SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is the most widely requested compliance framework for SaaS companies selling into enterprise. Developed by the AICPA, SOC 2 evaluates an organization's controls across five Trust Services Criteria: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy.
A clean SOC 2 Type II report is table stakes for closing enterprise deals — and maintaining it year over year is where most organizations struggle.
SOC 2 is essential for any company that stores, processes, or transmits customer data in cloud environments. It is the baseline certification that enterprise buyers, procurement teams, and security reviewers demand before signing contracts.
Technology & Software — SaaS, PaaS, and infrastructure providers are expected to maintain SOC 2 Type II as a fundamental trust signal for enterprise buyers.
Financial Services — Fintechs and payment processors handling financial data use SOC 2 to demonstrate operational security to banks, investors, and regulators.
Health & Life Sciences — Healthtech companies often pursue SOC 2 alongside HIPAA to cover both operational security and regulatory compliance.
Media & Entertainment — Content platforms and adtech companies handling user data and intellectual property need SOC 2 to satisfy enterprise distribution and partnership requirements.
Retail & Ecommerce — Ecommerce platforms processing customer data and payment information use SOC 2 to build buyer and partner trust.
Audited Compliance — SOC 2 Type II requires continuous evidence of control effectiveness over an observation period (typically 6-12 months). Manual evidence collection across dozens of controls is the single largest time sink in SOC 2 programs.
Cross-Framework Complexity — Organizations pursuing SOC 2 alongside ISO 27001, HIPAA, or GDPR face overlapping controls that require cross-mapping to avoid duplicative work.
Fragmented Governance — SOC 2 spans security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy — requiring coordinated ownership across engineering, IT, HR, and legal teams.
Risk Visibility — The Trust Services Criteria require organizations to demonstrate continuous risk assessment and monitoring, not just point-in-time evaluations.
Policy & Access — SOC 2 auditors scrutinize access controls, least-privilege enforcement, onboarding/offboarding procedures, and policy acknowledgment records.
Trust & Transparency — A current SOC 2 Type II report displayed on a trust center accelerates buyer security reviews and reduces questionnaire volume.
Questionnaire Fatigue — SOC 2 certification reduces (but doesn't eliminate) buyer security questionnaires. Combining certification with automated questionnaire responses compresses review cycles further.
Agency operates your SOC 2 compliance program end-to-end — from initial readiness through certification and continuous maintenance — without adding headcount to your team.
Continuous Control Validation — Agency's forward-deployed AI agents validate every SOC 2 control continuously across your GRC platform (Vanta, Drata), cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), identity providers (Okta, JumpCloud), and endpoint security (CrowdStrike). Drift is detected and remediated in real time.
Automated Evidence Collection — Agency eliminates the manual screenshot-and-spreadsheet cycle. Evidence is collected, organized, and maintained automatically across every connected platform — always current, always audit-grade.
Remediation Execution — When controls fail, Agency doesn't just flag them. Rumi AI writes infrastructure-as-code fixes and executes API-based remediation for cloud misconfigurations. Storm Shadow validates every evidence artifact before auditor submission. Ringwraith monitors audit progress in real time.
Cross-Framework Mapping — Armada PSCO maps SOC 2 controls to ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, and other frameworks automatically. Work done for SOC 2 carries forward to every additional certification.
Audit-Ready Every Day — Agency maintains continuous audit readiness so your SOC 2 Type II observation period is a formality, not a scramble. M79 generates system descriptions, Caruso maintains network diagrams, and every artifact is documented and traceable.