AiThority Interview Series with Matt Kunkel, Co-Founder and CEO at LogicGate

Remember that no matter how automated you can make a process, ultimately, there is a human being that is going to need to be able to understand and interpret the outputs from the technology.

Know My Company

How did you get started in the GRC space? What spurred you to create LogicGate?

Prior to LogicGate, I spent over a decade in the management consulting space building technology solutions to operationalize regulatory, risk, and compliance programs for Fortune 100 companies. During this time, we built a ton of one-off tech solutions at great expense to our clients. This struck me as terribly inefficient, particularly when we were building solutions that were 90% identical across clients.

Thus, my co-founders and I recognized the potential a flexible software-as-a-service platform could have if it was easy to implement and effective in automating risk and compliance programs. We also recognized the value of simplicity based on our experience with frustrated end users of technology, so we designed a simple interface, built a drag-and-drop workflow tool, and made sure it didn’t require any coding experience.

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What is LogicGate and how does it contribute to digital transformation journeys?

LogicGate is a cloud-based software solution that helps organizations automate their Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) programs. When most companies handle their mission-critical risk and compliance activities through email and spreadsheets, LogicGate helps to centralize and streamline GRC processes — all without requiring IT support or coding know-how.

The agile, highly configurable platform can easily be deployed to solve the most critical GRC issues, such as Enterprise Risk Management, IT Risk Management, Third-Party Risk Management, Policy Management, and Audit & Controls Management.

Tell us more about your vision for GRC.

With the proliferation of GRC SaaS over the last several years, we’ve seen the enterprise technology pendulum swing back and forth between point solutions and one-stop-shop platforms. As solutions became extremely specific, organizations began to adopt many solutions for each separate compliance function. In 2019, we’ll see the pendulum sway the opposite way.

Organizations will shift their focus to adopting solutions that address more than one compliance function at once. This shift will streamline business processes and remove the barriers of communication between platforms that only serve a singular purpose. To build an effective GRC program, IT risk should not be siloed from enterprise risk and other GRC functions.

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What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for businesses in leveraging agile platforms for Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance?

• Challenges – Getting alignment internally on how their program and processes should be run and then finding a solution that meets their specific process requirements
• Opportunities – A platform that can change and grow with you as your business changes and as regulatory/compliance requirements change

How should young technology professionals train themselves to work better with automated solutions for Risk and Incident Management?

Remember that no matter how automated you can make a process, ultimately, there is a human being that is going to need to be able to understand and interpret the outputs from the technology — don’t lose sight of the people and process aspects of GRC programs

From more of the technology side of things — probably being able to think in terms of if-then logic (kind of related to the answer to item #8 below), being able to understand how different risks, incidents, controls, policies, etc., are related and then translate that into the appropriate data structures in technology.

Where do you see Blockchain, AI/Machine Learning and other smart technologies heading beyond 2020?

For Machine Learning to work in the GRC space — or any other space for that matter — you need a very high transaction volume to seed and train the algorithms. For most GRC processes, that transaction volume just isn’t there unless you are talking about AML, Fraud Detection, or KYC for large organizations.

That said, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is already finding applications within the GRC space. Applying if-then logic to GRC scenarios will empower organizations to make faster, more informed decisions, using risk scenarios that a GRC platform already understands.

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The Crystal Gaze

What Blockchain and Finance Technology start-ups and labs are you keenly following?

Addepar.

What technologies within AI and Finance Technology are you interested in?

Graph Database Technology as the backbone for RPA.

As a tech leader, what industries do you think would be the fastest in adopting FinTech with smooth efficiency? What are the new emerging markets for these technology markets?

I think the insurance industry is ripe for FinTech disruption.

What is your smartest work-related shortcut or productivity hack?

Rise early and spend 30 minutes planning your day, after your first cup of coffee

Email shortcuts/template responses to recurring events (such as intros)

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Tag one person in your industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read:

John Wheeler

Thank you, Matt! That was fun and hope to see you back on AiThority soon.