Selected research reports, interactive ebooks, white papers, and executive insights illustrating our work across sectors and regulatory domains.
The State of Threat Modeling 2026: AI Code Security
In 2026, AI is writing a growing share of enterprise code, and security practice is working to keep up. This study commissioned by Security Compass is of 200 senior security and engineering leaders at large enterprises in North America and Europe. It establishing that more than three-quarters have adopted AI coding tools broadly or made them the default (77%), and the typical organization runs three of them, with no standard tool stack. Yet AI-assisted code carries serious security defects more often than code written without AI, and the gap widens as AI does more of the work.
Real Time Visibility into School Level Funds
This 2026 study looks at locally generated school funds through three distinct vantage points with the goal of unifying our collective understanding of where gaps exist and why they persist. Golfdale Consulting asked parallel questions of District CFOs and finance managers; school teachers and administrators; and parents and guardians. The findings point to gaps in confidence, transparency, and risk, followed by solutions for building unified and efficient systems.
2026 Global Privacy Benchmarks Report
The TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks is an annual study conducted by Golfdale Consulting examining how organizations operationalize privacy governance in an increasingly complex data environment. Based on responses from privacy leaders and business professionals around the world, the findings provide a global view into how privacy programs are evolving and which organizational practices most strongly correlate with stronger privacy competence.
2026 Privacy ROI Report
For privacy leaders, platform ROI differentiation emerges from regulatory intelligence, advanced workflow automation, and AI-governance readiness. These capabilities increasingly shape competitive advantage.
At the same time, even best-in-class technology will not deliver results on its own. Success depends on strong implementation, disciplined program management, and effective change-leadership across the organization.
TrustArc 2025 Global Privacy Benchmarks Report
This year’s TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks offers a comprehensive 360° view of 1,775 professionals, including executives, managers, and frontline staff, along with privacy team leaders and members. The survey covered the U.S., Europe, the UK, and Canada. Our 6th annual report includes privacy views into AI, tools of the trade, a winning privacy blueprint, along with challenges and opportunities for privacy professionals.
2025 State of Secure Development and ATO in U.S. Government Agencies
Golfdale partnered with Security Compass to gather input from senior managers and leaders across major US agencies, including Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and Defense. Their insights highlight the pressure to modernize secure development and ATO workflows, the gaps that slow progress and where agencies are concentrating investment.
The 2025 State of Application Security Training
Software building companies in the U.S., Canada, and the UK are raising their focus on application security training in response to evolving threats. This Security Compass commissioned study finds compliance demands and emerging AI risks are pushing most organizations to invest more in both formal and on-the-job security training.
Governance in the Era of AI: A Decision Maker's Guide to Oversight
This TrustArc Board Member Guide helps leaders navigate AI governance and adoption. It outlines the opportunities and risks created by emerging AI capabilities, and the strategic oversight required at the Board level. Senior executives must ensure the CEO sets a clear vision for AI adoption and that governance frameworks remain agile as technology evolves.
The State of Security by Design and Threat Modeling in 2025
Security Compass commissioned a US and Canada survey of security practitioners in medium-to large-scale software organizations. Most view threat modeling as a top priority. Across the software development lifecycle, success hinges on automation, investing in specialized training, improving toolchain interoperability, and defining clear metrics to demonstrate return on investment.
The 10x Airline Revenue Opportunity
Airlines are wakening to the $1.2 trillion market of travel and tourism dollars that surround their business. This Guestlogix commissioned White Paper synthesizes behavioral economics research on airline travel, tourism, retail ecommerce, mobile web development, and data science recommender systems in order to curate travel options with an AI-driven, mobile first technology approach.
NA Regional Grocery: New Digital Pathways
Online grocery shopping habits are changing and with them, considerable investments in digital grocery offerings. Mapping out the road to ecommerce success, we investigated three levels of change: the front line store level view, an organizational level view of changing demand and habits, and the macro economic landscape. This Mercatus commissioned strategy paper provides practical guidance for regional grocers on how to get in front of eCommerce and meet changes in consumer habits.
How Mobile Technology is Transforming Workplace Performance
Organizations with distributed workforces have the opportunity to adopt new mobile communication technologies that allow them to monitor, engage, connect, and recognize all employees, from head office to the remote sales floor, driving improved performance and enterprise growth. This commissioned White Paper by Nudge explores how mobile technology has opened new frameworks for working more efficiently and solves the “last mile” communication challenge in the workplace.
Using Social Networks to Improve Operations
In HBR’s The Future of Retail forum, we explored the new world of customer experience management pioneered by our software company Empathica (now InMoment). The value proposition was clear and compelling: for the price of a single mystery shop, wouldn’t you rather listen to 30-50 customers? Our “Go Recommend” system added a virtuous loop, linking positive customer experiences with recommendations on social networks.