If your business wishes to undergo a future SOC 2 audit, you should search for ways to make it audit-ready. Yes, it will take a bit of time and labor to prepare your company. However, it’s well worth the effort and work.
Achieving SOC 2 certification makes your company more trustworthy as far as consumer data protection is concerned, leading to more business when push comes to shove.
The Key to Achieving SOC 2 Certification
You should work through achieving SOC certification through stages so that you won’t be overwhelmed by the concept. You should also learn where you can save effort and time. This way, you can have confidence in your upcoming SOC 2 audit, leading to a great end report.
What is SOC 2?
SOC 2 is an auditing procedure. It reviews how well or poorly a company protects consumer data. If you pass, it serves as a guarantee to your clients that their consumer data won’t leak against hackers or identity thieves. It reviews the company policies, processes, and procedures to ensure data security.
You can avail of soc 2 audit firms in order to know which policies to implement, revise, or correct so that when evaluation time comes, you’re ready.
Purpose of a SOC 2 Audit
The purpose of getting audited for SOC 2 is to review the internal control for information security and data privacy of your organization. Do you have proper or outdated encryption? Do you use VPNs regularly? Are your software shields up to date? What about your IT’s training for info security?
Benefits of SOC 2 Certification
If you’re a SaaS (Software as a Service) provider, it’s likely you need SOC 2 to show clients you’re a trustworthy enterprise-level vendor. It helps you get a bigger return on investment and win bigger deals, so it’s worth the trouble of getting it.
You should plan well and comb through your policies. However, you need to first know the coverage of the test your company will be taking.
Planning for SOC 2 the Right Way
Before taking SOC 2, you need to learn what the audit will cover. This will help you define your system description when the auditor starts the auditing process. You should know the standards of high-quality data protection and apply it to every policy.
Learning the Scope of SOC 2
Learning the audit scope is a critical step toward SOC 2 audit preparation. The scope helps define what needs to be fixed about your procedures, policies, and controls. It tells you what’s missing, which parts require revision, and which policies you can keep.
You might even need to err on the side of caution and end up with an extra-strict system description based on the audit scope. This all helps out your final SOC 2 audit report when push comes to shove.
Things of Note
You just need to remember to answer the right questions in regards to SOC 2 in a favorable manner. You can also hire a firm to do a mock review of your SOC 2 qualifications so that in case you missed something, you’ll know what to fix.
Also remember that the audit scope and system description influences how much you’ll have to pay for auditor fees during your SOC 2 preparation.
