Topic starter
25/06/2026 12:09 am
TL;DR: Nearly 40% of organisations reported security or compliance incidents tied to governance gaps introduced during cloud migration, according to Pathlock’s 2025 Digital Transformation & Access Risk Report. The findings show that transformation programmes are still outpacing GRC planning, leaving access reviews, SoD checks, and deprovisioning too manual to contain risk.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Pathlock: “Pathlock’s 2025 Digital Transformation and Access Risk Report Shows Governance Failures Are Disrupting Cloud Migration for Nearly 40 Percent of Organizations”.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when cloud migration starts before governance is redesigned?
A: Access reviews, SoD checks, and deprovisioning break first because they depend on a stable role and entitlement model.
Q: Why does delayed GRC planning increase compliance risk during migration?
A: Delayed GRC planning lets operational teams redesign systems, roles, and data flows before control owners define review points and approval logic.
Q: How do teams know whether access governance is keeping pace with cloud migration?
A: Look for shortened review backlogs, SoD revalidation after every role change, and measured termination-to-revocation latency across connected systems.
Practitioner guidance
- Embed GRC before cutover Make governance design a formal prerequisite for every migration workstream, including role redesign, SoD analysis, and control ownership before production transition.
- Automate access reviews across hybrid estates Replace manual review cycles with automated access risk analysis and user access review workflows that cover both cloud and on-premises systems.
- Measure termination-to-revocation latency Track the elapsed time between termination events and access removal, then set a policy target that forces revocation across all connected environments.
Bottom line: Cloud migration exposes a predictable governance weak point when role design changes faster than access control processes can be updated.
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25/06/2026 8:59 am
Cloud migration exposes a governance sequencing problem, not just a control gap. The report shows that many organisations redesign systems before they redesign entitlement governance, which means access models change faster than review and certification processes. That sequencing error turns migration into a period of elevated identity risk. Practitioners should treat cutover readiness as a governance milestone, not only a technical one.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What should organisations do when access offboarding still takes more than a day?
A: Treat slow offboarding as a governance defect, not an admin delay. The practical response is to automate revocation triggers across cloud and on-premises systems, then monitor whether access removal happens fast enough to prevent post-termination misuse and audit exceptions.
👉 Read our full editorial: Digital transformation is widening governance gaps during cloud migration