularly to industry publications and conferences.
