Not having SOC 2 compliance in a tech-savvy world is a sin.

SOC 2 is an industry gold standard for cloud service providers, SaaS providers, and organizations that store client information in the cloud. But the question here is – is it easy enough to implement?

The process is tedious, time-consuming, confusing, and expensive. It can take up to tens of thousands of dollars and months of your employee’s valuable time. And most startups and SMEs don’t have enough employees and resources to implement this process.

Early-stage companies frequently have the greatest difficulties in preparing for SOC 2 due to the team’s little to no prior experience with the audit and the company’s limited resources to fulfill its requirements. After all, startups are frequently lean, with several different hats worn by each employee. Conversely, hyper-growth businesses might have greater resources to dedicate to SOC 2 audit preparation. However, they may encounter even more difficulties if they devote resources to audit preparation that they would instead put into expanding their business.

However, good SOC 2 automation software will help you understand the requirements to become compliant. Choosing the right software will help you automate monitoring and evidence collection of that compliance posture over time. It will instantly alert you about gaps in your internal controls and any infosec posture risks.

What is SOC 2 automation software?

SOC 2 automation software streamlines the compliance process – gives you control across security programs and visibility into your compliance and infosec posture. A good SOC 2 automation software will best fit all. It helps with security monitoring, system monitoring, cyber asset management platforms, policy and procedure creations, control settings, security alerts, risk assessments, dashboards, systems scanning, and compliance assessments.

What are the features of the SOC 2 automation tool?

1. Single-Tenant Architecture
   A single-tenant database architecture uses a software application and database for each client -which means the clients cannot share the databases and applications between them since they have their instances of database and applications. Single-tenant architecture has a specific design, making it unique since it allows only one instance per SaaS server. Thus, it mitigates risk, ensures confidentiality, and allows more customization options.
2. Automated evidence collection
   One of the core advantages of SOC 2 automation software is eliminating complicated spreadsheets, folders full of screenshots, and other tedious and manual tasks. The best fit software automates 85% of SOC 2 compliance as soon as you sign up.
3. Continuous monitoring
   A good SOC 2 automation software will continuously monitor your controls and alert you if your information security is at risk. For example, a SOC 2 automation should alert you if an employee skips the onboarding or offboarding process or a new customer database created isn’t encrypted yet or the password policy is not as per security benchmarks. Good software will provide detailed guidance to correct gaps and issues.
4. One-stop-shop
   The compliance automation software you choose should be able to scale as your organization grows. Look for software that can help you comply with multiple frameworks and regulations like SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001. Typically, good software automates 85% of the compliance as soon as you sign up.
5. Vendor management
   Checking vendor management risks are as important as checking the security of your internal control. An automation tool you choose should help you manage all your vendor-related documents like vendor agreements and security certifications in one spot.
6. Employee onboarding and off-boarding
   The ability to track and smoothly onboard and off-board employees is a crucial component of SOC 2 compliance. Select software that enables you to automate the processes, keep track of security training, let employees read and approve policies, and avert problems before they happen.
7. Auditor-approved policy library
   Creating a library of internal security policies and keeping up with the latest security policies can be time-consuming. Choose a SOC 2 software with a library of auditor-approved policy templates.
8. End-to-end expert support
   Most automation tools offer chat and call tech support, but only the software tools offer compliance expert support. Our team of SOC 2 experts will help you prepare for an audit and be with you throughout the audit process.

What are the benefits of the SOC 2 automation tool?

From time and cost-saving to improved and streamlined relationships with your auditors, SOC 2 automation software provides many benefits, and here are a few:

1. Saves time and money
   Manually processing SOC 2 compliance is tedious and time-consuming. Collecting various spreadsheets, and database tables, organizing screenshots and other evidence, and manually tracking incidents, assets and vendors is time-consuming. All of this means, the valuable resources of the company, employees have less time for doing other high-priority, revenue-generating tasks. One of the major benefits of SOC 2 automation software is that it can automate all those tedious and time-consuming jobs. The automation tool handles evidence collection, employee onboarding and offboarding, tracking vendors and assets, risk assessment, control mapping, and a dashboard to check status. If your team is spending months in getting SOC 2 compliance, you are losing money and productivity. With SOC 2 automation tool, you can eliminate costs that go into partners, consultants, or new tools. A good automation software automates 85% of compliance as soon as you sign up, and thus, it saves time and money.
2. Streamline the audit process
   Instead of relying on spot checks, assuming continuous compliance, and collecting evidence from multiple sources, use an automation tool to streamline this process. As a result, there will be less back and forth between an auditor and the business, and both parties will benefit from a quicker and more affordable process.
3. Automate reports
   Using a manual process to answer prospective customers’ questions takes a lot of time. With a good automation tool, real-life reports are generated to answer infosec posture questions, and the auditors can download available control evidence only with a few clicks. Scrut SOC 2 automation software shares continuous, real-time control monitoring, reports, certifications, policies, and more on your personalized dashboard.
4. Maintains security
   SOC 2 isn’t just about demonstrating security; it’s about being secure. Having the right controls for customer data, confidential information, and system availability will make your business run smoothly and save you from potential legal issues and customer churn. A good SOC 2 automation software ensures your security program is running smoothly-not only for audits but maintaining a solid security posture.
5. Reduces the risk of human error
   25% of unplanned downtime is caused by human error. A good SOC 2 automation software mitigates human risk by offloading repetitive tasks and similarly automates them every time and alerts you to change human behavior to mitigate risks.
6. Provides key insights
   A SOC 2 automation software helps you get insights into how your security posture is operating at any given point and insights on improvement.

What are the steps to implement SOC 2 automation software?

It’s amazing how many products “automate SOC 2 compliance”. They range from system monitoring, security configuration management, automated preparation of policies, audit support tools, compliance assessment workflows, and GRC solutions that track, monitor, and document your risk, control, and compliance activities.

But the question is, how to implement SOC 2 automation software? Here’s what implementing SOC 2 automation software looks like:

1. Establish an infosec program
   If you have already invested in SOC 2 automation software, use your vendor’s expertise to help you get started. Otherwise, develop your infosec program and evaluate the best software that fits your organization’s needs. At this initial stage, we recommend you to work on your security process, encryption, firewalls, and other best practices to have your infosec posture in place. In this process, you will identify potential risks to your business and make decisions about policies and procedures, what to monitor, and when to alert you.
2. Monitor and gather evidence
   Make sure you’ve set up automated monitoring and evidence collection. Ensure your alerts are customized to send you a warning if compliance is in danger based on your particular behavior or inaction.
3. Simplify your audits
   Now that your security program is implemented and offers continuous monitoring, use the reports and evidence library in your automation software to streamline the SOC 2 audit process.
4. Maintain your program
   No security program, regardless of how sophisticated your automation software is, can be established and forgotten. Place a person in charge. Keep an eye on new developments, such as privacy regulations, and update your automation software as necessary.

What are the tips for choosing the right SOC 2 automation software?

As the number of data breaches increases, the use of regulatory compliance software increases. Before selecting the automation software that best suits you, ask yourself these questions.

• Will a chosen automation software support your chosen security frameworks?
• Are the automated integrations enough to save your teams from tedious work?
• What could be the level of customer support? What channels are available to avail support?
• What is the vendor’s relationship with the auditor?
• What type of audit scope is included in the pricing package? Look for clear, transparent pricing and packages.

Start your compliance process with us!

Scrut Automation is an innovative and radically simple governance, risk, and compliance automation platform for growing startups and mid-market enterprises. With Scrut, Compliance teams can reduce ~70% of their manual effort in continuously maintaining compliance towards SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and CCPA. Schedule your demo today to see how it works.