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Achieving SOC 2 compliance is a competitive advantage, and many times, it is critical to make a sale. SOC 2 reports are often used throughout the industry to screen vendors early in the vendor evaluation process.
SOC 2 compliance builds trust with your clients through assurance that your services are fully compliant with the tested controls. Without a SOC 2 report, service providers can miss out on business opportunities regardless of their technology's otherwise extraordinary capabilities.
Teams embroiled in product development and proof-of-concept demos often push out cybersecurity and data privacy requirements until the last minute. It's simple that addressing problems early in the product life cycle (shift left) is much less expensive than doing it late in the implementation cycle (fire drill).
The Three Indicators That You're Startup Should be SOC 2 Compliant Early in Your Lifecycle:
- You need SOC 2 to win and maintain clients
- You're cost-conscious when it comes to your security and compliance budget
- You are pursuing a fast time-to-market (TTM) strategy
Whether or not you are building SOC 2 compliance early in the product lifecycle or in crunch mode, we can help you create your SOC 2 report as fast and cost-efficiently as possible.
How much Time and Money do You Need for SOC 2?
Accurately determining the timeframe and quoting SOC 2 audit costs without additional context or information is impossible. There's no single SOC 2 audit size that precisely fits all. The time and money involved in a SOC 2 report depend on the scope of the exam and your current level of cybersecurity maturity.
Mature organizations have processes for annually updating and maintaining their SOC 2 programs, whereas startups are usually beginning from scratch. Truvantis can work with you to tailor a program based on your business needs, no matter where you are on the spectrum.
Our SOC 2 services include a robust gap assessment to speed your preparation. We'll work with you to analyze the state of your environment. We can help you plan, install, and maintain any security features that might be missing according to the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria (TSC) requirements that you choose.
The Number of In-Scope Systems and Processes
The scale and scope of your services and the particular controls architecture you have, impact testing requirements. The system(s) under audit can be an entire enterprise, a single business unit, or even a single service offering. The scope is meant to be flexible to meet your particular reporting requirements.
Type I versus Type II
A Type I can be faster than a Type II because minimal testing is involved. But it's worth noting that if you start with a SOC 2 Type I, you'll likely also need to get a SOC 2 Type II report. Many enterprise customers require the more substantial Type II report because it tests the controls over a defined reporting period.
If a SOC 2 Type II is your goal, starting there can sometimes be more cost-effective, but it does take more time than a Type I. SOC 2 Type II audits will require at least three months to 12 months to accumulate the necessary evidence.
The Size of Your Organization
A SOC 2 audit examines the people, processes, and technology used to manage the business's information systems and control environment. As companies grow through mergers and acquisitions, the complexity of information systems increases. It stands to reason that larger organizations have more details in scope. Nevertheless, there are reasonable steps organizations of all sizes can take to minimize the overall time and cost of the SOC 2 program.
Does a Startup need the Same Process as a Large Established SaaS Provider?
One of the SOC 2 standard advantages is that it is fully customizable to your business's size, scope, requirements, and objectives. A cybersecurity service provider like Truvantis will scale a SOC 2 audit and reporting program to your business needs.
Additional SOC 2 Costs to Consider
Productivity Costs - Senior staff will be temporarily diverted from their everyday tasks.
Staff Training - Training is vital to embed security into your employee's mindset and processes.
Legal Fees - Legal fees include expenses associated with attorneys reviewing relevant contracts.
Audit Services - SOC 2 compliance requires an approved CPA auditor. Truvantis can help you choose an appropriate CPA. To minimize cost and business disruption, we will work with you and the CPA to contain the scope of the audit and keep it on track.
Streamline the First Big Sales Cycle
After all the time and effort you've spent building a killer IT services solution, SOC 2 helps make it market-ready and competitive. A SOC 2 report ensures stakeholders that you've created an information system capable of meeting security, availability, processing integrity, privacy, and confidentiality demands. In other words, confidence that your system can be relied on to meet service level obligations.
Implementing SOC 2 is very flexible to match the needs of your business timeline. You complete the elements that make sense, given your current milestones. The best advice is to plan for SOC 2 compliance early. Even if you wait to bring in an auditor, building the foundation in compliance with SOC 2 from the outset will make the process less intensive.
Get Started on SOC 2 Compliance Now with Truvantis
The task can seem overwhelming when preparing for a SOC 2 audit. One of the fastest, most cost-efficient ways to achieve SOC 2 compliance is to entrust professionals to guide you through the process. A trusted cybersecurity firm like Truvantis can help take the mystery out of the SOC 2 process. For more, please look at the Five-Step Truvantis SOC 2 Compliance Program.
Truvantis provides full-service support for getting to your SOC 2 report. Whether or not you are building SOC 2 compliance early in the product lifecycle or in crunch mode, we can help. We will advise on the best approach and choices, work with you and your auditor to agree on the design of your program, and manage the implementation. We will then train your staff and guide you through the audit. Let's get started.
