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Businesses must comply with a mixture of international, industry-specific and state-mandated cybersecurity regulations and require their vendors to do so. For this reason, compliance with specific cybersecurity standards becomes another way to support your sales team and accelerate wins.
Why Cybersecurity is Important to Sales
Assessing vendor risk is an essential factor that clients consider during their vetting processes. Your products and services may have the most incredible features and functions in the industry, but you will not win the deal if you do not pass the clients' cybersecurity and privacy risk assessment.
Carefully vetting vendor risk is part of your client's overall cybersecurity and privacy program. By vetting your program, clients expect to lower the regulatory, compliance and cybersecurity risks associated with working with external entities.
It is common for the sales team to sell prospects on the value of your products and services and then later discover the cybersecurity and privacy compliance requirements needed to make the sale. If you are not prepared in advance, this will cause a delay in sales and business disruption with your product development team as they scramble to meet requirements.
Most organizations in the US tackle cybersecurity with the help of a security framework. The top four most popular frameworks (not including federal agencies) are:
- PCI DSS
- ISO27001
- CIS Controls
- SOC 2
PCI DSS
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a required security standard for the systems of merchants and organizations that handle payments card data.
Though your obligation to comply with the standard is through contract, you may not be required to bring in a Qualified Security Assessor (such as Truvantis) depending on your transaction volume. However, many companies choose to do so because independent security assessment and compliance are valuable to sales and marketing.
This is especially true for PCI DSS service providers. Their clients most likely have an obligation to be PCI DSS compliant themselves, so they need to ensure that any service provider they use will not damage that status.
Whether you are looking for help achieving PCI DSS compliance or need verification by a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), Truvantis can help.
ISO27001
ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized security standard used to assess information security management systems (ISMS). An ISMS is a framework of policies and procedures that includes all legal, physical and technical controls involved in an organization's information risk management processes.
ISO 27001 is a significant standard to comply with that demonstrates a total commitment to the operation and oversight of a security program. It used to be popular only with European and international entities. But now, we are seeing more US organizations choosing to use this certification to demonstrate their approach to managing cyber risk to their clients, partners and board.
Holding an ISO 27001 certification is a tangible way to show your sales prospects that you have security under control so they can focus on the value of your offering, not its risk.
No matter where you are in the process, Truvantis is here to help. Our team of exclusively senior-level security specialists is available worldwide to help you achieve your security goals. Our comprehensive understanding of the ISO 27001 Standard ensures you get what you need, not a sub-standard, cookie-cutter approach wasting time and money.
CIS Controls
The CIS Controls™ security standard is a set of guidelines (formerly known as the SANS Top 20 Critical Security Controls) that gives your organization a dependable, universally recognized foundation for cybersecurity
CIS is an excellent standard for an organization with no prior cybersecurity program to gain traction and establish operations. Though it has no certification to achieve, it is internally focused. To claim that your program is based on the CIS controls shows clients and partners that you are serious about building on the examples of best practices that it contains. You can also ask a company like Truvantis to assess you and write a report.
Demonstrating your adherence to the CIS controls, especially with a third-party assessment, is a powerful way to show that you are innovating cybersecurity controls using peer-reviewed, real-world-tested examples of best practices.
As proud members of CIS and front-line cybersecurity veterans, Truvantis can help you to create a robust security foundation that complies with the CIS Controls standard.
SOC 2
SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a type of audit report that attests to the trustworthiness of services provided by a service organization. It is commonly used to assess the risks associated with outsourced software solutions that store customer data online
SOC 2 is the #1 demanded report by clients from vendors. Especially enterprise clients considering start-up vendors. Having a SOC 2 report can dramatically accelerate your sales cycle by removing concerns about security from the conversation.
The Truvantis team can help you prepare for a SOC 2 audit, build the necessary controls, advise on the correct report type for your goals and work with your auditor to complete the audit process. Our experts have created and operated many SOC2 security programs, guiding those companies through their first and repeat audits.
Do not wait for the sales team to tell you the client's security requirements
Too often, organizations wait for the sales team to come in with a prospect before they start compliance efforts. This puts the development team in a world of hurt as they divert resources and scramble to achieve satisfactory compliance. While they do that, sales get delayed, and you may lose a prospect in the meantime.
Avoid duplicate work
Use the frameworks as a baseline for comprehensive cybersecurity, data privacy, risk management and compliance program. Truvantis can help you build a centralized cybersecurity and privacy program to meet the growing complexity of cybersecurity and privacy compliance requirements based on the appropriate framework. Be ready for the sale when prospects are interested in your products and services.
Call to Action
Your business situation and cybersecurity requirements are unique. Tell us about them. At Truvantis, our vCISO service is not a one-size-fits-all solution. We take a personalized approach to your business situation and cybersecurity requirements.
Truvantis® is a cybersecurity consulting organization providing best-in-class cybersecurity services to secure your organization's infrastructure, data, operations and products. We specialize in helping our customers improve their cybersecurity posture by implementing testing, auditing and operating information security programs.
