SOC 2 certification: what it really means and how to achieve it

What is SOC 2 certification?

SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is an assurance report designed for service organizations that store, process, or transmit customer data. A SOC 2 audit results in a report on controls relevant to one or more Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

Is SOC 2 a certification or an audit report?

In practice, SOC 2 is an independent audit report, not a regulator-issued certification. A licensed CPA firm evaluates your system and controls against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria and issues a SOC 2 report with the auditor’s opinion.

When companies say they are “SOC 2 certified,” they typically mean they’ve successfully completed a SOC 2 audit and can share a SOC 2 report (usually under NDA) with customers.

Why do companies call it “SOC 2 certification”?

Even though the output is a report, “SOC 2 certification” has become common industry shorthand. You’ll see it in security questionnaires, procurement portals, and deal requirements because it’s an easy way to express a simple outcome: Have you successfully completed a SOC 2 audit?

In other words, SOC 2 certification typically means successfully completing a SOC 2 audit and obtaining a SOC 2 Type I or Type II report. 

Who needs SOC 2 certification?

Not every company needs SOC 2 certification, but many companies selling to other businesses end up pursuing it because customers require third-party assurance about how vendor systems protect data. SOC 2 is especially common in North America, but it’s also recognized globally as a practical way to satisfy security due diligence.

Which companies commonly pursue SOC 2?

SOC 2 certification is most common for organizations that provide technology or operational services and touch customer data as part of delivering their product. For example:

• SaaS providers that host customer data or support critical workflows
• Cloud infrastructure companies (hosting, monitoring, analytics, CI/CD, observability)
• Fintech platforms handling payment data, financial records, or sensitive customer information
• Data processors that process personal data or sensitive data on behalf of customers
• Enterprise vendors integrating deeply into customer environments and identity stacks

Why do customers require SOC 2?

Most SOC 2 requests come from a customer’s security team, compliance team, or procurement function. They’re responsible for reducing third-party risk and want evidence that your controls exist and operate as described. A few of the common reasons we hear from customers requesting SOC 2 include:

• Vendor risk management: SOC 2 provides a standardized artifact to assess risk for outsourced services
• Security due diligence: Buyers want independent validation beyond your own security claims
• Enterprise procurement standards: Many large organizations have minimum requirements for vendors in certain categories

As customers compare you against competitors, having  a SOC 2 report can be the difference between “shortlisted” and “disqualified.”

How do you get a SOC 2 certification?

Getting a SOC 2 certification requires building a repeatable security and compliance program. A reliable path is to treat it like a structured project with clear scope, owners, and an evidence plan from day one.

Step 1: Conduct a readiness assessment

A readiness assessment (sometimes called a gap assessment) tells you what’s missing in your operations before you pay for the external audit. It typically includes control mapping to the Trust Services Criteria, identification of risks, and a prioritized remediation plan.

At the end of this exercise, you should have a remediation roadmap with owners, timelines, and evidence requirements.

Step 2: Implement required controls

Once you know your weaknesses, the work is to implement (or tighten) relevant controls. Just as importantly, we recommend setting controls up in a way they produce evidence naturally as your team operates.

Audits go smoothly when controls are built into workflows, not managed in spreadsheets. With DataGuard, teams can centralize control ownership and automate evidence collection across common tools—reducing spreadsheet chasing and last-minute audit prep.

Some of the most common controls include:

• Access management: Centralized identity, MFA, least privilege, documented approvals, and periodic access reviews
• Incident response: An IR policy, roles and escalation paths, and evidence that you test the process (tabletop exercises, post-incident reviews)
• Vendor management: Onboarding and periodic reviews for critical vendors, contracts and risk assessments for subservice organizations
• Logging and monitoring: Defined log sources, alerting thresholds, vulnerability management, and ticketing that proves alerts are triaged
• Policy documentation: Clear, versioned policies that match reality (security, access control, change management, acceptable use, and more)

Step 3: Define the audit scope

Scope decisions determine how hard (and expensive) SOC 2 certification will be, and how useful your report is to customers. The best scope is the one that matches how you actually deliver service to customers today, without dragging unnecessary systems into the audit. How to get started:

• Select Trust Services Criteria: Security is mandatory. Add other criteria based on SLAs, data classification, and customer requirements
• Choose Type I or Type II: Decide whether you need a snapshot now or operating evidence over time
• Define the audit period: Type II requires an observation window (often 3–12 months)
• Define system boundaries: Which products, environments, regions, teams, and third parties are in scope
• Write a clear system description: Auditors and customers will rely on it to understand what the report covers

Step 4: Undergo the external audit

During the audit, the CPA firm tests whether your controls meet the selected criteria. For Type II, they’ll also test whether those controls operated effectively throughout the observation period. The result is the SOC 2 report, including the auditor’s opinion and test results.

For the CPA-led evidence review, you provide documentation (policies, screenshots, exports, tickets, logs) that demonstrates each control.

During control testing, auditors sample evidence (for example, a subset of access approvals or change tickets) and document results.

Towards the end of the process, you receive a draft report and respond to questions before receiving the final report.

How long does SOC 2 certification take?

The timeline for SOC 2 certification depends less on how fast you can schedule an auditor and more on how quickly you can implement controls and then prove they’re effective. If you’re aiming for a Type II report, the observation period is calendar time—you can’t “compress” six months of control operation by working harder in week one.

What influences the timeline?

• Company size: More teams, more systems, and a higher number of users usually mean more controls to define, more evidence to collect, and more stakeholders to interview. Even if your tooling is strong, coordination time grows alongside the size of the organization
• Existing security maturity: If you already have MFA everywhere, ticket-based change management, centralized logging, and defined onboarding/offboarding, the remaining work is mainly documentation and cleanup. If you’re starting from scratch, the timeline is dedicated to implementation and process change
• Complexity of infrastructure: Multiple products, environments, regions, identity providers, or a microservices stack can increase the number of control “instances” auditors sample (for example, changes, access approvals, incident tickets), which increases evidence work and testing time

Auditor availability can also be a hidden bottleneck. Many firms book weeks in advance, so it’s worth reaching out early even while you’re still preparing. But in most first-time engagements, the biggest driver is your internal readiness and how structured your documentation is.

Typical timeframes (for first-time SOC 2 certifications):

• Type I: 3–6 months. For many teams, this includes setting up policies and implementing controls, plus several weeks of fieldwork and issuing reports. Well-prepared companies may complete the timeframe faster, but planning for a few months is safer.
• Type II: 6–12+ months. The observation period alone is typically 3–12 months, plus readiness, audit fieldwork, and report issuance. For first-time programs building controls as they go, 9–15 months is a common reality. 

How much does SOC 2 certification cost?

SOC 2 costs are rarely just “the audit fee.” Your total spend typically includes internal prep time, security tooling, optional outside help (readiness consultants), and the CPA firm’s fees. The biggest cost lever is scope: more systems, more criteria, and more locations usually mean more work for your team and more testing for the auditor.

What drives the cost?

• Internal preparation effort: A major hidden cost is staff time—security, IT/DevOps, engineering, and HR/legal typically contribute to policy writing, control implementation, and evidence collection
• Security tooling: You may need to add or upgrade tools such as SSO/MFA, endpoint management, vulnerability scanning, logging/SIEM, backup, or a compliance automation platform
• Consultant or readiness support: Some companies pay for a readiness assessment, control design support, or “fractional” compliance leadership to accelerate implementation and reduce audit risk

What is the typical cost range?

Costs vary widely by scope and approach, so it’s best to budget in ranges (and separate “audit fees” from “all-in program cost”). The numbers below are meant to be directional, not exact quotes.

Two quick caveats: first, adding additional Trust Services Criteria (beyond security) can increase both prep and audit effort. Second, scope creep (adding products, environments, or regions during the observation process) is one of the fastest ways to increase both the cost and the timeline. Lock in scope early if you can.

What is the ROI of SOC 2?

For many B2B software companies, SOC 2 is a revenue enabler as much as it’s a risk-control exercise. The ROI often shows up in sales velocity and deal size rather than as a direct cost reduction.

• Faster enterprise deal cycles: Having a current Type II report can remove a common procurement blocker and reduce back-and-forth with security teams
• Higher contract values: Stronger assurance can expand the set of customers (and contract tiers) willing to buy, especially in regulated industries
• Reduced security questionnaires: You’ll likely still answer some due diligence, but a SOC 2 report provides a standardized artifact that can replace dozens of one-off questions
• Market trust: A mature SOC 2 program signals operational discipline, which is valuable for enterprise buyers, partners, and even fundraising conversations

What are common challenges during SOC 2 certification?

Most SOC 2 problems are tied to operational consistency problems. Auditors look for repeatable processes and evidence that those processes ran throughout the observation period. Here are a few issues that commonly create exceptions or slow down fieldwork:

• Incomplete documentation: Policies exist, but they don’t match real workflows (or they’re outdated after system changes), creating gaps between what you say you do and what you can prove
• Weak access reviews: Access reviews are often missed, performed inconsistently, or not retained as evidence (for example, no clear approvals, no removals documented, or unclear reviewer identity)
• Poor vendor oversight: Teams rely on critical vendors (cloud, support tools, sub-processors) without a consistent vendor risk process
• Lack of monitoring evidence: Companies have logging and alerting in place, but can’t show that alerts were reviewed, triaged, and resolved
• Unclear control ownership: If no one owns a control end-to-end (for example, offboarding spans HR, IT, and app owners), it’s easy for steps to be skipped and hard to prove consistency

How does SOC 2 certification compare to ISO 27001?

SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are often compared because both are widely used trust signals in B2B procurement. But they’re not interchangeable: they have different outputs, audit models, and “home markets.” Many global software companies end up pursuing both, especially if they sell into both North America and Europe.

What are the key differences?

• SOC 2 → audit report: SOC 2 results in an attestation report issued by a CPA firm, typically shared under NDA with customers and prospects
• ISO 27001 → formal certification: ISO 27001 results in a certification (issued by an accredited certification body) for your Information Security Management System (ISMS)
• Regional recognition differences: SOC 2 is especially common in North American procurement, while ISO 27001 is broadly recognized internationally and often carries more weight in Europe and other regions

Can you combine SOC 2 and ISO 27001?

You can, and it’s often the most efficient way to build a scalable security program. Many core controls overlap (access management, change management, incident response, vendor oversight), so you can implement them once and map them to both frameworks.

How do companies maintain SOC 2 compliance after certification?

If you’re buying SOC 2 tooling or outside support, this is the part that matters most: the goal isn’t just to “get the report.” Rather, it’s to build a compliance program that stays audit-ready as your company changes with new hires, new products, new vendors, and new infrastructure. That’s how SOC 2 becomes a growth enabler instead of an annual scramble.

Using a platform like DataGuard helps teams turn security and compliance into a repeatable operating rhythm—by assigning control owners, scheduling recurring activities, and keeping evidence organized year-round.

Why is SOC 2 not a one-time project?

While reports don’t “expire” in a technical sense, customers typically expect an updated report every year to show your controls are still current. 

In one part, this is because SOC 2 aims to demonstrate that your controls function over time, making continuous monitoring an essential part of the process.

What does mature SOC 2 governance look like?

Mature SOC 2 governance means your controls run on schedule, have clear owners, and produce evidence without last-minute scrambling. The goal is a program that stays audit-ready as you scale, change systems, and add new vendors or regions. A few milestones to work towards include:

• Centralized control monitoring: One place to track controls, owners, due dates (access reviews, vendor reviews, training), and status
• Automated evidence collection: Integrations with your identity provider, ticketing, cloud, and endpoint tools so evidence is collected continuously and consistently
• Ongoing risk assessment: Regular review of new risks introduced by product changes, vendor additions, or new regions
• Executive oversight: Consistent leadership reviews of security and compliance KPIs, resourcing decisions, and risk acceptance

SOC 2 certification checklist

Use this checklist to sanity-check your readiness before you commit to audit fieldwork, or to spot the gaps that will slow you down later. Aim for: 

1. Defined audit scope (deciding on systems, products, regions, and Trust Services Criteria)
2. Completed readiness assessment and gap remediation plan
3. Implemented required security controls (IAM, change management, logging/monitoring, vulnerability management)
4. Documented policies and procedures (making sure they match reality)
5. Conducted access reviews and retained evidence
6. Tested incident response (for example, through a tabletop exercise) and documented outcomes
7. Collected operating evidence across the full period (Type II) or for point-in-time design (Type I)
8. Completed external audit fieldwork and addressed auditor questions

Final thoughts: SOC 2 certification as a growth enabler

Done well, SOC 2 is proof that your security program can keep up with enterprise expectations as you scale. It gives customers a consistent, third-party artifact they can rely on.

It builds enterprise trust and reduces sales friction. Paired with frameworks like ISO 27001, SOC 2 helps you meet regional expectations as your customer base becomes more global.