A smart step for any startup looking to close enterprise deals and take their company to the next level. Read on to understand the 5 biggest reasons your startup needs SOC 2 compliance and how to achieve it.
If you’ve established a B2B startup, you know all about tenacity and aiming for the stars. SOC 2 is the gold-standard for data security. It is an especially complex and challenging compliance, particularly for smaller companies who may not have the resources to dedicate to the evidence collection and audit prep necessary to achieve compliance.
Being a B2B (rather than B2C) means reaching a greater range of sales and customers, leading to more income for the business. But this comes with a wider field of vulnerabilities and greater responsibility. It’s essential to protect all aspects of the business, from technical to reputational, and ensure you are mitigating the risks that come with greater exposure.
If you’re wondering about the technical details, read more about SOC 2 compliance here. Besides for providing awesome technical controls, here are the 5 biggest reasons your startup needs compliance with SOC 2:
- Reap the Benefits of Aligning with an Established Official Framework
Aligning with a public standard means that potential clients instantly know that your business maintains a high level of information security. The stringent SOC 2 security requirements, which are put to the test in an on-site audit, guarantee that sensitive data is handled appropriately.
Before a company has built a solid reputation, customers will be looking for proof of trustworthiness and due diligence. SOC 2 for startups shows your organization is in compliance with requirements relevant to security, processing integrity, availability, confidentiality, and privacy. Your company can use the solid renown of the SOC 2 compliance and connect the benefits of the association to your own reputation.
Start Getting Value With
Centraleyes for Free
See for yourself how the Centraleyes platform exceeds anything an old GRC
system does and eliminates the need for manual processes and spreadsheets
to give you immediate value and run a full risk assessment in less than 30 days
- Leverage SOC 2 as a Business Enabler with Larger Clients
One of the most common reasons B2B startups fail is in their haste to scale up. Focusing too hard on one element of a business often leads to growing it out of sync with other dimensions of the operation. An example of a natural strategy to grow the business at a healthy pace is bringing in larger clients. Attracting larger clientele can help a company to increase output and sales, growing the business organically.
But the world of large and mid-size enterprises demand their vendors meet high levels of data protection and startups often can’t show that. Complying with SOC 2 is proof of the company’s attitude to data security, knowing their information is in safe hands and viable for the long-term, a big selling point for larger clients.
- Use SOC 2 to Fortify Internal Information Security
SOC 2 is an ideal framework for simultaneously taking care of internal information security, as well as protecting your clients data. Mitigating the risk of a data breach occuring is critical. You may think the average $4.24million cost of a data breach in 2021(according to the Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021 released by IBM and the Ponemon Institute) may not apply to your small business, but the average cost of data breaches for SMBs was at least $17,000! And that doesn’t calculate reputational damage. So taking control of your internal information security is an investment greater than the sum of its parts.
- An Ounce of Prevention
Cyber incidents are inevitable, but our efforts go a long way to securing our position in the event a breach occurs. Whether you are being investigated in a post-breach scenario for negligence or whether you are implementing your incident response plan, your SOC 2 preparation will stand you in good stead, making sure you are fully prepared, have every important security control in place, and most importantly bear witness to your due diligence and eliminate any claim of negligence.
- Implementing SOC 2 in the Early Stages
Whilst larger companies may have all the resources, including compliance officers, automated compliance management software and more, the benefit of preparing for SOC 2 whilst your company is smaller, means that your initial SOC 2 preparation will be much easier. Each year you will add to your SOC 2 certification and build it up as your business grows. This is incomparably easier than completing SOC 2 for the first time as a big company.
You too can leverage automation by using an automated compliance management platform orchestrates workflows, organizes evidence collection, guides you through remediation with actionable steps and insights, and generates the reports needed for audit. Take advantage of a Centraleyes free trial to see how your company can benefit from all of these features plus the guidance we offer as you prepare for SOC 2.
Check out our expert tips for SOC 2 with the SOC 2 Compliance Checklist for 2022, Preparing for your SOC 2 Audit- Do’s and Don’ts, and learn more about SOC 2 Automation Software.
Start Getting Value With
Centraleyes for Free
See for yourself how the Centraleyes platform exceeds anything an old GRC
system does and eliminates the need for manual processes and spreadsheets
to give you immediate value and run a full risk assessment in less than 30 days
