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Glossary

Managed GRC

Managed GRC is governance, risk, and compliance delivered as an operated service: an outside team runs your compliance program — platform administration, evidence, policies, audits — under your name, instead of selling you software or advice and leaving the operating work in-house.

Last updated July 26, 2026
Managed VantaManaged Drata
Definition

Governance, risk, and compliance delivered as an operated service, in which an external team runs the client’s compliance program — platform administration, evidence collection, policy upkeep, and audit preparation — rather than only supplying software or advice.

RelatedManaged Compliance Services
RelatedOutsourced Compliance Team
RelatedWhat Is a Managed Compliance Service?
Glossary · MPractitioner definition
Linked to the deeper guideSOC 2 · ISO 27001 · HIPAA · FedRAMP · CMMC

The unit of delivery is a running program, not a report.

Glossary · Managed GRC
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What “managed” covers

The unit of delivery is a running program, not a report. A managed GRC provider takes over the recurring work a compliance program generates — administering the platform, keeping evidence current, maintaining policies, running access reviews, staging each audit, and fielding the auditor’s follow-ups — with named people accountable for every piece. Agency staffs the model with forward-deployed engineers who hold credentials in the client’s own tenant; the discipline being managed is GRC itself, and the leadership layer above it is typically a vCISO. What stays in-house is small but non-delegable: risk acceptance, scope decisions, and the signatures only an officer of the company can provide.

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Neither software nor consulting

The category exists because the two older options leave a gap. A GRC platform subscription gives you excellent monitoring and a long to-do list; a consultant gives you advice about the list. Managed GRC is the third model: the provider works the list. The practical test when evaluating vendors is ownership — when a control fails the week before fieldwork, whose calendar does the fix land on? If the answer is still yours, you bought tooling or guidance, not management. Scope, staffing, and pricing for Agency’s version are laid out on the managed compliance services page.

Glossary

A GRC program someone else runs

Agency operates the platform, the evidence, and the audit calendar with U.S.-based forward-deployed engineers, supercharged by proprietary AI. Top-ranked Vanta & Drata partner · 1,000+ companies served since 2021 · 4.9/5 on G2.

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Nearby terms
Managed Compliance ServicesThe full service page: scope, staffing model, and how programs run.
Outsourced Compliance TeamWhat handing the entire function to an outside team looks like day to day.
What Is a Managed Compliance Service?The short Q&A version, with buying criteria.

Find your auditor

Auditnex makes buying audits simpler and more transparent.

Agency implements the controls, collects the evidence, and manages your auditor relationship on top of the GRC tools you already use.

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Common GRC Questions

GRC Platform & Virtual CISO FAQ

The long-form FAQ on how managed GRC and virtual CISO coverage work together.

Read the FAQ
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