In its quest to specify how organizations should manage their customers’ data, the American Institute of CPAs developed a voluntary compliance standard for service organizations. SOC 2 has grown to be a precondition for many organizations for doing business, and is a global indicator of an organization’s commitment and investment into their information security.
Undertaking a SOC 2 assessment requires time, dedication, and involvement of third-party auditors to ensure you are compliant with the standards.
The SOC 2 audit process evaluates how effective your security controls are, in design and in operation, in regards to the Trust Service Principle categories. In order to be compliant with SOC 2, organizations need an external audit whose process includes an evaluation of the categories of Trust Service Criteria (TSC) that the organization and auditor choose. The TSC are:
- Security (Common Criteria) – This section is completed by everyone, the others will depend on relevancy.
- Availability
- Confidentiality
- Processing Integrity
- Privacy
SOC 2 has become the benchmark for the highest standards of information security and obviously protecting your clients personal and trusted information is not just your top priority, but crucial to your organization’s success.
Customers often look for SOC 2 compliance for reassurance and trust, giving you an edge over your competitors. The peace of mind knowing that your systems are continuously in the best state possible is topped only by the time you’ll save being prepared in advance for other compliance laws and regulations, like ISO 27001 or HIPAA. And keep in mind, the cost of an audit doesn’t compare to the cost of a data breach (currently averaging on $4.24 million!) and protects you from them too.
The Challenges of Compliance Frameworks
Compliance officers and departments around the world are familiar with the challenges facing their ability to bring safety and security to their organizations via industry regulations and security frameworks.
Evidence Collection
SOC 2 demands a tremendous amount of evidence collection. Being able to demonstrate that a service provider has the systems and controls to protect information properly involves a lot of paperwork from many different departments: screenshots of logs, print-outs of control settings, information about configurations and more. Communicating with various departments in order to collect this evidence can be slow and time consuming. Legend systems are usually limited to a select few employees who can access all the evidence collected in order to keep everyone accountable and everything in order, meaning all the work falls on these few shoulders.
Support from the Board
The complexities of SOC 2 and the implications in its implementation are huge. The importance of SOC 2 certification can’t be underestimated. Besides the technical protection, it can create a flourishing business with a growing customer base, increasing trust and promoting a solid reputation. Yet communicating this to the rest of the company- who are concerned with their own tasks- may prove difficult. Gaining support from executives or board members may prove a challenge without a clear way for them to understand why compliance is so important for the company. Being viewed as a standalone department while knowing that compliance involves every area of the company can be frustrating. Support from the top-level can hugely increase cooperation from all departments.
SOC 2 Fatigue
The expectations are high, the constraints are tight, and the work itself is repetitive and seemingly endless. Manual labor takes its toll on employees and it can be difficult to keep up a consistent level of work when stressed and over-stretched. Finding a way to reduce the workload is crucial to increasing productivity and effective results from employees- and minimizing human error.
Generally speaking, the length of time a SOC 2 audit takes and the manual workload involved make it particularly difficult.
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The Automated SOC 2 Software Solution
It doesn’t have to be this negative! Developments in SOC 2 automation software have resolved many of the pain points involved in the process. Prepare to be amazed by some of the highlights showcasing automated SOC 2 compliance software features and how it can work for you.
Pre-loaded SOC 2 Questionnaire
Work through the requirements of SOC 2 guided by a built-in questionnaire. Eliminate the worry of missing a requirement or skipping controls by using the questionnaire as an interactive checklist. Easily answer automatically loaded questions that will process and track your answers. Upload evidence and circle back to any questions that need to be answered later. Automatically continue from where you left off and allow multiple contributors to work at the same time. Questions can automatically be tracked and scored to keep an eye on progress and overall compliance throughout your SOC 2 journey.
Automated Collection
Automated SOC 2 software will feature the ability for multiple contributors to upload evidence, in all its necessary forms, and ensure it gets stored in a safe and orderly manner. The SOC 2 team can view who contributes and when, what they have, and what they are missing. Evidence can be backed-up, easily organized and shared. A SOC 2 dream. Imagine how many hours can be saved sending emails and chasing after documents, circulating the company to request screenshots, and keeping it all accessible and in order. Another bonus: full accountability as the platform tracks who has accessed or uploaded documents.
Automated Remediation
SOC 2 is complex in its requirements and having it broken down into manageable steps can be key to continued progress and successful completion of SOC 2. Automated remediation steps will provide actionable insights as to how to fix gaps in SOC 2 requirements. Automated software can see where you have not met necessary conditions and guide you in fixing that. Rather than keeping track of the controls you need to fix, researching the ways to do this, tracking your progress and remembering what is still left to do- automation can take care of all of this with little to no effort on your part.
Automated Reports
A cutting edge SOC 2 automation compliance program will come with advanced reporting capabilities. Being able to report the progress of the audit and track remediation will keep all stakeholders aligned and informed.
Most importantly, automatically generate your SOC 2 reports ready for the auditor! Automated reporting tools will take the results of the collection and compile it into the report that you need for your audit, saving you time and resources spent collating information.
Generated reports can also translate your data into business terms that can be used to report to the executive level in easily understood terms. Understanding what is being audited and the security posture of the company can increase the support of the Board level, allocation of resources and cooperation across the company.
Saving Time and Manual Labor
Leveraging the powerful tools of a SOC 2 compliance automation platform can speed up the whole assessment process. Eliminate fatigue by reducing the amount of manual and tedious labor that needs to be done by the SOC 2 team. Automating collection, remediation and reporting will support the SOC 2 team leaving them time to oversee the audit, track progress and drive it to fruition!
Leveraging the Power of Automation
All of the above mentioned tools will not only help you gain SOC 2 compliance, but will serve you across the board. Gain huge value and use all of the powerful automated compliance tools to save time and increase efficiency across all other use cases too!
For example:
- 50+ Built-In Compliance Frameworks and Laws
- Risk Management
- Vendor Risk Assessing – reduce risk across all third-parties
- Executive Reporting
- Awareness Assessments
- Portfolio Evaluation
Using automated audit tools enables you to assign responsibilities easily and track their progress. A visual centralized dashboard will give you full visibility into where you stand in the audit process and what remains to be done. Undertake your audit efficiently with a thorough preparation process and automated tools that eliminate the stress of oversight and organization, knowing the workflow processes are all in place. You will have fewer complications when you use automated compliance software and can prevent any risk by monitoring your program and following its reports and new alerts.
Centraleyes encompasses all of the above mentioned automation tools- and so much more. With 50+ built in frameworks, standards and regulations, we offer solutions to all of your risk assessment and compliance needs. Cutting edge visuals and powerful automation tools will take your GRC to the next level. Book a demo now to get the SOC 2 closer to completion today.
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
