Oracle’s Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) suite has been integral to enterprise operations for many years, enhancing access control risk identification and easing the load of manual control testing. Yet, with the support for Oracle EBS GRC concluding in May 2025, enterprises are prompted to not just seek a replacement but also devise and initiate a comprehensive plan for a seamless transition.

Understanding the Implications of Oracle EBS GRC’s End of Life

The shift to "sustaining support" for Oracle EBS GRC means only critical issues (Severity 1) are addressed, with no new updates, fixes, security patches, or alerts. This poses several risks:

• Security Vulnerabilities: With no new security patches, organizations relying on Oracle EBS GRC are left vulnerable to security threats and cyber-attacks. As threats advance, outdated software is at a higher risk of being compromised.
• Compliance Challenges: The incapability of Oracle EBS GRC to adapt to new compliance requirements could lead to regulatory non-compliance, exposing businesses to legal and financial penalties, particularly for publicly traded companies that are strictly regulated.
• Support and Maintenance Gaps: Without vendor support, resolving any issues with Oracle EBS GRC can become challenging, potentially leading to operational disruptions and downtime.
• Reduced Functionality: The lack of advanced features in Oracle EBS GRC might impede effective governance, risk, and compliance management, creating inefficiencies.
• Integration Difficulties: Oracle EBS GRC's limited ability to integrate with other applications might hinder process efficiencies and data sharing across the organization.

New GRC Vendor Assessment: Key Considerations

Choosing a new GRC solution involves several important considerations to ensure alignment with organizational needs:

• Capabilities and Functionality: It's crucial to confirm that the GRC solution's capabilities meet specific organizational requirements for risk management and compliance.
• Scalability: The solution should accommodate growth and changing needs within the organization.
• User Experience: A user-friendly interface is vital for ensuring widespread adoption and effective utilization.
• Customizability: The flexibility to customize the solution to fit unique business processes and compliance needs is essential.
• Integration Potential: Assess the solution's ability to integrate with existing systems for streamlined operations.
• Security and Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the solution supports stringent data security and privacy standards.
• Vendor Reputation: The vendor’s market reputation and support capabilities should be thoroughly vetted.
• Total Cost of Ownership: Evaluate all costs involved, considering both short-term and long-term financial impacts.

How Can iRM Help?

Transitioning to a new GRC solution like the iRM can enhance current processes and reduce risk, cost, and effort:

• Comprehensive Access Management: iRM provides a centralized control system for managing user permissions across a diverse range of applications. By centralizing access management, iRM simplifies the administrative process, reduces the risk of access-related errors, and ensures consistent enforcement of access policies. This unified control mechanism is particularly beneficial in complex IT environments where users interact with multiple systems.
• Real-time Monitoring and Validation: iRM enhances security and compliance through continual monitoring and validation of user activities. This real-time surveillance helps in detecting unauthorized access and potential security breaches as they occur, allowing for immediate remediation. Furthermore, this ongoing monitoring is crucial for maintaining compliance with industry regulations and standards by ensuring that all user actions are in line with established guidelines.
• Streamlined User Access Reviews: iRM facilitates the process of conducting regular audits and reviews of user access rights. This streamlined approach ensures that user permissions are always aligned with their current roles and responsibilities, reducing the risk of access creep (where users accumulate access rights beyond what is necessary for their job). Regular access reviews are vital for maintaining operational integrity and minimizing the risk of insider threats.
• Elevated User Access Management: iRM provides robust management of elevated access privileges, which are often required for critical operations. By overseeing and restricting these privileges, iRM minimizes the risk of data breaches and operational disruptions. The system ensures that elevated access is granted only when necessary and revoked when not in use, adhering to the principle of least privilege.
• Seamless Integration and Scalability: iRM is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing IT infrastructures, enabling organizations to adopt it without disrupting current systems. Its scalability ensures that as a business grows or its needs change, iRM can adapt without requiring a complete overhaul of the access management processes. This adaptability is crucial for keeping pace with rapid technological advancements and expanding operational scopes.
• Standardized Access Governance: The iRM platform standardizes access governance across various applications, creating a uniform method of managing and enforcing access policies. This standardization is key to eliminating inconsistencies in access control that can lead to security vulnerabilities. By providing a consistent approach, iRM also simplifies the training of new administrators and the onboarding of new systems.
• Assured Compliance: iRM ensures adherence to key regulatory standards, crucial for sectors like finance and healthcare, by integrating compliance frameworks such as SOC 2 and ISO/IEC standards. This integration automates and aligns IT governance with industry-specific compliance policies, significantly reducing the manual efforts of IT teams and decreasing the possibility of human errors in compliance activities. By embedding these frameworks, iRM helps organizations meet stringent regulatory requirements more efficiently and effectively.

Prepare for Oracle EBS GRC's End of Life Without Disruption

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As your organization grows and complexities increase, maintaining a robust GRC solution is essential to identify and mitigate risks across all your critical business applications. The upcoming end of life for Oracle EBS GRC presents a perfect opportunity to shift to a unified solution like iRM, which manages multi-application and cross-application risks, ensuring a future-proof investment.

Contact us to discuss your GRC requirements and discover how the iRM can facilitate a seamless transition from Oracle EBS GRC, accommodating your evolving security and compliance needs.