Cybersecurity

Helping a growing software company earn customer trust with its first SOC 2 report

For a fast-growing software company in Ontario, the question started appearing in almost every sales conversation: “Do you have a SOC 2 report?” Until then, the honest answer was “we take security seriously”. True, but no longer enough for larger customers with procurement teams and security questionnaires of their own.

The team had good instincts and decent tools. What they didn’t have was evidence: written policies, consistent processes and a clear record showing that the controls worked day after day.

Digitales worked with the company to get audit-ready, alongside the independent auditor, turning good intentions into something a customer could actually rely on.

The challenge

SOC 2 isn’t a certificate you buy. It’s an independent assessment of how a company protects customer data, and it asks for proof, not promises.

The company needed to deal with:

• Security practices that lived in people’s heads rather than in written policies
• Enterprise deals slowing down while customers waited on security reviews
• Access to systems granted informally and rarely reviewed
• Cloud environments that had grown quickly, with inconsistent settings
• No single owner for risk, vendors or incident response
• A small team already busy building and supporting the product

The goal was to reach audit day calmly, with controls that were real, repeatable and not a scramble of last-minute documents.

What we did

We started by agreeing the scope in plain terms: which systems, which customer promises and which of the Trust Services Criteria mattered most to the business. Then we worked through the gaps one at a time, in order of risk.

Readiness assessment and gap analysis

We compared how the company actually worked against what a SOC 2 audit expects, and wrote up the gaps in clear language with owners and priorities, so nobody had to decode jargon.

Policies that people can actually follow

Policies were written around real day-to-day practice, short enough to be read and specific enough to be followed. Staff were walked through them in short sessions rather than being handed a folder.

Access, identity and device controls

We introduced multi-factor authentication, role-based access, regular access reviews and tidy onboarding and offboarding, plus encryption and management of company laptops.

Cloud and infrastructure hardening

Cloud settings were reviewed and standardised, logging and monitoring were switched on where they were missing, and backup and recovery were tested instead of assumed.

Risk, vendor and incident management

A simple risk register, a vendor review routine and a practised incident response plan gave the company a way to spot problems early and respond calmly when something went wrong.

Evidence collection and audit support

Evidence was gathered continuously in the normal course of work, so there was no end-of-year scramble. We helped the team prepare for the auditor’s questions and stayed on hand through fieldwork. The audit itself was carried out by an independent CPA firm, as it must be.

What changed

The biggest change was confidence. The team knew what its controls were, who owned them and where the proof lived.

• A clear, documented security programme that matches how the team really works
• Faster responses to customer security questionnaires, because the answers already exist
• Fewer sales delays caused by security reviews
• Consistent access controls, with regular reviews and tidy offboarding
• Cloud environments that are monitored, hardened and recoverable
• Named owners for risk, vendors and incident response
• A repeatable rhythm for staying compliant year after year

The impact

SOC 2 can look like paperwork. In practice, it’s about trust: giving customers a reason to believe you when you say their data is safe.

With the audit behind them, the company could answer security questions with evidence instead of reassurance, and sales conversations moved on to what the product could do. This is the Protect part of Run, Protect and Grow: the defences that let a business grow without worrying about what’s underneath.

“Compliance shouldn’t feel like a once-a-year exam. Done well, it’s simply good habits, written down and proven.”