"This includes more/better aggregation of risk and compliance data from other systems, and better analysis of that data, such as trending, forecasting and scenario analysis."

McClean predicts that other technical advancements will include mobile device support for tasks such as assessments, training and reports; better collaboration capabilities; and greater flexibility of delivery models such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and other hosted services.

Vendors describing their product directions promise growth in a number of areas:

This last point is in some lights the Holy Grail of security tools. Determining the is a notoriously slippery problem. It's easier to sell a program of measurable operational improvements that also happens to offer security and risk management benefits.