As the year progresses, it is increasingly important for CCOs to lean on data to support their most critical objectives.
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Chief compliance officers must confront a complex landscape
In 2025, chief compliance officers (CCOs) are facing:
Uncertainty following U.S. federal policy changes
Fragmented regulatory regimes fueled by nationalism, statism and trade wars
Privacy regulations, cyber risks and businesses’ data governance strategies
Increased stakeholder expectations for rigor in cyber-risk management and ESG
… and more
With stagnant budgets and lower headcount, chief compliance officers must chart a path that navigates these challenges while amplifying their team and their function’s impact on business outcomes.
For chief compliance officers, it’s the year of data
Data is the key currency for CCOs in 2025, supporting critical objectives in improving compliance risk detection, increasing insight into third-party relationships, and strengthening regulatory tracking and intelligence programs.
Chief compliance officer trend No. 1: Data-driven compliance risk detection
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) updated its guidelines for evaluating corporate compliance programs with new guidance for measuring compliance effectiveness, speak-up culture and anti-retaliation, and AI and other emerging technologies. The update particularly emphasized compliance’s use of data for risk detection and monitoring.
For 2025 and beyond, CCOs must take proactive, not reactive, approaches to risk detection. To do so, they need to lean into data governance and integration of data sources across platforms.
Chief compliance officer trend No. 2: Better insights for third-party relationships
A recent Gartner survey found that 76% of compliance leaders are prioritizing improving their approach to managing third-party risks in 2025. To do so, CCOs will need access to a wealth of information across the third-party risk management life cycle. This requires cooperation from the owners of those third-party relationships.
Chief compliance officer trend No. 3: Regulatory tracking and intelligence
Compliance teams have invested in a portfolio of regulatory tracking and intelligence, from in-house staff to external law firms to dedicated technological solutions. In recent years, talent costs have led to greater emphasis on tech-enabled solutions.
Despite this, chief compliance officers face the following challenges scaling their regulatory intelligence programs:
Ad hoc processes with little accountability for stakeholders and poor capture of regulatory information
Information silos and duplicated effort across functions and teams
Insufficient resources to meet business objectives, given the organization’s industry, geographic operations or products
How 2025 trends will influence chief compliance officer priorities
To support critical objectives, including improving compliance risk detection, increasing insight into third-party relationships, and strengthening regulatory tracking and intelligence programs, chief compliance officers have no choice but to adopt a data-driven and collaborative approach.
2025 trends for chief compliance officers FAQs
What is the Gartner 2025 Leadership Vision for Chief Compliance Officers?
The Gartner 2025 Leadership Vision for Chief Compliance Officers highlights three trends and recommended actions that CCOs must address in 2025 to increase the positive impact they and their teams have on their organization and its talent strategy. These trends are based on the DOJ’s continued push for data-driven risk detection, the critical vantage point of third-party relationship owners, and a growing portfolio of regulatory intelligence tools.
What challenges are chief compliance officers facing?
Chief compliance officers’ top challenges include greater volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) both domestically and internationally; new responsibilities for privacy and cyber-risk management; lower budget and headcount; and higher stakeholder expectations for risk management.
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8 – 9 Sep 2025
Gartner Enterprise Risk, Audit & Compliance Conference
Grapevine, TX
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