Why Get a SOC 2 Report? 13 Reasons According to Real Organizations
Previously, it was common for an organization to get a SOC 2 report only when requested by a customer. Now, more organizations than ever are getting SOC 2 reports to unlock a range of benefits.
In addition to closing deals, a SOC 2 report can help organizations move upmarket, speed up the sales cycle, build trust with stakeholders, and instill a culture of security — and these are just a few examples.
In this blog, we’ll go over the top reasons to get a SOC 2 report according to real organizations and the three main approaches you can take to get one. Let’s get started.
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13 reasons to get a SOC 2 report
SOC 2 compliance is beneficial for organizations prioritizing security, privacy, and trust. Below we’ll dive into key reasons to get a SOC 2 report, according to Secureframe customers.
1. Attracting enterprise customers
Enterprise customers often require SOC 2 compliance as part of their vendor selection process. A SOC 2 report assures these larger customers that your organization has robust systems and controls in place to protect their sensitive data.
This was a challenge that unitQ, a cloud-based product quality monitoring platform for product-driven companies, faced. As a fast-scaling SaaS company, they began attracting some of the most high-profile tech companies in the world. But to close deals with these enterprise companies, unitQ needed best in-class policies, procedures, and controls. So they got SOC 2 compliant, which enabled them to close more of their dream customers.
“Now, thanks to Secureframe’s help in achieving SOC 2, we can demonstrate our maturity level and show these firms we run a professional, mature, and compliant organization. This has accelerated our sales cycle with enterprise customers and unlocked so many more sales and growth opportunities for the business.” —Anthony Heckman, Head of Business Development, unitQ
2. Building trust with customers
Trust is critical in today’s business environment, especially when handling sensitive information. That’s why customers of all sizes are looking for assurance that you take data protection seriously. A SOC 2 report demonstrates your commitment to data security and privacy, making it easier to win clients, from SMBs to enterprise companies.
As an estate planning platform, Wealth handles sensitive customer data and often works directly with financial institutions that take data security seriously. Looking for a way to show prospective customers and the market that it was committed to security, SOC 2 compliance became a top priority for Wealth. Now, as the only digital estate planning platform with SOC 2 Type II compliance, they’re able to talk about the audit process and controls they have in place. This validation of their commitment to security is critical for sales and marketing.
“The first question we get is, ‘How do you protect our data? How do you protect our customer’s data?’ When you're talking to bigger companies with complex security requirements and trying to win their business, being able to show you are following industry-leading security best practices and procedures is very important. Which is what the SOC 2 Type II report ensures.” —Jair Basso, VP of Security, Wealth
3. Meeting customer requirements in regulated industries
In regulated industries such as healthcare and fintech, data protection and compliance are top priorities. So these customers in particular require assurance that their sensitive information is being handled responsibly and securely. A SOC 2 report, verified through an independent audit, provides this assurance by validating that your organization's systems and processes meet industry-recognized standards. This not only builds trust with these customers — it also helps organizations fulfill regulatory requirements, mitigate risks, and maintain a competitive edge in industries such as healthcare, finance, and technology.
As Formsort began attracting enterprise customers, many were in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance and requested SOC 2 Type II compliance. Without the report, Formsort was wasting a significant amount of time filling out bespoke security questionnaires for every deal in their pipeline, each of which required valuable time from their CTO. By getting a SOC 2 Type II report, Formsort not only eliminated the need for security questionnaires and removed more than two weeks from the sales process — they also won more deals.
“With SOC 2 Type II compliance we shortened the sales cycle by at least a couple weeks, and it increased the success rate of the sale." —Cansu Aydede, COO, Formsort
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4. Unblocking deals
A lack of SOC 2 compliance can stall or even block deals with potential customers, both in and out of regulated industries, who require assurances about security and privacy. A SOC 2 report removes these barriers, providing the proof needed to move deals forward.
This was the case for Abmatic AI, an account-based marketing execution platform. As the startup finished developing their product and began engaging with potential customers, CEO and co-founder Jimit Mehta discovered that security was a pressing issue. They needed to get SOC 2 compliant quickly to close deals with two major customers who had required a SOC 2 report before moving forward. Thankfully, they were able to get SOC 2 compliant in six business days and convert those two deals into revenue.
“As we started speaking with customers, the question about security kept popping up and some specifically asked about SOC 2. So we knew that before getting customers, we need to have SOC 2 compliance.” —Jimit Mehta, CEO and Co-founder, Abmatic
5. Streamline vendor assessments
Many vendor procurement processes require detailed security assessments and other due diligence. A SOC 2 report streamlines this process by serving as a comprehensive and widely-accepted validation of your security practices, significantly reducing the time and effort required to satisfy these requests to show proof of your security measures.
Haystack, which offers a SaaS solution to help companies better engage their workforce, had enterprise customers demanding proof of security and compliance. To meet their requirements, Haystack’s small and nimble team was continuously filling out detailed security questionnaires, which was hindering the company’s sales efforts and taking valuable time and resources away from more strategic activities. So they decided to get a SOC 2 report as well as ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certifications.
“We now have all the security and privacy certificates that prospective customers are looking for, so we can take the security and privacy concerns out of the sales conversation and focus on other priorities.” —Yingsong Wang, Information System Security Engineer, Haystack
6. Reducing sales cycle friction
Security concerns can act as roadblock in deals. To remove them, your organization may have to provide detailed security documentation or fill out lengthy questionnaires, which can slow down your sales cycle. By showing customers that you’re committed to keeping their data safe, a SOC 2 report can remove these concerns as roadblocks. This can speed up decision-making, reduce back-and-forth between your organization and prospects, and help close deals faster.
As the all-in-one enterprise gifting platform PerkUp started targeting larger companies both in and outside of the United States, the vast majority of prospects were asking for a SOC 2 report or requiring PerkUp to fill out a security questionnaire. The process of filling out security questionnaires was painful and time-intensive, eating up valuable chunks of the CEO and CTO’s time and adding several weeks to their sales cycles. After getting their SOC 2 report, PerkUp cut down the security portion of their sales cycle from 2 to 3 weeks to a day or two.
“We were losing trust. Not having a SOC 2 report was slowing down the sales process and it was preventing us from pricing our product higher.” —Thomas Mirmotahari, CEO and Co-Founder, PerkUp
SOC 2 Report Example
Download our illustrative example of a SOC 2 Type II Report to get a sense of what a report might include, how it might be organized, and how long it may be. This can help you if you're preparing for an audit or determining if a SOC 2 Type II report is the right choice for your organization.
7. Gaining a competitive edge
In a crowded market, a SOC 2 report can help differentiate your organization by showcasing your robust security posture. It signals maturity and readiness to handle sensitive data securely, which gives you an advantage over competitors that lack these compliance reports and certifications.
Rootly, an incident management platform, was in the middle of multiple negotiations with larger companies and needed a SOC 2 report quickly to unblock these enterprise deals. After getting their SOC 2 report in weeks, security was no longer an issue and their deals could keep progressing. Co-founder JJ Tang said since they often get asked about security early in the deal process, having SOC 2 means they’re never screened out, even when competing with larger competitors.
“Having the report in hand lends us a lot of credibility. I know a lot of larger companies in our space that are nowhere close to SOC 2 ready. It’s given us a huge competitive edge.” —JJ Tang, Co-founder, Rootly
8. Growing your business
SOC 2 compliance signals to potential customers and partners that your organization takes security seriously and meets high standards. This can lead to new opportunities, larger deals, and long-term growth for your business.
As a data ingestion platform, Osmos ingests millions of data points from hundreds of types of infrastructure and services. They knew they needed a SOC 2 report to prove their commitment to data security to close deals, stay competitive in the marketplace, and continue to innovate. Having a SOC 2 report in hand, Osmos was able to quickly build trust with prospects, generate more revenue, and scale.
“Every mid- to large-size customer asks you for compliance. The truth of the matter is the market demands proof of compliance, and if you don't have it, you're not going to close deals. We wouldn’t be able to continue to grow as a business.” —Kirat Pandya, CEO and Technical Co-Founder, Osmos
9. Entering new markets
SOC 2 compliance opens doors to new markets, particularly those with stringent security and compliance expectations. As previously mentioned, industries such as financial services, healthcare, and technology often require vendors to demonstrate robust security practices. A SOC 2 report can make your organization more attractive to businesses in these sectors. It can also help open doors to markets in different parts of the world.
For example, Echo IQ, which specializes in AI-powered solutions for cardiology, knew they needed to prioritize security and compliance to succeed in the global healthcare space. They needed to get HIPAA compliant because they work with sensitive health information, but they also wanted a SOC 2 report to launch successfully in the US market. By getting SOC 2 Type 1 and HIPAA compliant within six months, they were able to say they were compliant before launching in the US market.
“Data security is extremely important to us. Before we even brought our product to market, we needed to make sure that we were operating at the highest level of security possible. We decided to implement SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance because it would give us permission to play in the healthcare space across the world.” —Seán Bryceland, CTO at Echo IQ
10. Speeding up compliance with other frameworks
Achieving SOC 2 compliance can simplify your path to meeting other regulatory or industry standards. SOC 2 controls align closely with frameworks like HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001, and many other frameworks, providing a solid foundation for scaling your compliance program alongside your business and customer base.
That’s what Data Virtuality, a B2B software vendor that develops and sells data integration solutions globally across industries, did. After achieving ISO 27001 certification manually, Matthias Werner, Head of Finance and Analytics, pushed to do more to improve security due to the company’s market position in Europe and the US and a notable increase in client requests for security and compliance certifications. This kickstarted a team effort to achieve compliance with the most frequently requested security frameworks, starting with SOC 2 and quickly moving to HIPAA.
“SOC 3 was attached to SOC 2, and HIPAA was also managed through Secureframe. This was one of the reasons we wanted to have a platform in place: in all of the frameworks, there's at least some kind of overlap.” —Matthias Werner, Head of Finance and Analytics, Data Virtuality
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11. Reducing the risk of security incidents
SOC 2 compliance requires implementing strong controls across applicable Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and/or privacy. It also requires you to uncover gaps or vulnerabilities in your systems and address them. This can help enhance your overall security and reduce the risk of data breaches and other security incidents that may result in downtime, reputational damage, fines, and more.
This was the case for AlpineIQ, a data analytics and marketing platform for cannabis retailers that needed a SOC 2 report and HIPAA compliance to unblock enterprise sales deals. In addition to unlocking this benefit, the audit readiness process enabled AlpineIQ to establish strong incident response capabilities that helped mitigate the impact of a security incident before their audit window started.
“We faced the same security incident that took down Facebook. But thanks to all the work we did with Secureframe, we were incredibly prepared. We got the whole tech team together and carried out our incident response plan, and presented it to our auditors. They said it was the best response they had ever seen anybody do. That really gave me the confidence and peace of mind that we were doing things right.” —Nicholas Paschal, CEO, Alpine IQ
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12. Streamlining internal processes
The SOC 2 readiness process requires organizations to evaluate and improve their internal controls, workflows, and security practices. This effort can lead to streamlined processes around vendor onboarding and offboarding as well as other areas and greater operational efficiency, benefiting both your teams and customers.
Stream decided to pursue both SOC 2 compliance and ISO 27001 certification to not only speed up the sales cycle but also streamline their security processes. Now that they’re SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliant, customers feel more confident working with Stream, which has accelerated their sales cycle. Plus, as a growing company, Stream appreciated how the audit process helped them improve their overall security posture.
“Security isn’t just a sales thing. It’s important for the company. That’s been a huge value add of going through the audit process. We’ve cleaned up our onboarding and offboarding processes, implemented company wide security training, and have robust policies in place that will scale with us.” —Tommaso Barbugli, Co-founder and CTO, Stream
13. Instilling a culture of security
Pursuing SOC 2 compliance encourages an organization-wide focus on security and risk management. It fosters a culture where security is not just a checklist but an ongoing priority. Teams become more aware of best practices and proactive in identifying and mitigating risks.
Roadie, a developer portal startup, had essential security practices in place, but they needed to formalize their process to achieve SOC 2 compliance. Orla Tuite, Roadie’s Chief of Staff, says this was critical to close new customers. Getting SOC 2 compliant not only sped up the sales cycle — it also provided engineers with a stronger knowledge and sense of ownership of compliance.
“It has spread compliance awareness throughout the engineering team,” she says. “It allowed the engineers to get on board with compliance and to be part of it…It makes it part of their work and something that they can be proud of and be involved in, which is something I've never seen before.” —Orla Tuite, Chief of Staff, Roadie
Want to hear more? In the video below, Secureframe Chief Product and Operations Officer Chris Sesi details two of the top reasons that organizations need a SOC 2 report based on his decades of experience.
How to get a SOC 2 report
While the benefits of getting a SOC 2 report are clear, achieving it can be complex and time-consuming, depending on what approach you take. Here are three main ways you can get SOC 2 report:
Manual approach
Taking the manual approach to SOC 2 compliance means managing everything internally, from conducting a gap analysis to implementing controls and everything else involved in preparing for the audit.
However, this method comes with significant drawbacks:
- Requires a huge amount of time and resources
- No peace of mind that you’ve implemented the correct controls
- Difficult to maintain audit readiness and ongoing compliance
Example
Kinectify, for example, is an anti-money laundering compliance platform for the gaming industry. Kinectify’s CTO, Mike Calvin, went through the compliance process manually with his previous firm, which required each executive on his team to spend 30-40 hours a month over the course of a year to get SOC 2 Type I compliant. At Kinectify, he opted for a different approach and was able to achieve SOC 2 Type I and II in less time than he spent achieving Type I at the previous organization.
Hiring a consultant
Many organizations turn to consultants to help with SOC 2 preparation. Hiring an outside consultant can be a great way to save company resources and benefit from a compliance expert handling your security management.
While this approach offers expert guidance, it also has limitations:
- Consultants can be very expensive
- Significant manual work still falls on your team
- Outsourcing may not foster a culture of security within your organization
Example
Optify, a coaching solutions provider that created an online coaching platform, wanted to get a SOC 2 report to establish trust with their customers and bypass the need to fill out tedious security questionnaires. But when they began talking to consultants to help them get prepared for an audit, they got quotes of $30,000 to $40,000. Hiring a consultant to prepare for the audit was not only expensive, there was no visibility into the audit process and what was actually being done by the consultants. So they opted for a different approach.
Using compliance automation
Compliance automation offers the most efficient path to achieving and maintaining SOC 2 compliance. In addition to offering significant time savings, automation can provide peace of mind that you’re audit ready and help drive your continuous compliance strategy.
Key benefits include:
- Automate evidence collection, control monitoring, and other tedious, manual tasks
- Ensure that your controls are correctly implemented and audit-ready
- Stay compliant as your organization evolves, with automated monitoring and reporting
Example
CampTek, a full-life-cycle RPA SaaS provider, needed a SOC 2 report to move upmarket towards larger enterprise customers in the fintech and healthcare space. Like many companies pursuing their first SOC 2 report, CampTek saw that the process would require a great deal of manual work, time, and resources — all of which they could not afford given the time sensitive nature of their enterprise deals. So they opted for compliance automation and got SOC 2 Type I compliant within a tight deadline and accelerated and closed multiple enterprise deals that were contingent on receiving a SOC 2 report.
“We needed to get our SOC 2 Type 1 in about 6-8 weeks because we had a deal to push through. We were looking for the quickest time to get to market. Once I realized there was software to help automate the process, I knew I wanted to go that route.” —Peter Camp, CTO and Founder
How Secureframe can help simplify the processing of getting a SOC 2 report and maintaining compliance
Secureframe simplifies the entire process of obtaining a SOC 2 report and maintaining ongoing compliance.
In a recent survey of more than 160 small businesses, 81% of organizations said they were able to prepare for and complete audits at least 25% faster. 32% prepared for and completed an audit in less than half the time. Additionally, 86% said they were able to reduce time and effort maintaining compliance.
To help organizations achieve these results, our platform:
- Automates evidence collection by integrating with your existing tools and systems
- Monitors your controls continuously to ensure audit readiness
- Streamlines the audit process with pre-vetted and trusted audit partners that are familiar with the Secureframe platform
- Simplifies vendor and personnel management
- Provides auditor-approved policy templates for SOC 2 documentation, like a Privacy and Data Protection Policy template, to save time spent on policy creation
- Maps your current controls across multiple frameworks to simplify and speed up compliance with additional frameworks like ISO 27001
- Saves you time and resources, so you can focus on growing your business while we handle the heavy lifting
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to simplify your SOC 2 compliance efforts, Secureframe can help you achieve SOC 2 compliance faster and more efficiently. Request a demo to learn how.
FAQs
Do all businesses need a SOC 2 report?
While not mandatory, a SOC 2 report is highly recommended for businesses handling sensitive customer data, particularly those working with enterprise clients or operating in regulated industries.
How often do you need to renew a SOC 2 report?
To maintain trust and compliance, organizations typically renew their SOC 2 reports annually.
Why is maintaining SOC 2 compliance important?
Maintaining SOC 2 compliance ensures your organization continues to meet high security and privacy standards as your business grows and evolves. It helps prevent security lapses, maintain customer trust, and adapt to new risks and regulatory requirements.
Why is automation the best approach for achieving SOC 2 compliance quickly?
Automation simplifies the SOC 2 process by eliminating manual tasks, such as evidence collection and control monitoring. By reducing this manual work, compliance automation accelerates audit readiness, reduces human error, and ensures ongoing compliance, saving time and resources while giving you peace of mind that you are secure and audit-ready.