As median CEO pay across many European indices begins to outpace the FTSE 100, speakers at DMI’s recent Stewardship Series conference in London argued that the U.K. market is grappling with its own distinct cultural and structural barriers when it comes to modernizing executive compensation. With international competition—particularly from the US—heating up, boards and investors alike are wrestling with how to remain competitive while staying within the U.K.’s tight pay norms.

The November 11 invite-only event heard that moves by the U.K. to modernize pay to consider alternatives such as restricted share plans or hybrid models amid such strict pay norms can present a challenge for compensation committees. “I think if you look across Europe, there’s more shareholder concentration and therefore it’s easier sometimes to get things through," Stephen Cahill, partner at Farient Advisors, told delegates. “In the U.K., however, often we have much more diversified shareholder bases, therefore getting that level of backing is more challenging."

Finding alignment with longterm shareholders

The session heard that investors want to see companies paying fairly and competitively but are more willing to give well-governed boards more flexibility if a thoughtful and transparent process has been demonstrated.

Companies were advised to examine what structure would best align with long-term shareholders while also focusing on transparency and what is being incentivized. “Just give executives long-term, time-restricted stock – five-to-10 years vesting regardless of resignation or retirement. It is the simplest, cleanest way of aligning and incentivizing," said Amy Wilson, head of stewardship at Norges Bank Investment Management.“ We are often wrongly quoted as not supporting performance-based pay, but we would argue that long-term exposure to the share price is performance-based."

Boards looking to present a new pay policy – especially one involving increased executive pay – should provide detailed disclosure and rationale around why the increase is warranted and how that applies to its business strategy. Without such an approach, compensation committees are likely to invite increased scrutiny and potential protest votes. 

Generic justifications that suggest "everyone is doing it" will not satisfy investors. 

The discussion also touched on the role of non-financial metrics. While many companies have incorporated ESG-related measures, it was argued that not every strategic priority needs to sit in the incentive framework. The message: compensation design should be business-specific, not a tick-box exercise.

“Our approach is to have a strong link between pay and performance. We review annually whether ESG metrics should be included in our incentive framework," said Anne-Sophie Blouin, who heads up rewards at RELX. “Some metrics like diversity and engagement for example are very important and the board receives detailed updates on these, but these are not included in our incentive framework.”

From high pay to low pay, another session saw the conversation shift to the workforce where pay inequality and living wage commitments were also cited as among the areas to draw increased investor focus amid a cost-of-living crisis with ShareAction pointing to its recent campaign targeting the retail sector.

The panel heard that low pay can create turnover, operational disruption, and reputational risk—issues increasingly viewed as material to investors.

Moving to the importance of the worker voice, Tom Powdrill of Social Governance Solutions added that employees can be a critical source of insight into operational risks and efficiencies. “Employees often know where operational issues or inefficiencies lie, or what causes frustration in the workplace. That’s valuable intelligence.”

The social-governance focused panel also addressed emerging challenges around AI while emphasizing the importance of strong internal structures to help companies navigate such fast-moving technological change. "Investors are in a much stronger position to engage effectively if companies have the right people, structures, systems, and processes in place to help navigate the uncertainties and fast-moving developments in AI," Caroline Escott, head of investment stewardship at Railpen, told the event.

Preparing for a new chapter in the UK Stewardship Code

As the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) prepares to roll out the new UK Stewardship Code in 2026, another panel discussed the various changes and how they aim to reduce the overall reporting burden going forward. "We hope to see clearer, more focused reporting. We want stewardship teams to have confidence to tell their story, not simply produce boilerplate text or try to guess what the FRC wants," said Ruth Nash, project manager at the FRC." The key point is that the fundamentals of what we expect haven’t changed dramatically. We want clear, consistent reporting and an understanding of how stewardship is applied in practice."

Reflecting on the event, Diligent’s Editor-in-Chief Josh Black noted that the insights from the three stewardship-focused panels offered companies a sharper sense of how investor expectations are evolving. "As we approach proxy season, investors are looking for demonstrated board oversight of emerging risks while also encouraging companies to pursue sustainable growth. Well-informed engagement can lead to a successful partnership."

The Stewardship Series' next stop will see the event return to New York in the first quarter of 2026. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, get it touch 

High pay, low pay, and the rise of AI 

Business risk reached 7.9 out of 10 in Q3 2025, according to the 

 by Diligent and Corporate Board Member — a 36% increase since the start of the year. Legal and compliance leaders cite heightened regulatory uncertainty, geopolitical volatility and mounting compliance complexity as primary drivers.

Yet 43% of organizations report they're not changing their compliance priorities despite this risk escalation. This disconnect between rising risk and static response reveals a critical capability gap.

Most large organizations manage governance through fragmented technology stacks — separate platforms for risk assessment, compliance tracking, audit management, board reporting and vendor oversight. This 

 (GRC) technology fragmentation creates the very blind spots and information gaps that governance systems are meant to prevent.

Organizations need unified GRC technology integration that eliminates platform fragmentation, provides enterprise-wide visibility and enables proactive risk management at the speed regulatory environments now demand.

To this end, this article explores how GRC technology integration transforms enterprise governance, covering:

What GRC technology integration is, and why platform consolidation matters

Why platform fragmentation undermines governance effectiveness

How unified platforms eliminate blind spots that multiple systems create

 enables comprehensive enterprise risk visibility

GRC technology integration consolidates governance, 

 functions onto unified platforms that eliminate information silos and create single sources of truth for enterprise oversight.

, compliance tracking, audit management and board reporting, integrated platforms connect these activities through shared data, standardized workflows and automated intelligence.

The business case extends beyond vendor rationalization. Integrated GRC technology provides capabilities that fragmented systems fundamentally cannot deliver:

Comprehensive risk visibility across business units

Real-time compliance monitoring that prevents violations before they occur

Board-ready intelligence that synthesizes insights from multiple governance functions

. To make a mechanical analogy: More moving pieces = more things that can break. From a security and risk standpoint, more connection points mean more potential points of failure. More "doors" where sensitive data can leak or bad actors can gain entry. And greater potential for blind spots and information gaps.

Technology proliferation typically follows organizational growth patterns. Companies acquire specialty solutions for emerging risks — cybersecurity platforms when threats intensify, vendor risk management tools as supply chains globalize, and 

 systems as stakeholder expectations evolve. Acquisitions introduce additional platforms. Different business units select their own tools.

"According to Forrester, on average, Fortune 500 companies have six risk management platforms. And that's after the last few years, where we've all been consolidating solutions and vendors. The biggest issue here is that with six solutions, you don't communicate properly, and when you don't communicate properly, it's impossible to see the bigger picture," says Renee Murphy, Distinguished Evangelist at Diligent.

This platform proliferation creates the communication breakdowns and visibility gaps that fragmentation inherently produces. Organizations cannot achieve comprehensive 

 when governance data lives in six disconnected systems.

The shift from consolidation to intelligent integration

Contemporary GRC integration delivers capabilities that transcend cost savings: AI-powered risk pattern identification, continuous controls monitoring that scales with organizational complexity and predictive analytics that identify emerging threats before they materialize.

Integration now means connecting internal GRC platforms with external intelligence feeds, integrating with business systems to automate data collection and leveraging AI to transform raw governance data into strategic business intelligence.

Unified GRC enables comprehensive enterprise risk visibility

By adopting a comprehensive approach and using a single platform to manage all GRC activities, organizations can eliminate any blind spots that may otherwise conceal undetected risks.

This holistic view ensures effective information sharing across systems, tools and teams, leaving no room for information gaps. Furthermore, consolidating risk management data enables AI-powered analytics that identify risk patterns across larger datasets, surfacing insights that siloed systems cannot detect.

Directors rate AI adoption as the top opportunity for organizations in 2025, according to the 

 by Diligent Institute and Corporate Board Member. Yet only 10% of directors use AI regularly for oversight purposes, revealing the gap between strategic recognition and operational adoption.

Integrated GRC platforms bridge this disconnect by delivering AI-powered intelligence through familiar governance workflows rather than requiring directors to adopt separate AI tools.

Unified platforms provide risk transparency, enabling earlier intervention. When cybersecurity incidents affect vendor relationships and the supply chain, integrated platforms make these connections visible and impact financial projections.

The bottom line? Fragmented systems capture individual data points. Unified platforms reveal the relationships between them.

Discover how unified platforms eliminate blind spots and deliver real-time risk intelligence.

Transform your GRC strategy

Integrated platforms automate compliance and deliver real-time visibility

In the typical enterprise today, different GRC stakeholders use disparate tools — and each tool has its own specific workflows. This again presents the opportunity for gaps in risk monitoring and inconsistencies in risk information.

Integrating GRC technologies allows an organization to move toward consistent workflows and standardization of data fields across all teams and 

 activities. This standardization provides the foundation for creating a centralized, single source of truth for GRC activities.

"By far our most commonly used feature is search. Having that single source of truth can help break down silos," says Curtis Duncan, Senior Manager, Customer Success at Diligent.

Integrated workflows enable organizations to implement regulatory adherence and compliance monitoring consistently from the top down, rather than on several disparate fronts.

AI-powered compliance monitoring capabilities accelerate these functions by automatically tracking regulatory changes, mapping requirements to controls and identifying gaps before they become violations.

This standardized model of compliance monitoring provides real-time visibility and on-demand compliance reporting to key stakeholders and leadership. Organizations shift from quarterly compliance reviews to continuous regulatory oversight that prevents violations rather than discovering them after the fact.

Unified GRC achieves continuous assurance and control validation

GRC leaders know the importance of proactive risk management. They're already looking for earlier warning signs of emerging risks. But they need the ability to monitor, test and validate GRC controls to ensure they're functioning as intended.

This kind of continuous assurance process, by definition, cannot be ad hoc — and it's challenging to execute across siloed systems.

Integrating GRC systems provides the needed visibility and control to operationalize a continuous assurance methodology. GRC leaders can monitor and assess controls across all GRC functions, gaining real-time insights into the effectiveness of risk and compliance efforts to guide continuous refinement and improvement.

Platform integration eliminates spreadsheet risks and data fragmentation

GRC vendor consolidation also plays a crucial role in moving GRC activities off of spreadsheets, which are inherently risky and prone to data inaccuracies, duplication and loss. To make matters worse, spreadsheets are notoriously time-consuming and require substantial manual effort to update and maintain.

, organizations can ensure that data is up-to-date, accurate and easily accessible to everyone who needs it, from day-to-day GRC practitioners all the way up to the board of directors. This eliminates the risks associated with relying on outdated or erroneous information, while also ensuring greater accuracy and efficiency.

When dealing with complex GRC frameworks and regulations, a consolidated view of GRC activities in one location — not scattered across multiple spreadsheets — provides a clear, comprehensive picture of your organization's risk and compliance health.

This enables decision-makers to easily understand and interpret data, which leads to more informed decision-making and more effective governance that can't be obtained otherwise.

Integrated GRC surfaces strategic insights for functional leaders

Integrating GRC systems goes a long way to eliminate gaps and provide a full picture across all GRC activities. But functional GRC leaders have more on their plates than ever — and they need to act fast, with confidence.

They don't have time to wade through raw centralized data. Moreover, the complexity of that integrated data makes the actionable insights difficult to fully grasp without the help of analytics.

In this context, uniting GRC systems enriches the data foundation for AI-powered, analytics-enhanced decision-making. Organizations can apply sophisticated analytics tools and machine learning to create complete, accurate pools of 

Advanced analytics engines surface the insights that matter most — showing functional leaders where they should focus resources and helping them make strategic decisions on remediation and other actions that align with business objectives.

Unified platforms empower confident board and executive decision-making

It's not just functional GRC leaders looking for faster, better insights on risk and governance. Boards and business executives know they need to bring GRC considerations into every business decision. But they're already overwhelmed with data and typically are not GRC experts — which means these insights need to be clear, intuitive and actionable.

Integrating GRC systems and centralizing visibility provides boards and executives with a single source of truth on GRC activities and metrics. More importantly, functional GRC leaders can create better, more complete and intuitive reports.

They can draw on AI-powered, analytics-fueled insights to create board-ready presentations and communications that highlight the "what?" and prescribe the "what now?"

This integrated GRC reporting gives leadership a comprehensive, reliable and up-to-date understanding of the organization's performance, risk and compliance posture.

Platform consolidation drives operational efficiencies and cost savings

The benefits explored throughout this article represent common goals for nearly every organization. But underpinning all of these goals is the reality that most organizations are actively looking at how they can achieve more while spending less.

Bringing together GRC systems under a single platform presents a clear opportunity to deliver more capability with fewer resources. The streamlined workflows, standardized processes and seamless coordination between stakeholders that power functional benefits like better risk management and smarter decision-making also deliver significant cost savings.

Organizations cut operating expenses by eliminating redundant technologies — and they realize labor efficiencies by minimizing duplication of efforts and automating manual processes.

Those meaningful savings can keep an organization performing well during challenging economic periods. Moreover, they offer forward-thinking leaders resources that can be re-allocated to strategic growth initiatives.

 is how successful companies drive business value and build competitive advantage when peers are slowing down. Rather than viewing GRC integration as cost reduction, sophisticated organizations recognize it as a capability enhancement that happens to reduce expenses.

How AI transforms GRC technology integration for enterprises

Effective GRC integration requires AI-powered platforms that process enterprise-scale data in real time, identify risk patterns across organizational complexity and integrate with existing business systems to automate governance workflows.

Unified platform orchestration for enterprise governance

 provides the only single-platform GRC solution with modular AI-powered capabilities that meet organizations at any stage in their GRC maturity journey.

The platform integrates with 100+ third-party systems, including SAP, Oracle, Salesforce and Microsoft, creating unified governance intelligence without requiring organizations to replace existing business systems.

Exclusive access to Diligent Market Intelligence data feeds provides board-ready insights on executive compensation benchmarking, shareholder activism, climate risk and ESG scoring.

FedRAMP and DoD IL5 security authorization ensure that enterprise security requirements don't compromise governance capabilities for organizations managing classified information or government contracts.

AI-powered analytics and continuous monitoring

 delivers AI-powered data analytics that enable continuous monitoring at enterprise scale. The platform uses natural language queries to execute complex audits without coding requirements, while automation robots enable continuous assurance monitoring that validates control effectiveness in real time.

For organizations managing global operations with millions of daily transactions, these capabilities provide comprehensive coverage that manual processes cannot achieve.

Enterprise risk management and ethics integration

 solution provides complete visibility into enterprise risk posture with built-in dashboards and customizable reporting. The platform connects risk, audit, compliance and ESG functions on a unified foundation, ensuring that risk assessments inform compliance priorities and audit findings trigger appropriate risk responses.

For organizations beginning their ERM journey, 

 — a solution within Diligent's broader ERM offering — provides AI-powered peer benchmarking that identifies relevant risks from 180,000+ real-world scenarios with 7-day implementation timelines.

The combination of these AI-powered solutions enables enterprises to transform from reactive, periodic auditing to proactive, continuous intelligence that supports strategic decision-making and regulatory compliance across global operations.

Whether you're consolidating fragmented platforms or building an integrated governance infrastructure, the right solution should eliminate blind spots while scaling with organizational complexity.

Ready to transform your enterprise GRC capabilities with an AI-powered platform integration? 

 of Diligent One to discover how unified governance, risk and compliance oversight delivers the real-time intelligence your organization needs.

What is the ROI timeline for GRC platform consolidation?

Organizations typically achieve measurable value within 6 months of implementation, even while working toward complete transformation. Initial platform deployment takes 3-6 months to implement core technology, migrate essential risk data and train users.

Complete transformation, including process integration, cross-functional workflow alignment and cultural change, typically requires 12-24 months.

However, operational efficiencies from vendor consolidation, reduced manual processes and automated workflows deliver immediate cost savings that fund ongoing implementation.

How do integrated GRC platforms handle multi-jurisdictional compliance?

Enterprise GRC platforms manage compliance across multiple jurisdictions through automated regulatory tracking that monitors requirement changes, maps obligations to controls and identifies gaps before they become violations.

Integration with regulatory intelligence feeds (such as Regology partnerships) ensures that platforms automatically update requirement libraries as regulations evolve.

Centralized compliance management provides a single source of truth for global obligations while enabling regional customization for jurisdiction-specific requirements. This approach ensures consistent compliance frameworks across global operations while respecting regional regulatory nuances.

What are the biggest mistakes organizations make in GRC integration implementation?

GRC technology integration: How unified platforms transform enterprise risk management

This article originally appeared in our November 20th edition of the Diligent Minute Newsletter. For more insights like these, delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe

Boards in transition: Why active, data-driven governance is the 2026 imperative

Boards entered 2025 facing rising heightened risk, economic volatility, and an urgent mandate to modernize oversight. We recently hosted Diligent’s Elevate Leadership Summit, a by-invitation event where corporate directors, executives and leading experts gathered for candid, Chatham House Rule-style discussions on today’s challenges and the future of corporate governance.

Top Board Governance Trends for 2026: Active, Data‑Driven Oversight

Across sessions, a clear throughline emerged: the most effective boards are shifting from passive oversight to active, data-driven governance with disciplined processes and human judgment at the center. Here’s what our expert speakers and experienced director attendees had to say about the trends to watch in 2026:

From passive to active GRC, augmented by AI

Active GRC is replacing passive oversight as directors confront increasing risk and low confidence in near-term conditions. 

Speakers urged leaders to augment teams with AI agent

s to handle foundational tasks and “ask the next question,” freeing capacity for strategy amid resource constraints. The shift isn’t about automation for the sake of it; it’s about using technology to strengthen discipline, improve foresight and increase resiliency in governance processes.

AI governance: Measure what people actually do

The biggest AI risk isn’t only technical, it’s invisible usage

. Effective AI governance should incorporate real usage metrics

, not just periodic sentiment surveys, so boards and management can see where tools are actively embedded in work and where shadow adoption may be creating risk. Pair cultural encouragement (safe experimentation and knowledge sharing) with “lighthouse” projects that prove measurable value, building confidence while establishing standards that scale.

Culture oversight is expanding and needs better data

Board oversight of culture has outgrown legacy tools as public trust shifts towards employers and brands, and employees increasingly make choices based on societal values. Activism is rising, yet many boards still haven’t addressed company stances on social issues. Leaders discussed responsibly tapping a broader range of anonymized, unstructured data, such as employee intranet messages and chat activity, to surface actionable insights, while ensuring that individual employees aren’t singled out or penalized for raising concerns.

Board Priorities and Next Steps for 2026 and Beyond

The year ahead will reward boards that turn judgement into action: clear crisis protocols, richer data streams on people and culture, pragmatic compensation strategies, and stepwise AI adoption grounded in how employees actually use it. The common denominator is disciplined curiosity. The best directors will ask sharper questions, measure what matters and adapt faster.

If these insights resonate with your board or leadership team, start with a structured review of your speak-up mechanisms, succession playbooks, culture data sources and AI governance metrics to ensure they match today’s pace of change. Then, pick one “lighthouse” initiative to prove value within the next two quarters — and use what you learn to scale.

 to dive deeper and benchmark your board’s readiness for 2026 and beyond.

Ten insights shaping boards in the year ahead

Boards entered 2025 facing rising risk, economic volatility, and an urgent mandate to modernize oversight. At Diligent, we recently hosted the Elevate Leadership Summit, a by‑invitation gathering of corporate directors and executives alongside a curated set of experts, for confidential, Chatham House Rule-style discussions to dissect these issues and look to the future of corporate governance.

Across sessions, a clear through‑line emerged: the most effective boards are shifting from moving from passive oversight to active, data‑driven governance with disciplined processes and human judgment at the center. Here’s what our expert speakers and experienced director attendees had to say about the trends to watch out for in 2026:

1) From passive to active GRC—augmented by AI

Active GRC is replacing passive oversight as directors confront increasing risk and low confidence in near‑term conditions. Speakers suggested augmenting teams with AI agents to handle foundational tasks and “ask the next question,” freeing leaders to focus on strategy amid resource constraints.

2) AI governance: Measure what people actually do 

The biggest AI risk isn’t only technical, it’s invisible usage. AI governance should incorporate real usage metrics, not just periodic sentiment surveys, and pair cultural encouragement (safe experimentation and knowledge‑sharing) with “lighthouse” projects that prove measurable value to employees and shareholders.

3) Culture oversight is expanding and needs better data

Board oversight of culture has outgrown legacy tools. Public trust continues to concentrate on employers and brands, and employees increasingly make choices based on societal beliefs. Activism is rising, and many boards still haven’t discussed company stances on social issues. Our speakers discussed the possibility of utilizing a broader range of anonymized unstructured data - such as employee intranet messages and chat data - into decisio useful insights, while ensuring individual employees aren’t being singled out or retaliated against for escalating concerns.

4) AI literacy and security remain non‑negotiable

Boards need AI literacy and strong cyber foundations; there’s no leapfrogging weak security into trustworthy AI. Keep a human in the loop, test for bias systematically (using available benchmarks), and consider experimenting with smaller models and improved licensing terms where they fit the use case and data‑governance needs.

Early red flags require pre‑defined protocols, not improvisation. The first 72 hours following a crisis event should trigger escalation playbooks, evidence preservation (including email freezes), independent counsel where appropriate, and non‑retaliation toward whistleblowers, all paired with board‑level visibility and documented independence.

Continuous monitoring (increasingly AI‑enabled) can surface fraud risk indicators earlier, narrowing the expectation gap around what audit and compliance actually do.

6) Speak‑up culture is a strategic asset

A speak‑up culture with higher hotline usage is a positive signal, but only if organizations close the loop, protect anonymity, and report metrics to the board. Leaders should be encouraged to normalize and celebrate reporting, which reduces fear and builds trust across the enterprise.

7) Board-executive dynamics are shifting under scrutiny

Executives are pushing for director refreshment, and more of them see boards overstepping compared to last year. Meanwhile, CEO turnover is up, with most U.S. departures described as unplanned. These themes raise the premium on preparedness, role clarity, and disciplined engagement between boards and management.

8) Succession planning must be continuous and robust 

Effective succession planning should be continuous and discussed at every meeting, with directors knowing the pipeline at least one level down and preparing for unexpected transitions – including mission-critical roles beyond the CEO.

The board chair’s (or independent lead director’s) role in tone‑setting and inclusion is pivotal. Boards can benefit greatly from periodic third‑party evaluations to raise effectiveness.

9) Executive compensation is evolving amid volatility

Executive compensation committees are recalibrating discretion, which allows boards to award compensation based not only on results, but qualitative assessment. COVID‑era lessons showed shareholders tolerate discretion in executive compensation when the rationale is strong and disclosure is clear.

Executive security as part of the compensation package is rising as a governance and risk issue; Policy and regulatory discussions happening at the SEC point to potentially simpler disclosures as early as the 2027 proxy season, while state‑level rules are reshaping proxy‑advisor practices.

10) Better questions and diverse composition strengthen oversight

Directors who ask, “What do I need to understand?” and “Do I have all the information?” sharpen risk oversight. Building formal and informal trusted channels with audit and compliance leaders can improve signal quality, while targeted training helps boards recognize fraud indicators. Evidence that boards with a broader range of perspectives are more effective highlights the value of having a well-balanced and diverse composition.

The year ahead will reward boards that operationalize judgment: clear protocols for crises, richer data streams on people and culture, pragmatic approaches to compensation, and step‑wise AI adoption that starts with the reality of how employees are using it. The common denominator is disciplined curiosity. The best directors will ask better questions, measure what matters, and adapt faster.

If these insights resonate with your board or leadership team, consider a structured review of your speak‑up mechanisms, succession playbooks, culture data sources, and AI governance metrics to ensure they’re meeting today’s pace of change. Then, pick one “lighthouse” initiative to prove value within the next two quarters and use the learning to scale.

Note: The Elevate Leadership Summit is an annual, by‑invitation gathering of corporate directors and CEOs, alongside a curated set of experts, for confidential, Chatham House Rule-style panel discussions.

Diligent

Blog

High pay, low pay, and the rise of AI

GRC technology integration: How unified platforms transform enterprise risk management

Your Data Matters