Summary: Governance gaps stall cloud modernization
Pathlock’s 2025 Digital Transformation and Access Risk Report highlights a troubling trend: governance failures are slowing or derailing cloud migration for a significant share of organizations. The research, which surveyed a broad set of enterprises undergoing modernization, reveals that governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) shortcomings are not isolated incidents but systemic obstacles. As companies accelerate cloud initiatives to gain agility and competitive advantage, gaps in GRC planning, heavy reliance on manual access governance, and creeping compliance violations are creating costly delays and operational risk.
Why GRC planning is falling behind
The report finds that many organizations struggle to align GRC programs with aggressive cloud timelines. GRC planning often lags behind technical cloud milestones, resulting in a misalignment between new cloud architectures and the governance controls needed to manage them. In several cases, teams lacked a clear governance model for identity, access, and entitlement management as cloud platforms were rolled out. This misalignment can lead to inconsistent access policies, uncontrolled permissions, and gaps in what IT and security teams can monitor in real time.
Manual access governance remains a bottleneck
A striking takeaway is the persistence of manual, error-prone access governance processes. Despite advances in automation, many organizations rely on manual workflows for provisioning, de-provisioning, and entitlement reviews. These manual steps slow down migrations, increase the probability of over-privileged access, and complicate ongoing risk assessment. The research shows that teams juggling cloud deployments across multiple environments often lack a unified view of who has access to what, when, and why—creating blind spots that can persist well into the post-migration phase.
Consequences of manual controls
When access governance depends on spreadsheets, emails, or discrete siloed systems, organizations are more prone to compliance violations, especially under stringent data protection regimes. The Pathlock report notes an uptick in policy violations during modernization programs, with auditors flagging misconfigurations, inconsistent role definitions, and inadequate evidence of access reviews. These issues not only expose sensitive data but also threaten project timelines as remediation work interrupts ongoing cloud activities.
Compliance violations on the cloud migration path
Compliance is a moving target in any cloud-first strategy. The report emphasizes that modernization efforts can outpace an organization’s ability to demonstrate continuous compliance. Unauthorized or under-vetted changes to cloud environments, misaligned data residency rules, and insufficient logging across hybrid configurations all contribute to violations that complicate assessments by regulators and internal audit teams. As firms migrate critical workloads, there is a clear need for automated, auditable controls that provide evidence of policy adherence without slowing innovation.
What leaders can do now to accelerate modernization
To reduce disruption during cloud migrations, Pathlock recommends a more proactive, governance-centric approach to modernization. Key actions include:
- Embed GRC considerations into the early design of cloud architectures rather than retrofitting controls later.
- Invest in automated access governance with continuous monitoring, role mining, and real-time policy enforcement to minimize manual steps.
- Standardize access request workflows, evidence collection, and auditor-ready reporting to prevent compliance gaps during rapid deployment.
- Adopt a unified view of identities and entitlements across multi-cloud and on-prem environments to close visibility gaps.
- Leverage continuous control testing and risk-based remediation to maintain momentum without sacrificing security or compliance.
Impact for IT leaders and stakeholders
For CIOs, CISOs, and IT executives, the 2025 report serves as a concrete call to action. Cloud migration promises speed and scalability, but without robust GRC integration, organizations risk delays, higher remediation costs, and potential regulatory penalties. By prioritizing automated, end-to-end access governance and a governance-first mindset, enterprises can unlock the full benefits of modernization while maintaining strong security and compliance postures.
About Pathlock
Pathlock is a leader in governing and securing enterprise identities, access, and data across on-premises and cloud environments. The company’s solutions help organizations implement continuous, auditable access controls that align security with business goals during digital transformations.
