Compliance & Certification
Compliance Frameworks - Build the Program Once, Certify Many Times
We prepare organizations for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and sector-specific regimes: gap assessment, control implementation, evidence automation, and audit support. Our approach maps one control set across multiple frameworks, so adding a second certification later is incremental rather than a second program.
Frameworks We Support
Compliance is how you prove your security to people who will never read your codebase - enterprise buyers, auditors, regulators. Handled well, it’s a sales accelerator: certification unblocks deals that would otherwise stall in procurement for months. Handled badly, it becomes annual theater - a scramble for screenshots, a certificate on the website, and no genuine improvement in security posture. The difference is almost entirely in whether the controls are operational or performative.
SOC 2 (Type I and Type II)
The standard most North American and global SaaS buyers ask for. We help select applicable Trust Services Criteria, implement controls, prepare evidence, and coordinate with your auditor. Type II requires an observation period, so timeline planning is critical - starting three months before you need the report is starting late.
ISO 27001
The international information security management standard, frequently preferred by European and Asian enterprise buyers. Certifiable, auditable, and structurally compatible with a well-built SOC 2 program.
GDPR
Lawful basis, records of processing, data subject rights processes, DPIAs, cross-border transfer mechanisms, and vendor/processor management - practical implementation rather than a policy binder.
ISO/IEC 42001 and AI Governance
For organizations building or deploying AI, increasingly requested alongside security certifications; see AI Governance.
Sector Regimes
PCI DSS, HIPAA, and regional requirements as your context demands.
How We Keep It Efficient
One control set, many frameworks
SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR overlap substantially. We design a unified control set mapped to each framework’s requirements, so a second certification is largely an evidence exercise rather than a new program.
Automated evidence collection
Wherever tooling can gather it continuously, it should - because manual annual evidence gathering is both expensive and a reliable indicator that controls aren’t actually running.
Security questionnaire support
The unglamorous reality of enterprise sales: a well-maintained control library and documentation set turns a two-week questionnaire scramble into a two-hour task.
Genuine controls, not theater
We build programs where the audit is a byproduct of real practice. Anything else eventually fails an audit, a customer, or an incident - and usually in that order.
Is compliance blocking deals right now?
We’ll tell you what’s genuinely required, what it takes, and how fast you can realistically get there.
The Controls That Appear in Every Framework
Because SOC 2, ISO 27001, and most security questionnaires overlap heavily, one well-built control set serves nearly all of them. The recurring core:
Access control - provisioning, review, revocation, least privilege, MFA
Change management - code review, testing, approvals, deployment records
Vulnerability management - scanning, patching SLAs, remediation evidence
Logging and monitoring - collection, retention, alerting, review
Incident response - a documented plan, defined roles, and evidence it’s been exercised
Business continuity - backups, tested restores, recovery objectives
Vendor management - due diligence, contractual terms, periodic review
Risk assessment - a documented, periodically updated register
Security awareness training - delivered, tracked, and evidenced
Data classification and handling - including retention and deletion
Build these once, properly, and a second framework becomes largely a mapping and evidence exercise. Build them per certificate and you’ll run three overlapping programs and resent all of them.
Where Compliance Programs Go Wrong
Policies nobody follows
Written for the auditor, unrelated to how work happens. They pass a document review and fail a walkthrough, and they achieve nothing for actual security.
Manual evidence collection
Screenshots gathered annually in a two-week scramble. Expensive, and a reliable indicator that controls aren’t operating continuously.
Scope set too wide
Including systems that didn’t need to be in scope multiplies effort. Scope is a design decision worth taking seriously and revisiting.
Starting too late
SOC 2 Type II requires an observation period during which controls must demonstrably operate. Beginning three months before a customer needs the report is beginning late.
Treating the certificate as the goal
Organizations that build genuine controls pass audits as a byproduct and get real security. Organizations that optimize for the certificate get a PDF and the same risk they started with.
The Security Questionnaire Problem
Enterprise sales generates a steady stream of questionnaires, each formatted differently, each consuming senior time. Well-run compliance turns this from a recurring crisis into an administrative task. What we set up:
A maintained answer library mapped to common frameworks
A customer-facing trust page with certifications, subprocessors, and security overview, which deflects a meaningful share of questions before they’re asked
Documented architecture and data-flow diagrams ready to share under NDA
A named owner for questionnaire response with escalation paths for the questions that genuinely need engineering input
The measurable outcome is deal cycle time. Security review is one of the most common causes of enterprise deals slipping a quarter, and it’s among the most fixable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Access control, change management, vulnerability management, logging and monitoring, incident response, business continuity, vendor management, risk assessment, security training, and data classification. Building these once properly makes a second certification largely a mapping and evidence exercise.
Policies written for auditors rather than practitioners, manual annual evidence scrambles, scope set unnecessarily wide, starting too late for a Type II observation period, and treating the certificate rather than the controls as the goal.
Readiness work typically takes two to four months depending on your starting posture. SOC 2 Type I can follow shortly after; Type II requires an observation period - commonly three to twelve months - during which controls must be demonstrably operating.
Follow your buyers. North American SaaS buyers most often ask for SOC 2; European and Asian enterprises frequently prefer ISO 27001. Because the control sets overlap heavily, the second certification is substantially cheaper once the first program is running properly.
Increasingly, yes - many enterprise procurement processes require SOC 2, ISO 27001, or an equivalent before signing. Even where it’s not mandatory, having it materially shortens security review cycles.
Yes - ongoing security leadership, program ownership, and audit management on a fractional basis, which pairs naturally with our fractional CTO/CDO services.
It can. GDPR applies to organizations outside the EU that offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, people in the EU. Given how much turns on specifics, confirm your position with counsel - our role is implementing the controls and processes it requires.
Well-designed controls add modest process to release workflows and remove far more friction from enterprise sales. Poorly designed compliance programs do slow teams down - usually because they were built as documentation exercises rather than engineering practice.