SOC 2 Readiness for SaaS & Technology Companies
Axipro is a hands-on SOC 2 consulting and implementation partner for SaaS, fintech, cloud and technology companies. We scope the program with you, put the controls in place and get your evidence in order. Then we hand you to an independent auditor, ready for your SOC 2 Type I or Type II examination. We work with companies in the USA, the UK, the GCC, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and across EMEA.
WEEK 1
Kickoff, scoping and gap assessment
WEEKS 2 and 3
Policies and control implementation
WEEKS 4 AND 5
Automation, evidence and technical readiness
WEEKS 6
Audit preparation and handoff
Rated on G2
Slack support
What Is SOC 2?
SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is an attestation framework from the AICPA. It looks at how a service organization protects customer data, measured against the Trust Services Criteria: Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality and Privacy. Every SOC 2 examination includes Security. You add the other four depending on what your product does and what your customers ask for.
An independent CPA firm runs the examination and issues a SOC 2 report. Inside you’ll find the auditor’s opinion, management’s assertion, a description of your system, and every control the auditor tested with the result. Customers and prospects get a copy under NDA.
Most people call it SOC 2 certification, and so do plenty of enterprise buyers. Strictly speaking it’s an attestation, so you won’t get a certificate to hang in the office. You get a detailed report that a buyer’s security team can read to see how your controls are designed and whether they work. Our guide to what SOC 2 compliance is and the myths around it goes deeper.
Security
Included in every SOC 2 examination
Availability
Processing Integrity
Confidentiality
Privacy
Why SOC 2 Compliance Matters?
SOC 2 usually turns urgent for a commercial reason. A prospect sends over a 200-question security questionnaire. Procurement puts the contract on hold until they see a report. A deal that was ready to sign gets stuck in vendor review. If you sell to North American companies, a SOC 2 report is the proof of security their procurement teams expect to see.
Once you have a current report, every security review after that gets shorter. Your team points to one independently tested document instead of filling in the same questionnaire for every new customer. You also come out of it with a security program that works day to day, and that matters more than the report once you’re past the first audit.
Who Needs SOC 2 Compliance?
Any company that stores, processes or transmits customer data and sells to businesses that care where that data goes.
Most of our SOC 2 clients fall into four groups.
SaaS and B2B Software
SaaS companies usually run into SOC 2 first. Nine times out of ten, the trigger is a procurement team holding a contract until there’s a report on the table. You need to move fast enough to keep that deal alive, and you need controls that will still hold up at your second and third audit. We scope for both from day one.
Fintech and Financial Services
Fintech companies get more scrutiny than a typical SaaS business. Banking partners, payment processors and regulators all want proof of strong controls, and SOC 2 is often just the starting point. Many fintech clients also need PCI DSS, and EU financial entities have to meet DORA as well. We build one control foundation that covers several frameworks, so you don’t start from scratch each time.
Cloud Service Providers and Infrastructure
Cloud and infrastructure providers have an extra layer to deal with. Their customers get audited too, and those customers come to their providers for evidence. For these companies a clean SOC 2 Type II report does real work in sales conversations. We design controls that satisfy your own auditor and the control expectations your downstream customers pass on to you.
BPO and Outsourcing Providers
BPO firms handle sensitive client data at scale, often across several countries. Enterprise clients ask for SOC 2 more than any other framework before they’ll outsource a process. The hard part is keeping controls working through staff turnover and very different client setups. We build SOC 2 programs around repeatable processes so they don’t depend on two or three people who know how everything works.
Our SOC 2 Readiness and Implementation Services
A gap report on its own won’t get you audit-ready. Someone still has to write the policies, put the controls in place and make sure people run them. Risks need treating, and the evidence has to be in order before the auditor shows up. Axipro does that work with your team, inside a fixed scope we agree up front.
SOC 2 readiness assessment
We start with a SOC 2 gap analysis of your policies, systems and organizational scope against the Trust Services Criteria you need. You get a clear list of every gap to close before the audit.
Policies, procedures and documentation
We write and refine the policies, procedures, forms and checklists your scope calls for. They’re based on how your team works day to day, so they aren’t copied from a template.
Control implementation and remediation
We work next to your engineers to set up missing controls such as access reviews, change management, vendor management, logging and encryption. Then we track each corrective action until the gap is closed.
Vulnerability scanning and penetration testing
Vulnerability scanning comes with every engagement by default, so technical weaknesses show up during readiness and not during fieldwork. SOC 2 doesn’t strictly require a pen test, but many auditors and enterprise buyers expect one, so we also offer penetration testing.
Security awareness and stakeholder training
SOC 2 depends on people as much as tooling. We brief staff and control owners on their responsibilities, so they can answer the auditor’s questions without scrambling.
Compliance platform setup
Audit preparation and auditor handoff
We run a final readiness review, close any last findings and introduce you to an independent auditor with your evidence already organized.
How It Works: Our 6-Week SOC 2 Process
The six-week clock covers the work Axipro controls. After handoff, the audit follows the independent auditor’s timeline.
WEEK 1: Kickoff, Scoping and Gap Assessment
We set up communication channels, confirm who’s involved and agree on scope: which systems, which Trust Services Criteria and which report type. By the end of week one you have a complete gap list and a timeline.
WEEK 2 - 3: Policies and Control Implementation
We write or refine the documents your scope needs and set up missing controls with your team. If something already works, we keep it. If it doesn’t, you get policies, configurations and step-by-step guidance you can adopt straight away.
WEEK 4 - 5: Automation, Evidence and Technical Readiness
We connect your systems to your compliance platform, run vulnerability scanning and finish the awareness sessions. By the end of week five, evidence collection runs in the background and the gaps left are small and known.
WEEK 6: Audit Preparation and Handoff
We run a final readiness review, fix anything outstanding and hand you over to the independent auditor. From there the audit follows the auditor’s timeline. For Type I that’s usually a few weeks of fieldwork and reporting. For Type II it’s the length of your observation period.
The six-week clock covers the work Axipro controls: scoping, implementation, evidence preparation and audit readiness. It doesn’t include the Type II observation period or the auditor’s reporting time. It also assumes your team gives us access and finishes its own actions on time.
Insider Note: The control first-time Type II clients slip on most is the user access review. Teams run it once to get audit-ready, then nobody owns the next one, and the auditor asks to see the one from quarter two. We give it an owner and a recurring task before handoff.
SOC 2 Type 1 vs Type 2: Which One Do You Need?
Most founders asking about SOC 2 aren’t sure which type their customer wants. This table covers the differences.
| Criteria | SOC 2 Type I | SOC 2 Type II |
|---|---|---|
| What the auditor tests | Whether controls are designed properly on a single date | Whether controls are designed properly and worked over time |
| Period covered | One date (a snapshot) | An observation period, commonly 3 to 12 months (a track record) |
| Time to report after readiness | Usually a few weeks | Observation period, then fieldwork and reporting |
| Best for | Unblocking an early deal, showing progress to investors or pilot customers | Enterprise procurement and ongoing customer assurance |
| How buyers see it | Fine as a first step for many, rarely enough for mature buyers on its own | What most enterprise buyers mean by "your SOC 2 report" |
Which one do enterprise buyers expect?
Almost always Type II. When a prospect asks for “your SOC 2 report,” 9 times out of 10 they mean Type II. Plenty of companies use Type I as a stepping stone. They get Type I to unblock a deal quickly, then move to Type II over the next observation window.
When Type I makes sense
Type I fits when you have a deal on the line and need independent proof in weeks. It also works if you’re early-stage and want to show investors or pilot customers you’re making progress, or if you already plan to get Type II within the next 6 to 12 months.
When Type II is the right call
Go for Type II when an enterprise customer has asked for it by name or you’re heading into procurement with mid-market and large companies. It’s also the better choice if you want one report that covers a full year of sales conversations.
Pro Tip: Unsure which to choose? Scope the work for Type II from day one and treat Type I as a milestone along the way. You won’t pay twice for the same readiness work, and your observation period can start as soon as your controls are running.
You don’t have to decide before talking to us. In the free assessment we look at what your customers are asking for, your current controls, your timeline and how mature your compliance program is. Then we recommend a route.
SOC 2 Consultant vs Compliance Platform vs DIY
You don’t have to decide before talking to us. In the free assessment we look at what your customers are asking for, your current controls, your timeline and how mature your compliance program is. Then we recommend a route.
| Criteria | DIY with templates | Compliance platform alone | Traditional consultant | Axipro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Policies | Generic templates | Platform templates you adapt yourself | Written for you, often slowly | Custom policies built around how you operate |
| Control implementation | Your team | Your team, with automated checks | Recommendations, then your team | Hands-on, alongside your engineers |
| Evidence collection | Manual | Automated | Usually manual | Automated through Drata or Vanta, set up for you |
| Typical time to readiness | 6 to 12 months | 3 to 9 months | 6 to 9 months | 6 weeks |
| Pricing | Staff time | Subscription | Hourly or open retainer | Fixed fee within agreed scope |
| After the report | On your own | Monitoring only | Often ends at handoff | Ongoing support for renewals and new frameworks |
We recommend a platform to most clients. It’s a good tool. What it won’t do is decide your scope, write policies that fit your business or chase remediation work across your engineering team. Axipro handles that part.
Real SOC 2 Client Results
Scigeniq — SOC 2 Type II + ISO 27001
Scigeniq, a life-sciences software company with fewer than 50 employees, entered its first audit programme without an existing audit history.
Axipro scoped SOC 2 and ISO 27001 together, supported SOC 2 Type II preparation and testing, and ran the ISO 27001 internal audit.
The engagement ran from May 1 to July 30, 2026, with the SOC 2 Type II report issued on August 31, 2026 covering:
- Security
- Availability
- Confidentiality
VidLab7 — SOC 2 Type I + ISO 27001
AI technology company VidLab7 worked with Axipro on a structured path from assessment to audit readiness.
The engagement covered areas including:
- risk assessment
- control alignment
- document readiness
- awareness activities
- Drata-supported compliance automation
VidLab7 completed its SOC 2 Type I attestation and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, with Sensiba acting as the independent auditor.
Qanooni — SOC 2 Type II + ISO 27001
Legal AI company Qanooni continued working with Axipro after its ISO 27001 journey and pursued SOC 2 Type II.
Axipro provided structured advisory and readiness support while Sensiba operated separately as the independent audit partner.
Qanooni successfully completed its SOC 2 Type II attestation alongside ISO 27001.
Why Companies Choose Axipro for SOC 2
Six weeks to audit readiness
You get a defined process with milestones and an end date. Traditional consultants often take 6 to 9 months to get you to the same point.
Hands-on implementation
We do the work with your team. You won’t get a list of recommendations and a goodbye.
Fixed fee within the agreed scope
Once we agree scope and fee, neither changes unless you ask for extra work. Fixed-fee. Published ranges. No scope creep.
A track record you can check
We’ve served 300+ clients, logged 10,000+ hours of implementation work and kept a 100% success rate across completed compliance engagements. Every engagement gets a dedicated project manager.
Support when you need it
You can reach your team on Slack 24/7 for the whole engagement.
Drata Elite Partner and Vanta partner
We implement both platforms and help you pick the one that fits your stack.
Rated on G2
Trusted by clients on G2, Axipro stands out for real support, clear communication and fast results. Our clients’ stories show how we simplify compliance and build lasting trust through genuine partnerships.
SOC 2 Compliance Services Worldwide
SOC 2 Compliance Services in the United States
We work with SaaS companies, fintech startups and cloud providers across the USA, including San Francisco, New York, Austin, Denver, Seattle and Boston. You get support in your time zone and quick replies, which helps when an enterprise sales deadline is driving the project.
SOC 2 Compliance Services in the United Kingdom
UK SaaS companies from London to Manchester use SOC 2 to win American enterprise customers. We run it alongside UK GDPR and ISO 27001 where you need them. See our SOC 2 compliance services in the UK.
SOC 2 Compliance Services in Bahrain and the GCC
Our main office is in Bahrain. From there we support technology companies in Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar that need SOC 2 to compete for global enterprise contracts. See our SOC 2 compliance services in Bahrain.
SOC 2 Compliance Services in Singapore and Southeast Asia
Companies in Singapore and teams across APAC work with us on SOC 2 programs that also account for PDPA requirements. See our SOC 2 compliance services in Singapore.
SOC 2 Compliance Services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa
We opened our Lisbon office in late 2025, and our EMEA team works from Lisbon, Berlin, Amsterdam and London. We help European companies selling to US customers get SOC 2 alongside GDPR and local data protection rules.
Beyond Your First SOC 2 Report
The first report is the start. Most companies renew Type II every year, customers keep asking for current evidence, and each new report depends on your controls running the whole time. We support annual SOC 2 renewals, ongoing monitoring and new frameworks, and we can manage your compliance platform after the first audit through our compliance as a service offering.
SOC 2 Resource Hub
A-LIGN issues more SOC 2 reports than any other firm, and its scale shapes who it suits. The firm is set up for companies running several audits a year across SOC 2, ISO 27001, HITRUST and FedRAMP. Most seed to Series B startups need much less than that. They need someone to get them audit-ready fast, and an auditor sized for a first report that an enterprise buyer will accept. This guide compares 11 A-LIGN alternatives for startups. Some are readiness partners that build your compliance program, some are automation platforms that collect evidence, one is a platform with its own audit firm, and three are startup-focused CPA firms that sign the report. You’ll find reported 2026 pricing, realistic timelines, how to switch auditors without a gap in coverage, and the cases where A-LIGN is still the better pick. TL;DR: Top A-LIGN Alternatives for Startups The best A-LIGN alternative for most startups is a pairing rather than a single vendor: a readiness partner or compliance platform builds the program, and a startup-focused CPA firm signs the report. A-LIGN only comes out ahead when you need FedRAMP, CMMC, HITRUST, or PCI DSS assessed alongside SOC 2. Axipro: done-for-you audit readiness that
Atlassian doesn’t ask Marketplace Partners to hold both SOC 2 and ISO 27001. It asks for one of them, a SOC 2 Type 2 report or an ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certificate, and only once you reach Gold or Platinum in the Marketplace Partner Program or go after the new Atlassian Enterprise Certified badge. What trips most partners up is timing. Atlassian reviews partner levels every July, your evidence has to exist before July 1, and you can’t rush a SOC 2 Type 2 report. Below you’ll find what each program requires, which standard to pick, how to scope the audit around your app, the controls auditors push hardest on, and a timeline that gets you certified before your next review. Why Atlassian Marketplace Partners Now Need SOC 2 or ISO 27001 For years, a Marketplace app’s security story was really Atlassian’s story. Customers trusted Jira and Confluence, and the apps came along for the ride. Enterprise buyers don’t see it that way anymore, and neither does Atlassian. Enterprise Procurement and Vendor Security Reviews of Marketplace Apps Enterprise security teams treat a Marketplace app like any other vendor. Signing off on Jira doesn’t mean signing off on the reporting or time-tracking app
A machine can take most of the screenshots in a SOC 2 evidence folder. The ones it can’t take are usually the ones that shouldn’t be screenshots in the first place. Automating SOC 2 screenshots means a scheduled job logs into each admin console with its own service account, grabs a defined view, stamps it with the time, the source, and the control ID, and drops it into storage nobody can edit. The Type II evidence folder then fills up over the period rather than in the two weeks before fieldwork. How to Automate SOC 2 Screenshots Step by Step Every approach does the same five things: a scheduler fires, a runner logs in with a dedicated service account (a human MFA prompt would stop the job dead), it loads a stable URL and waits for the page to settle, it captures the view, and it writes the image plus a metadata record (URL, UTC timestamp, account, control ID, hash) to storage. The six steps below decide what to point that pipeline at. Budget two to four weeks of part-time effort, and if your auditor is already engaged, do step 6 before step 4. Step 1: Inventory Controls That Require
Every PHP installation that serves web requests has been open to unauthenticated remote code execution since 2004. On October 21, 2026, the PHP project shipped the fix, the NSA told organizations to take unpatchable systems offline, and four European governments pulled their own websites to patch. Your security team is handling the interpreter. This article is for the person who has to explain the response to an auditor. php2shell is a security incident, and it’s also a live test of the vulnerability management, asset inventory, incident response and vendor management controls you attested to in your last audit. Every framework Axipro works with has a specific expectation for what you do in the next 72 hours and what evidence you keep. Below is the mapping, framework by framework: the control reference, what you need to do, and the artifact that satisfies it. What php2shell Is, in One Minute Two flaws in PHP core, CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, both rated 9.2 on CVSS v4.0, let an unauthenticated attacker run code on the server. The first is triggered through out-of-memory handling that interrupts PHP while request data is only partially initialized. The second exploits request-owned internal state that survives after its memory has
On October 19, 2026, the AICPA and the Artificial Intelligence Underwriting Company (AIUC) announced a joint assurance offering that bundles a SOC 2 report with an AIUC-1 certification in one CPA-led engagement. A few CPA firms are already running pilots. The full launch is set for early 2027. If you sell AI agents into enterprises, this one’s about you. SOC 2 is the report your prospects already ask for in procurement. AIUC-1 is the standard that checks whether your agent can be talked into leaking data, inventing a refund policy, or calling an API it was never supposed to touch. Putting both into one engagement, under the AICPA’s attestation standards, changes what audit-ready means for any company whose software acts inside other people’s systems. Here’s what was announced, what AIUC-1 tests, why the AICPA’s name matters more than the certificate itself, and what you should do about it if you’re working on SOC 2 or ISO 42001 right now. What the AICPA and AIUC Announced The offering is a single report from one engagement led by a licensed CPA. It combines two things. The first is a standard SOC 2 examination under the AICPA Attestation Standards, with an opinion on
Your managed service provider will show up in your SOC 2 audit whether you plan for it or not. The moment an MSP administers your endpoints, identities, backups, or monitoring, those become your controls operated by someone else’s staff, and your auditor will test them as such. Outsourcing the work never outsources the accountability. That makes MSP selection one of the most consequential decisions a company takes before pursuing SOC 2 compliance or ISO 27001 certification. The right provider shortens your audit, hands over evidence on request, and operates controls you would otherwise have to build yourself. The wrong one turns every evidence request into a negotiation and every finding into a finger-pointing exercise. Here’s what to evaluate before you sign. Understanding the MSP’s Role in SOC 2 and ISO 27001 Compliance How MSPs Impact Your Compliance Posture An MSP typically touches more of your control environment than any other vendor. Access provisioning, patching, endpoint protection, backups, log monitoring, incident response: in a typical growth-stage setup, the provider operates most of the controls an auditor will test. In SOC 2 terms, the MSP is a significant vendor or subservice organization whose work directly affects your Trust Services Criteria. Under ISO
Frequently Asked Questions About SOC 2 Compliance
How long does it take to get SOC 2 compliant?
Axipro gets most companies audit-ready in six weeks. A Type I report usually follows within a few weeks of fieldwork. A Type II report needs an observation period first, commonly 3 to 12 months, before the auditor can issue it. Your starting point and how quickly your team completes its actions affect the timeline too.
How much does SOC 2 cost?
The total has three parts: Axipro’s fixed readiness fee, the independent auditor’s fee and any compliance platform subscription. Type II costs more than Type I because testing runs longer. We give you a fixed-fee quote for our part after a free assessment. You pay auditor and platform fees directly to those providers.
Is SOC 2 a certification?
Technically, no. SOC 2 is an attestation: an independent CPA firm examines your controls and issues a report with its opinion. Most people still say “SOC 2 certification,” and buyers who ask for it want the same thing, a current SOC 2 report.
Is Axipro the SOC 2 auditor?
No. Axipro handles readiness, implementation and remediation. An independent CPA firm runs the examination, tests your controls and issues the SOC 2 report. Keeping those roles separate protects the independence of your audit.
Who performs a SOC 2 audit and issues the report?
A licensed CPA firm, following AICPA attestation standards. Before you sign with an auditor, check that the firm is licensed and has worked with companies of your size and industry. We can introduce you to auditors we work with, including Sensiba and A-LIGN.
Should we get SOC 2 Type I or Type II?
If an enterprise customer has asked for SOC 2, choose Type II, because that’s what most of them mean. If you need independent proof quickly to unblock a deal, get Type I first and then move to Type II. Scoping for Type II from the start means you only pay for readiness once.