Professional Services · Global Audit & Compliance
Audit Prep Became a Standing Record, With Manual Effort Down 40%
A Big 4 global consulting firm managed heavy audit and regulatory demands through fragmented manual work. We unified controls, policies, exceptions and evidence on ServiceNow Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), integrated with the Unified Compliance Framework (UCF), so everything shares one traceable source of truth. Manual compliance effort is down 40%.
40%Less manual compliance effort30%Faster global compliance reporting20%Better audit cycle efficiencyThe Challenge
Heavy global audit and regulatory demands were managed through fragmented, manual work and siloed reporting. Controls, policies, exceptions and evidence sat in different places, which caused delays, left exceptions unmanaged, and limited visibility across controls. For a firm operating globally, that fragmentation compounded with every additional regulatory demand. With little room for delay or inconsistency, fragmented workflows meant exceptions could go unmanaged and evidence was hard to trace quickly. That is a real risk when regulators or clients ask for evidence on their timeline, not the firm's. The people producing it were assembling audit prep from scratch each time.
What We Did
We consolidated authority documents, controls and workflows through UCF and ServiceNow, which eliminated the tool silos the firm had been working around. One integration gave controls, policies and evidence a shared structure, so the same control did not have to be described differently in different systems. We then automated the GRC workflows for exceptions, assessments and engagements across the firm, so an exception is tracked rather than noticed late. We centralized evidence with role-based access, which improved traceability and meant audit readiness came from the system of record instead of a manual collection effort.
The Solution
One ServiceNow GRC platform, integrated with UCF, holds controls, policies, exceptions and evidence in a single traceable source of truth. Workflows for exceptions, assessments and engagements run automatically, and evidence sits behind role-based access, current and ready to produce.
The Outcome
Manual compliance effort is down 40%, global compliance reporting is 30% faster, and audit cycle efficiency is up 20%. The firm reported these efficiency gains without attaching a dollar figure. Audit prep stopped being a scramble and became a standing, always-current record. For a firm judged on how fast it can produce evidence, that readiness is the return, and the effort that went into assembling evidence now goes into the control work behind it.
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Audit evidence still scattered across siloed systems when a regulator asks?
Noblq runs ServiceNow as a service, not a project. We take ownership of the platform, keep it healthy, and keep extending it as your business changes, with the same team after go-live as before it. You get a partner who knows the estate, not a handover document.