Who Needs to Be SOC 2 Compliant?

SOC 2 compliance is a must for any company that handles customer data, especially SaaS businesses, cloud providers or anyone storing or processing information on behalf of their clients. No matter what industry you’re in, getting SOC 2 compliant helps your business achieve two key things. First off, it shows you’re serious about data security and privacy. It’s a widely recognized standard that helps protect you from breaches and also keeps you aligned with industry best practices. Second, it gives you a clear framework for reporting and auditing your data security practices, helping you actually prove your business is secure. For many companies, becoming SOC 2 compliant is a powerful way to build trust and gain a real competitive edge, so it’s definitely worth the effort.

Any vendors of software use in controlled processes subject to regulatory controls

SaaS service organizations

SOC 2 applies to a wide range of service organizations. Main purpose of SOC2 is to ensure that the consumer data is kept secure by the organization. By having a SOC2 report you ensure your customers and stakeholders that a particular service that you offer is being provided securely.
In reality there isn’t such thing as SOC certification, you have a SOC reports that outlines findings, many organizations refer to being SOC certified if they have clean record.
It mostly applies to service providers, managed IT services, SaaS companies that provide apps, if you provide BI and analysts, if you provide hosting services, hosted private cloud services, online storage etc.
It is sometimes a requirement to do business with 3rd parties i.e they might require a SOC2 report before they do business with you. If you offer any hosted environment its good to have it to be able to attract more customers and ensure them that what you provide is secure and their data is controlled in secure manner.