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SOC 2 Compliance: Why It’s Tough for SMBs—And What You Can Do About It

  • Writer: Rahul Shetty
    Rahul Shetty
  • May 5
  • 3 min read

SOC 2 Compliance: Why It’s Tough for SMBs—And What You Can Do About It

By the CyberFence team

Introduction: When “Trust” Becomes a Ticket to the Game

Cloud‑native suppliers, SaaS vendors, and MSPs are now expected to show a SOC 2 report before enterprise buyers will even sign an NDA. For small and mid‑size businesses (SMBs) this shift can feel overwhelming: the framework reads like legalese, auditors are expensive, and investors keep asking, “How soon can you get compliant?” Below we unpack the key hurdles SMBs hit on the road to SOC 2—and practical ways to clear them without derailing growth.

1. Limited People & Budget

The Challenge

Why It Hurts

Lean security teams—often just a part‑time IT lead

Hard to assign owners for 60+ SOC 2 criteria

Short cash runway

Auditor fees, tooling, and remediation costs arrive all at once

Quick Wins

  • Map controls to existing processes (e.g., use HR onboarding checklist as access‑control evidence).

  • Adopt pay‑as‑you‑go tools (SIEM, vulnerability scanning) to avoid heavy capex.

  • Phase the project: readiness assessment → high‑impact fixes → formal audit.

2. Fuzzy Scope & System Description

Defining exactly “what’s in scope”—the system boundary, data flows, and supporting infrastructure—often derails first‑time SOC 2 attempts.

Why It Happens

  • Rapid product pivots blur boundaries.

  • Shared cloud services (AWS, Azure) complicate “who does what.”

How to Solve

  1. Draw a simple data‑flow diagram first; let that drive the narrative.

  2. Use Cloud Service Providers’ “shared‑responsibility matrices” to assign control ownership.

  3. Keep the System Description draft living in a Google Doc and update it with every architectural change.

3. Immature Policies & Documentation

SOC 2 asks for evidence of formalized policies—incident response, change management, vendor risk, etc. Many SMBs rely on verbal agreements or ticket comments.

Fixes That Work

  • Start with lightweight templates (we provide open‑source policy packs).

  • Record approvals in the tools you already use—Slack threads, Jira comments—then export as PDFs for auditors.

  • Schedule a quarterly 30‑minute “policy review sprint” to keep docs from going stale.

4. Vendor & Supply‑Chain Dependencies

A single weak link—your email provider, HR platform, or offshore developer—can jeopardize your SOC 2 opinion.

Action Plan

  1. Tier your vendors: critical, important, low impact.

  2. Collect each vendor’s SOC 2, ISO 27001, or CAIQ once a year; store in a shared drive.

  3. Add right‑to‑audit clauses in new contracts (yes, even if you’re the smaller party).

5. Continuous Monitoring & Evidence Collection

Auditors now expect near‑real‑time signals (log retention, MFA enforcement) rather than one‑off screenshots.

Practical Steps

  • Turn on built‑in CSPM alerts in AWS Security Hub or Microsoft Defender.

  • Automate evidence pulls: e.g., daily export of IAM user list to S3.

  • Use lightweight compliance platforms only for evidence gathering—own the narrative yourself.

6. Picking the Right Auditor & Report Type

Choices include Type I vs. Type II, Trust Service Criteria (TSC) selection, and auditor reputation.

Decision Point

Tip

Type I vs. Type II

If sales cycles are long, start with Type I to get a logo fast, then schedule Type II six months later.

TSC Set

Security is mandatory; add Availability or Confidentiality only if buyers ask.

Auditor

Interview at least three; look beyond price—ask about SaaS experience and sample reports.

7. Balancing Agility with Control

Developers fear SOC 2 will “freeze” deployments; founders fear delays in shipping features.

Make Compliance a Feature, Not a Bug

  • Implement GitHub branch protections instead of forbidding hotfixes.

  • Use feature flags so audit environments stay stable while prod iterates.

  • Celebrate each passed penetration test in company‑wide Slack to build a security‑first culture.

Conclusion: Turn Obstacles into Competitive Advantage

SOC 2 compliance is undeniably tougher for SMBs—but the very constraints that make it hard also foster creativity and rigor. By scoping smartly, automating evidence, and weaving security into daily workflows, smaller companies often outpace larger rivals in winning trust‑driven deals. Need a sanity check or a readiness roadmap? CyberFence specializes in guiding high‑growth teams from zero to SOC 2 hero—without the enterprise‑grade price tag.

Ready to start? Book a free 30‑minute consultation and get a bespoke gap analysis.


 
 
 

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