What To Do After Receiving SOC 2?

10 Things To Do After Receiving SOC 2

Once you receive your SOC 2 report, it’s crucial to take a few strategic steps to maximize its value and reinforce your compliance posture.

In other words, your SOC 2 report should become an active asset in your go-to-market toolkit. It should not just be a compliance checkbox but a signal of your organization’s credibility, maturity, and dedication to protecting customer data.

Below, we discuss the most critical steps you need to take after receiving your SOC 2 report. 

1. Review the Report Thoroughly

Start by reading through your SOC 2 report in detail, along with an auditor’s opinion letter at the front. Go through each section to understand what the auditors examined and how your controls performed. This is typically an internal process, but it’s wise to review it alongside your auditor or advisory team if you need help interpreting any findings or recommendations.

• Look for exceptions. These are instances where your controls didn’t operate as expected during the audit period, such as a missed background check or a short lapse in enforcing password policies. 
• Pay attention to management comments and auditor observations. These may not be formal exceptions, but they often highlight weaker areas in your system that could benefit from improvement.
• Review the Complementary User Entity Controls (CUECs). These outline the responsibilities of your customers to maintain a strong overall security posture. Ensure that your sales and account teams understand these key points.
• Note any recommendations or best practices. Auditors often include suggestions like tightening change management, improving vendor assessments, or enhancing log details.

2. Address Any Identified Gaps

If your SOC 2 report highlights exceptions, control failures, or even small observations, take them seriously. These are signals that something in your processes did not fully meet the standard during the audit period or gap analysis.

Start by discussing these findings with your internal teams. For example, if the report notes delayed access revocations after employee terminations, work with HR and IT to tighten that process and track it closely going forward. 

Alternatively, if it highlights that your annual security training was not completed on schedule, consider creating a more robust reminder system and linking completion to performance reviews.

3. Share It Responsibly With Potential Customers 

Many customers and prospects will ask for your SOC 2 report as part of their vendor due diligence. This is to confirm that you’re following strong security and privacy practices. 

It’s a powerful trust asset. However, it also contains detailed descriptions of your internal systems, controls, and even potential vulnerabilities. Because of this, treat your SOC 2 report as confidential information. Before sharing it, set up a process:

• Always have clients sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) if they haven’t already done so. This protects your sensitive data from being passed around freely.
• Use secure channels to transmit the report, like an encrypted file share or a customer trust portal, rather than sending it as a simple email attachment.

Also, consider who needs to see the full report. For some prospects, a SOC 2 summary letter or an executive briefing might be enough. This way, you reassure them of your compliance without exposing every detail of your controls.

4. Use the Results in Your Sales and Trust Communications

Earning a SOC 2 report is a strong signal to the market that your company takes data security seriously. Make the most of it by weaving this achievement into your sales conversations, marketing collateral, and trust-building materials.

You don’t need to distribute the full report to everyone. Instead, highlight your compliance on your website’s security or trust page, mention it in proposals, and include it in RFP responses. Many companies also create a SOC 2 attestation letter or a summary of it. If you want something even more public-facing, you could also undergo a SOC 3 audit, which results in a general-use report explicitly designed for broad distribution. 

By doing this, you reassure potential customers, especially those in regulated or data-sensitive industries, that you meet rigorous standards. This can shorten sales cycles and give you an edge over competitors who lack similar validation.

5. Plan for Ongoing Monitoring and Future Audits

SOC 2 is designed to demonstrate that you have controls that operate consistently over time. So after your audit wraps up, stay proactive.

Continue to monitor the key processes and necessary controls that were examined, including access reviews, vendor risk checks, and incident response drills. Maintain clear documentation, and auditors will expect to see evidence from the entire next review period.

It also helps to schedule internal check-ins, such as quarterly compliance reviews, to identify and correct issues early. By doing this, you can avoid last-minute scrambles and ensure your next SOC 2 renewal goes smoothly. 

6. Expect to Continue Handling Security Questionnaires

It’s common to think that securing a SOC 2 report will put an end to lengthy security questionnaires from clients. While it does help reduce them, since your report already demonstrates that you follow recognized standards, it won’t eliminate them.

The reason is straightforward: SOC 2 auditors are primarily CPAs. They excel at evaluating whether you’ve designed and operated your controls as documented, but they’re not deep cybersecurity specialists. Your SOC 2 attestation does not provide a detailed examination of every technical layer of your environment.

That means customers, especially those with sensitive data centers, personal information, or strict regulatory obligations, will still have their concerns. They might want to know precisely how you segment internal networks, whether your team has completed role-based security training, or how you apply patches after a critical vulnerability is identified.

7. Contact Your Auditor When You Make Significant Changes

Whenever you make significant updates to your network, the organization’s systems, or how you manage your controls — such as when migrating to a new cloud provider, rolling out a new access management tool, or overhauling incident response — it’s wise to inform your auditor. 

The same applies if you are introducing new services or products that may fall under the SOC 2 scope. Providing your auditor with advance notice helps them better understand your environment.

8. Consider Expanding to Another Trust Services Criteria

As your business evolves, think about whether it makes sense to add another Trust Services Criteria (like Confidentiality or Privacy) to your SOC 2 process. 

If you are handling more sensitive data or entering new markets, broadening your scope can strengthen your credibility and open doors to customers with stricter requirements. This will provide additional assurance and make it easier to win deals where data handling concerns are high.

9. Refresh Assessments and Policies Well Before Your Next Audit

Approximately 45 days before your next audit period begins, review your vulnerability scans, penetration testing, and risk assessments. Update them so they reflect your current environment and threats. 

Also, review your policies and procedures to ensure they remain accurate and practical. Doing this ahead of time avoids last-minute scrambling, keeps your controls current, and provides clean, recent evidence that auditors will expect to see. 

10.  Instill a Culture of Adhering to Controls

Strong cybersecurity focuses on genuinely protecting data and doing what’s right for your customers and your business. This starts with building a workplace culture where everyone understands and respects the controls you’ve put in place.

Discuss your security expectations regularly, not just during onboarding or annual training sessions. Share reminders in team meetings, internal newsletters, or quick updates on collaboration channels. 

Mistakes Companies Make After the SOC 2 Attestation

Achieving a SOC 2 attestation is a significant milestone that demonstrates your commitment to protecting customer data. However, many companies slip into costly mistakes immediately after releasing their SOC report. 

To help you avoid common pitfalls, here’s a look at mistakes organizations often make after their SOC 2 audit:

1. Trying to Cover All Five Trust Services Criteria

While SOC 2 includes five common criteria (Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy), only Security is required. The rest should be added based on your actual business needs and how you handle data. 

For instance, if you’re a B2B SaaS company hosting sensitive client data, focusing on Security, Availability, and Confidentiality makes the most sense. 

Be selective and thoughtful about your scope right from the start. If you start adjusting your scope midway, you’re likely to face delays, extra costs, and frustration as you rewrite documentation or add new SOC 2 controls.

2. Weak Audit Management and Coordination

SOC 2 is not something your IT or security team can handle in isolation. It spans departments such as HR, sales, operations, and even marketing, as policies influence how everyone handles data and sensitive information. 

To manage this properly, appoint a dedicated project manager to steer the process and coordinate between teams. Assign leads in each department who can roll out necessary changes, maintain documentation, and keep their teams accountable. 

3. Underestimating the Time and Resources Required

Achieving SOC 2 compliance requires sustained effort across the entire organization. Without the proper support, your project manager may become overextended, leading to slowdowns and mistakes that necessitate rework, which in turn drives up costs and extends your period of time. 

Be upfront with employees about how SOC 2 impacts them. Provide them with clear roles and simple, repeatable processes that enable them to meet SOC 2 requirements without overwhelming them. 

4. Choosing the Wrong CPA Firm

A licensed CPA must perform a SOC 2 attestation; however, not all firms have extensive experience with these compliance audits. Working with the wrong firm can lead to confusion, missed expectations, or even a poorly scoped audit that requires redoing. 

That’s why it’s smart to find a CPA firm that specializes in SOC 2 and has guided similar companies through the process. A strong example is The Pun Group, which offers outsourced accounting and managed services, including extensive audit experience. 

Partner with specialists early on to help avoid missteps and keep your attestation on track.

5. Failing to Sustain a Security-First Mindset After the Audit

Another common mistake is treating SOC 2 as a one-time checkbox. After achieving attestation, some companies revert to old habits, allowing documentation to become stale or skipping regular control checks. 

This undermines your hard-earned attestation and sets you up for problems in the next audit cycle. Keep the momentum going by: 

• Holding periodic internal reviews
• Updating policies as your environment changes
• Continually reinforcing why these organization’s controls exist. 

How to Build Buyer Trust Faster With the SOC 2 Report?

A SOC 2 report demonstrates that you meet technical compliance standards, serving as a powerful trust signal for prospective customers and business partners. Here’s how you can use your SOC 2 report to build buyer confidence more quickly:

• Emphasize your compliance in the relevant areas. Feature your SOC 2 achievement on your website’s security measures or trust page, in proposals, and during early sales conversations. 
• Provide a clear summary or attestation letter. Most prospects don’t need to read the full report. Prepare a concise SOC 2 attestation letter or a one-page overview that outlines your controls and the Trust Service Criteria you’ve met.
• Train your sales team to speak confidently about your SOC 2. Equip your sales and account representatives with clear explanations of what SOC 2 encompasses, how your control environment safeguards customer data, and why it matters. 
•  Show your commitment to an ongoing compliance journey. Share how you regularly update risk assessments, perform security training, or schedule vulnerability scans.

What To Do In Between SOC 2 Audit Cycles?

Here’s how you can keep your program strong and audit-ready with a security framework all year long:

Keep Your Controls Running Consistently

Don’t let critical activities, such as user access reviews, vendor risk assessments, risk mitigation, or employee security training, slip through the cracks. 

Make these part of your regular business calendar and store and collect evidence along the way, so you’re always prepared to demonstrate to third-party auditor that your processes operate continuously.

Revisit and Adjust Your Security Policies as Needed

If you roll out new software or migrate to a different cloud environment, your security practices may need to evolve accordingly. Update your documentation promptly to ensure it always accurately reflects your real-world operating effectiveness of controls.

Run Your Internal Checks

Schedule informal audits or conduct spot checks of the compliance program. This may include reviewing the speed at which vulnerabilities were patched over the past quarter or verifying that incident logs are complete and up to date. It’s an effective way to catch issues early.

Keep Leadership in the Loop

Brief your executive team and service providers regularly on the performance of your organization’s controls. Their involvement ensures security remains a company-wide focus and helps secure the resources you need to improve or expand your program.

Organize Your Records Continuously

Rather than scrambling to pull together reports, logs, and attestations weeks before your next audit, maintain a tidy archive throughout the year. 

Turn SOC 2 Into a Business Advantage With The Pun Group 

SOC 2 compliance achievement is a statement to your customers that your business is committed to safeguarding their data and earning their trust. 

However, many companies stumble by misjudging the right audit scope and underestimating the teamwork and leadership buy-in required. Or better yet, letting their security practices fade once the initial report is in hand. 

The Pun Group brings the depth of a seasoned CPA audit firm with a strong track record in SOC 2 engagements and companies through the nuances that typical audits often miss. Here’s how we support you:

• Understand compliance requirements with precision. We break down SOC 2’s detailed standards into practical steps tailored to your business, so your team understands exactly what to implement and why.
• Strengthening your internal capabilities. The Pun Group works with you to improve your processes and documentation. This way, your organization is compliant and set up for easier renewals and fewer data breaches in future cycles.
• Positioning your SOC 2 as a growth asset. We help you leverage your SOC 2 status to establish trust more quickly. Our experts advise on how to present it in sales conversations or prepare summary materials that resonate with prospects.

Connect with The Pun Group today to see how their expertise can help you keep your design of controls strong, reassure your customers, and make your next SOC 2 audit a straightforward success.

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