Security and compliance needs have a habit of changing when you least expect it.
A new customer comes with a laundry list of security requirements you weren’t anticipating. Your cyber insurance provider overhauls the protections it needs before approving coverage. New regulations come down the pike that completely upend your process for managing sensitive data.
Whatever causes the shift, it usually leads to a scramble.
It can also force you to reassess your current IT provider. Not because that provider has done anything wrong, per se, but because they may not be in a position to quickly scale their security and compliance services along with your sudden change in needs.
Most IT providers working with young companies are good at what they were originally hired to do. They keep systems running. They manage Microsoft 365. They set up new employees and troubleshoot technical problems.
All of this is important, but it’s also day-to-day operations. Increased security and compliance requirements, on the other hand, can be seismic events. And it’s during these moments, when the ground beneath your business is shaking, that cracks can begin to show in your current IT relationship.
Say you have a verbal commitment from a big new client. Before you can make the deal official, however, they send over a lengthy security questionnaire that quickly exposes that your provider’s processes around must-haves like identity management, encryption, backups, and more aren’t up to snuff.
The same applies when new regulatory requirements emerge. The proposed HIPAA changes, for example, could mean significant new technology and security considerations for organizations working in or adjacent to health care. Your provider will need to understand what those requirements mean for your technology environment. Just as importantly, they’ll need to provide you with a roadmap for meeting them.
In these cases, a “We’ll look into it” from your provider won’t be especially reassuring—especially when valuable contracts or potentially stiff fines are on the line.
Changing security and compliance needs rarely involve checking a single box. And as your business grows, implementing changes to meet new requirements becomes increasingly complicated.
Why? Because keeping things secure when you have 15 employees is one thing. Doing it when you have 50, 100, or 200 people using different devices, accessing different applications, working from different locations, and handling different types of data is another.
When these two storms of changing requirements and a growing business hit, the question suddenly changes from, “Can our IT provider meet these new requirements?” to “Does our IT provider have the expertise and resources to manage the environment we’ve become?”
That’s an important distinction.
Your current provider may be perfectly capable of adding another security tool or turning on a particular feature. But meeting more sophisticated security and compliance requirements often involves much more than adding technology. It means understanding how users access systems, things like:
In other words, the question isn't simply whether your provider offers the right tools. It's whether they have a mature process for managing security across an increasingly complicated IT environment.
If you decide your current IT provider can't keep up, it can be tempting to immediately start looking for a replacement.
That shouldn’t be your first step. Instead, you need to take a breath and fully understand your current IT environment.
This is where a comprehensive IT audit becomes critical. It will provide you with a detailed look at the technology you have today, how it's configured, how it's being managed, and where your biggest risks are.
An audit will also give you a benchmark for your environment, so when new security or compliance requirements arrive, you know where your IT footing is before you start making changes.
Maybe you’ll discover that most of the required controls are already in place and only a few adjustments are needed. Or maybe the audit reveals significant gaps that will require a larger security initiative.
Either way, you will know what you're dealing with. And that makes the process of evaluating IT providers much easier.
As for how you assess a potential IT provider, there are some telltale signs to be on the lookout for. One is whether they ask a lot of questions about your business and environment before proposing solutions. Questions like:
Also, be cautious if the conversation immediately turns into a list of products. Security isn't simply a matter of having the right collection of tools. Those tools need to be configured correctly, applied consistently, monitored, documented, and adjusted as the business changes.
A prospective provider should be able to explain not just what technology they recommend, but why they're recommending it and how it addresses the risks identified in your environment.
If a regulation or customer requirement calls for stronger access controls, they should know what that means for identity management. If you need better documentation around devices and software, they should have processes for maintaining accurate inventories. If a requirement involves protecting sensitive data, they should be able to explain how that data is secured, who can access it, and what safeguards are in place.
They should also be comfortable working alongside legal, compliance, insurance, and other specialists when needed.
Basically, compliance is often a team effort. Your IT provider needs to be capable of holding up their end.
Security and compliance changes can be frustrating because they rarely arrive at a convenient time.
You're trying to close an important contract. Renew your cyber insurance. Respond to a new regulation. Keep up with a growing workforce.
The last thing you want to discover is that your IT environment isn't ready, or that your provider doesn't have the resources or expertise to get it there.
If changing requirements expose cracks in your existing IT relationship, start by understanding exactly where you stand. Identify the gaps between your current environment and your new requirements. Give your existing provider an opportunity to explain how they'll address them.
And if you do decide to make a change, use that same audit as the foundation for evaluating potential providers and managing the transition.
Look for a provider that understands security as an ongoing process, can translate compliance requirements into practical technology decisions, documents what it's doing, and has the resources to support the business you're becoming, not just the business you used to be.