In the journey towards achieving recognised cybersecurity certifications like ISO 27001 or SOC 2, many organisations are turning to specialised web platforms. Companies such as Vanta, Drata, and others promise to streamline the path to compliance. But are these platforms a necessity, or an expensive alternative to simpler tools?
This is a critical question for any business, particularly for startups and scaleups where every penny of investment counts. Let us explore the value of these platforms and consider the most important factor in your compliance journey.
The Role of Compliance Platforms
Compliance platforms are designed to act as a central hub for your certification efforts. They offer features like policy templates, automated evidence collection, and dashboards to track your progress. Vendors often highlight buzzwords like ‘trust centres’ and seamless ‘integrations’, suggesting these features make a significant difference in achieving and demonstrating compliance.
These tools can certainly be useful for organising the large volume of information required for an audit. However, it is important to weigh their benefits against their cost. The traditional alternative, a well-structured spreadsheet, can often fulfil the core organisational needs without the hefty price tag. If a platform is essentially a sophisticated replacement for a spreadsheet, you must ensure you are getting genuine value for the thousands, or tens of thousands, of pounds you might spend.
Is a Platform Worth the Investment?
At Vertex, we have guided many companies, from five-person startups to organisations with hundreds of employees, through ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification. We have successfully used spreadsheets, Vanta, Drata, and other platforms to help our clients achieve their goals.
Our experience shows that for many small to medium-sized businesses, the choice of tool has less impact on the outcome than one might think. A startup can become certified using any of these methods. The question then becomes, is it worth paying for a platform when a free spreadsheet could suffice? Or how about using Vertex’s compliance platform which is $50 a month? What other crucial security measures could you implement with the funds saved?
Expertise Over Tools: The Real Key to Success
Achieving a certification like ISO 27001 or SOC 2 is about more than just collecting evidence and ticking boxes. These frameworks are designed to demonstrate that your organisation has implemented robust and effective cybersecurity measures to protect itself and its clients from being hacked.
The certificate itself is a symptom of a strong security posture showing that you are trying to not be hacked. As long as you implement the required cybersecurity controls correctly, providing the evidence for them is a straightforward process, whether you use a platform or a spreadsheet.
This is where the real challenge lies. A platform cannot replace the experience and knowledge of a cybersecurity expert. Unless you have implemented these complex security controls hundreds of times as we have at Vertex, you are likely to miss a critical step, make a mistake, or misinterpret a requirement. Relying solely on a tool without expert guidance can risk the security of your entire business.
Ultimately, the success of your certification and the strength of your security posture depend more on the external cyber expert you partner with than the software you use.
The Vertex Approach
Choosing the right path to compliance depends on your organisation’s size, complexity, and budget. While compliance platforms can offer convenience, they are not a prerequisite for certification. The most critical investment is in expert guidance to ensure your security controls are implemented correctly and effectively.
Before committing to an expensive platform which could be tens of thousands of dollars every year, consider where your resources will have the greatest impact. Building a strong security foundation under the guidance of seasoned professionals is the most reliable way to protect your business and achieve certification.
If you are considering ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification, contact the experts at Vertex Cyber Security. If you must use a cyber compliance platform look at starting with the Vertex Compliance platform. We can help you navigate the process efficiently and effectively, ensuring you build a security posture that is truly compliant and resilient.