The Features Small Teams Should Examine Before Signing a Compliance Software Contract

Imagine a platform for compliance costs you $12,000 per year. Does it cost a lot?

The answer depends on what it replaces.

Automating the gathering of evidence in a complicated technology environment eliminates hundreds hours of repetitive work then $12,000 may be a wise investment. If a startup with seven employees could manually gather the same evidence in the space of a few hours every month, the cost is quite different.

This is a great way to look for Vanta alternatives. Asking which platform has the most features isn’t the first step. Determine how many hours and time these features can save your business.

Automated Manufacturing Comes with an Break-Even Point

Compliance automation isn’t inherently good or bad. Its value changes with scale. Imagine a technology firm which is expanding, numerous cloud environments, many applications, and constant changes to access. The burden of manually collecting evidence on a regular basis could be very difficult. Integrations that monitor systems automatically and gather evidence are able to justify the cost.

Consider a startup with 10 employees getting ready for its first SOC 2. It might have a tiny infrastructure, and documentation of the evidence could be managed without extensive automation.

Vanta pricing is based upon this difference. A modern platform may provide substantial capabilities, but those capabilities can only provide financial value when the organization actually needs these capabilities.

Compare Architecture and Not Just Brands

A search for Vanta vs Drata can quickly become a feature-by-feature exercise. It is essential to look at the features, services, contracts and quotes of both platforms. Both are established compliance platforms that concentrate on integrations and automation.

There’s another choice to make first, however. Do you require a compliance platform that integrates? Some companies want constant monitoring as well as automated collection of evidence. Some companies prefer to collect evidence by themselves.

Vanta Competitors Do Not All Utilize the Same Model

Several well-known Vanta rivals are in competition with the same focus on automation. There are also platforms with a lighter design which focus more on the organization of systems rather than connectivity.

CertAssist is a part of this group. CertAssist was developed by internal auditors and compliance experts. It combines framework controls into a central workspace. It also gives editable guidance on policies as well as evidence. Auditors are able to review the evidence provided through a purely read interface.

It intentionally doesn’t connect to operating systems or install infrastructure agents. Customers can upload their own documents.

Be aware of the system’s access.

Removal of integrations comes with an obvious disadvantage: one must collect evidence by hand.

This means that there is no need for integration, and the use of compliance doesn’t require any connection to the operational environment.

Both architectures are equally good. It is important to ask what choices make sense for your business.

CertAssist targets teams between five and 200 participants. Its pricing is published instead of requiring an appointment with sales representatives to find the initial cost. Its advertised launch price is $225 per month as opposed to the regular cost of $375 per month.

Let Complexity Be In Control

The requirements of a 10 person company today may not be its needs at 100 or 500 employees.

A light platform may make sense, while compliance is straightforward. When systems, employees frameworks, and requirements for evidence multiply, the economics can ultimately favor more automation. Let complexity play a role when it comes to purchasing compliance technology.

Do not purchase fifty different integrations because they appear impressive on the chart of comparison. It is best to pay for them only when the cost to do the job they replace manually is greater.