SOC 2 Readiness Services for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
SOC 2 readiness starts the day a large customer's procurement team asks for your report and you do not have one. The report itself comes from a licensed CPA firm. Everything before that, the scoping, the controls, the policies, the months of evidence, is engineering and discipline, and it is where most small companies stall. NetSys builds the controls, runs them inside your managed IT stack, and hands the auditor a tidy evidence library.
The short answer
SOC 2 is an attestation report, issued by an independent CPA firm under AICPA standards, describing whether a service organization's controls meet the Trust Services Criteria: Security (required), plus Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality and Privacy where you choose to include them. A Type 1 report covers control design at a point in time; a Type 2 report covers whether the controls operated over a period. SOC 2 readiness is the work before the audit: choosing the criteria and systems in scope, finding gaps, implementing controls, writing policies, assigning owners and collecting evidence. NetSys delivers SOC 2 readiness for small and mid-sized companies. We cannot issue the report, and the firm that audits you must be independent of the firm that built your controls.
Companies usually come to SOC 2 readiness with a deadline set by someone else: a contract renewal, a security questionnaire that has gone unanswered, an enterprise deal on hold. The temptation is to buy a compliance platform, connect it to your cloud accounts and hope the dashboard turns green. Dashboards observe controls. They do not configure MFA, restore backups or hold a manager to a quarterly review.
Our approach treats readiness as an operating change. Every control gets an owner with a name, a procedure that person can follow, and an artifact the auditor can test. Since NetSys already runs identity, endpoints, email and backups for its managed clients, most Security criteria are satisfied by systems we operate anyway, and the evidence comes from those systems on a schedule.
Scope, Gap, Build, Observe, Then Audit
We begin with a free assessment or our free Tier 1 external penetration test. A scoping session settles which Trust Services Criteria and which systems belong in the report; smaller is cheaper and still credible. The gap assessment maps your current state against each criterion and produces a work list with owners. We implement the technical controls in Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune and your cloud platform, write policies your team will follow, and start the evidence calendar. For a Type 2 report the controls then operate through an observation period. When you are ready, we help you select a CPA firm and support fieldwork.
What Our SOC 2 Readiness Services Cover
Scoping and Gap Assessment
Decide what the report covers before spending on controls.
- Trust Services Criteria selection based on what customers ask for
- System description drafted: services, infrastructure, data, people and vendors in scope
- Gap assessment against each criterion with a dated remediation list
- Control ownership matrix so no control belongs to 'IT' in general
Technical Controls
The criteria as configured, monitored systems.
- MFA, single sign-on and conditional access; joiner, mover and leaver procedures with quarterly access reviews
- Endpoint management, encryption and detection and response on every device
- Logging, alerting and vulnerability management with tracked remediation
- Backups, restoration testing and a disaster recovery plan that matches the Availability criteria
Policies and Evidence
Written for how you work, then proven from records.
- Policy set covering security, access, change, incident, vendor and business continuity, tailored to your size
- Evidence calendar with automated exports where possible and named owners where not
- Vendor inventory and risk reviews for the services your product depends on
- Security awareness training records and phishing simulation results
Audit Support and Ongoing Operation
Fieldwork, then next year's fieldwork.
- Help selecting an independent CPA firm and agreeing on scope and period
- Auditor request list answered from the evidence library, with engineers on the calls
- Controls kept running after the report, because the next period starts immediately
- Delivered remotely to companies anywhere in the U.S.; on-site in our coverage areas
Why Companies Choose NetSys for SOC 2 Readiness
Let The Netsys Group assess and help you resolve your exposure. Call 845-203-3914 for your complimentary risk assessment consultation today!
- Controls are implemented and operated by the engineers who already run your environment, so evidence is a byproduct of normal work
- Scope is kept honest and small, which lowers both the readiness cost and the audit fee
- Every control has a named owner and a procedure, not a checkbox in a platform
- Clear line between our role and the auditor's, stated up front
- Month to month, with a free assessment or free external penetration test to begin
Where we deliver SOC 2 Readiness Services
SOC 2 Readiness Services in New York City · SOC 2 Readiness Services in Stamford, CT · SOC 2 Readiness Services in Jersey City, NJ · SOC 2 Readiness Services in Palo Alto, CA — and remotely wherever your systems run. See all locations and service areas.
SOC 2 Readiness Services FAQs
What is SOC 2 readiness?
SOC 2 readiness is everything a company does before an independent CPA firm audits it against the Trust Services Criteria: choosing scope, assessing gaps, implementing and documenting controls, assigning owners, training staff and collecting evidence. The audit is a separate engagement with a separate firm, and the report it produces is what customers ask to see.
How much does SOC 2 readiness cost?
The drivers are scope (how many criteria and systems), how mature your controls already are, and whether you need a Type 1 or a Type 2 report. For NetSys managed clients much of the Security criteria work is already in the agreement, so readiness is mostly documentation and evidence. We do not publish prices. The CPA firm's audit fee is separate.
What is the difference between SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2?
A Type 1 report says your controls were suitably designed on a specific date. A Type 2 report says they were designed suitably and operated effectively across a period, commonly several months to a year. Customers increasingly ask for Type 2 because it shows the controls held up over time.
Can NetSys issue our SOC 2 report?
No. SOC 2 reports are issued by licensed CPA firms performing an attestation engagement under AICPA standards, and the auditor has to be independent of whoever designed and operates the controls. NetSys prepares you, runs the controls and supports the audit. We can suggest firms we have worked alongside, but you hire the auditor directly and they answer to you.
Do we need SOC 2 if we already fill out security questionnaires?
Questionnaires work until a customer's procurement policy requires a report. A SOC 2 report replaces most questionnaire cycles with one document and an independent opinion. If your customers are small and no one has asked, the readiness work still raises your security posture, but the audit itself can wait until a contract depends on it.
How long does SOC 2 readiness take?
It depends on where you start. A company with managed identity, endpoints and backups already in place mostly needs policies, evidence and a few gaps closed, and can reach a Type 1 in a few months. A Type 2 then requires an observation period during which the controls run, so plan the calendar backward from the date a customer needs the report.
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