SOC 2 Readiness and Audit Timelines: How Long Does it Take to Get SOC 2 Compliant?

If your company is exploring SOC 2 compliance, one of the first questions you may be wondering is—how long does it take to get SOC 2 compliant? The SOC 2 readiness and audit process can take anywhere from 3-12 months to complete. But with the support of a Rhymetec vCISO, service organizations can typically achieve SOC 2 compliance in half the time it would take them to navigate the process alone.

To help you gauge how long your organization’s SOC 2 readiness and audit process might take from start to finish, we’ve come up with a general timeline based on our experience helping hundreds of CTOs at SaaS companies successfully achieve SOC 2 compliance.

Note that these estimates are typical for mid-sized companies, so use it as a guideline only. If you’d like to explore a SOC 2 engagement that’s specific to your organization, book a no-obligation chat with our team.

How Long Does it Take to Get SOC 2 Compliant?

The SOC 2 compliance process generally takes as little as three to six months to complete, and as much as 12 months. This estimate includes the time it takes to prepare for an audit, undergo an audit, and receive a SOC 2 audit report.

SOC 2 readiness and audit timelines are impacted by your team’s knowledge and expertise, available resources, the nature of your services, the size of your company, the auditor you choose to work with, and more.

Generally speaking, SOC 2 Type 1 readiness and audit timelines are much shorter than SOC 2 Type 2 audit timelines.

SOC 2 Compliance Timeline: What to Expect

Here’s what a SOC 2 compliance timeline looks like for clients that work with a Rhymetec vCISO versus those that choose to navigate the process alone. Remember: every organization is different, and yours will look a little different.

Phase 1: Prepare and Plan

During this phase, you’ll choose which type of SOC report you need (SOC 2 Type 1 vs Type 2), identify your compliance requirements, determine the trust services criteria to include in your SOC 2 report, assemble a team, allocate resources, and find an independent auditor.

Duration:

• With Rhymetec: 2 weeks.
• Without Rhymetec: 1-2 months.

Phase 2: Identify and Scope

This phase involves assessing your organization’s current readiness, benchmarking against all relevant SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria, SOC 2 compliance training and employee education.

Duration: 

• With Rhymetec: 2 to 3 weeks
• Without Rhymetec: 1 to 2 months

Phase 3: Assess and Implement

Now it’s time to conduct a risk assessment, implement controls, identify and address any outstanding issues, draft policies and procedures, implement monitoring, collect evidence, and ensure that your organization is ready to undergo a SOC 2 audit.

Duration: 

• With Rhymetec: 1 to 3 months
• Without Rhymetec: 2 to 6 months

Phase 4: Prepare for Audit

Finally, you’ll need to complete a SOC 2 readiness assessment and address any final concerns before commencing a SOC 2 audit and receiving a SOC 2 report.

Duration:

• With Rhymetec: 4 to 6 weeks
• Without Rhymetec: 6 to 12 weeks

Phase 5: Official audit (2-6 weeks)

Your selected auditor will begin the official process of reviewing your company’s collected evidence and point-in-time snapshot. From the kick-off of the audit to the SOC 2 report delivery, this process can take anywhere between 2-6 weeks. Factors that can impact your SOC 2 Audit timeline include:

• The scope of your audit
• Number of controls involved
• Evidence requests from your auditor

Once the evaluation is complete, your auditor will create and deliver your SOC 2 report. After the report is finalized, you can share it with vendors, partners, customers, and prospects.

How long will it take your company to achieve SOC 2 compliance?

Unfortunately, that’s a difficult question to answer. SOC 2 timelines are hard to project because each organization will apply the Trust Services Criteria in a unique way.

Also, many factors can impact the timeline of your SOC 2 compliance journey. How quickly your organization can get through the SOC 2 compliance process will depend on things like:

• The size of your organization
• Which Trust Services Criteria you choose to include 
• The complexity of your software or application
• The readiness of your existing processes, controls, systems, and policies
• The number of people who will be involved in the process
• The availability of resources
• Whether you choose to work through the SOC 2 compliance process yourself, or hire a cybersecurity partner like Rhymetec to expedite the process

If you’d like a SOC 2 timeline estimate that’s based on your organization working with a Rhymetec vCISO, book a no-obligation chat with our team.

How Rhymetec simplifies SOC 2 audits

The traditional SOC 2 process can take hundreds of hours to complete. Working with a Rhymetec vCISO removes the complexity and burden from SOC 2 compliance. Our team of cybersecurity experts have helped hundreds of SaaS and service-based organizations navigate the SOC 2 compliance process; we know what to look for, and we can guide you at every step of the way. 

Not only do we consult you on how to achieve your SOC 2 goals, but provide the services you need to get there. We like to say that we act on our own advice, so you can focus on other critical aspects of your business.

What a Rhymetec vCISO Can Do

Rhymetec’s team of cybersecurity experts acts as a member of your team and acts in the best interest of your company’s needs. With years of experience working among some of the most complex compliance regulations, we can provide you with strategic direction and hands-on support to simplify your SOC 2 readiness.

Tasks a vCISO can support in your compliance journey:

• Expert Audit and Compliance Guidance
• Security and Compliance Management
• Compliance Monitoring Software Deployment and Management
• InfoSec Policy and Procedure Development
• Human Resources Security Services
• Employee Access Management Services
• Vendor Management Services
• Incident Management and Response Services
• Security Questionnaire Fulfillment
• Security and Data Privacy Training Services
• Vulnerability Management and System Logging Services
• Risk Management Services
• Audit Management Services
• And More

Not only will a vCISO help you get ready for your audit and work with your auditor, but a Rhymetec vCISO can also support your post-audit maintenance goals to ensure ongoing compliance with SOC 2, and address stakeholder inquiries about security and compliance.

We give you the right level of vCISO support.

Whether your team needs high-level guidance from an experienced vCISO or hands-on support from our team of cybersecurity experts, Rhymetec can provide the level of support your organization needs to quickly achieve SOC 2 compliance.

To Learn More About Rhymetec’s Services

Contact Our Team