Juggling SOC 2 & ISO 27001: Building a Unified Compliance Plan

For growing organizations, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are no longer optional — they’ve become baseline expectations from customers, partners, and regulators. Both frameworks help you prove that you are serious about protecting sensitive data, but pursuing them separately can feel like running two marathons at the same time. The good news is that these two frameworks overlap substantially, and with a unified compliance plan, you can eliminate redundancy, save time, and build a stronger overall security posture.

In this post, we’ll break down how to manage SOC 2 and ISO 27001 together, why mapping controls is not enough, and what practical steps your team can take to harmonize your compliance programs into a single, efficient process.

Understanding SOC 2 and ISO 27001

Before you can unify the two frameworks, it’s important to understand their unique purposes.

SOC 2

SOC 2 was created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and centers around five Trust Services Criteria (TSC): Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy. A SOC 2 report is an independent attestation that your controls are designed appropriately (Type 1) and operating effectively over time (Type 2). SOC 2 is most common in North America and is frequently requested by enterprise buyers, especially in SaaS and technology services.

ISO 27001

ISO 27001, published by ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission, is an international standard for building and maintaining an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It focuses heavily on governance and risk management, requiring organizations to perform risk assessments, implement Annex A controls, and demonstrate continual improvement. ISO 27001 certification is recognized globally and often preferred in Europe and APAC regions.

In short, SOC 2 shows that your security controls are effective at a point in time or over a reporting period, while ISO 27001 demonstrates that you have a structured, repeatable management system for information security. Together, they create both assurance (SOC 2) and accountability (ISO 27001) for your organization.

Why Unify Your Compliance Efforts

Many organizations start with one framework — often SOC 2 if they are U.S.-based, or ISO 27001 if they are European — and later realize that customers in new markets are asking for the other. Maintaining two separate compliance programs quickly becomes burdensome.

The overlap between SOC 2 and ISO 27001 is significant. Access controls, logging, incident response, vendor management, and training are all common areas. By treating these frameworks as two halves of a unified security program rather than separate checklists, you can:

• Avoid duplicate work: Use the same policies, procedures, and evidence to satisfy both audits.
• Reduce audit fatigue: Align your audit windows so evidence collection happens once, not twice.
• Lower costs: Work with the same audit firm to bundle engagements and reduce overall fees.
• Build consistency: Create a single set of controls that reflect your actual operating environment.
• Streamline the vendor management and procurement process: A unified compliance posture makes it easier to answer security questionnaires, get through vendor risk assessments, and speed up contract approvals with prospective clients.
• Improve risk posture: Spot control gaps or weaknesses across frameworks more easily, making your overall program stronger.

This is sometimes called audit consolidation or audit harmonization — and it’s becoming the preferred approach for high-growth companies looking to scale compliance efficiently.

Step 1: Start with Control and Evidence Mapping

The first step in building a unified compliance plan is to understand exactly where SOC 2 and ISO 27001 overlap. Many organizations start with a control mapping exercise, but stopping there leaves value on the table. Instead, go a level deeper and map your evidence.

For example, if you already perform quarterly access reviews for SOC 2, that evidence likely satisfies ISO 27001 Annex A.9 requirements around user access management. Similarly, your vulnerability scans, risk assessments, and security training records can serve double duty. By focusing on evidence reuse rather than just theoretical control mapping, you create a practical bridge between the frameworks that reduces the effort of ongoing maintenance.

It’s also helpful to reference ISO 27002 — the implementation guidance for ISO 27001’s controls. By comparing your SOC 2 controls against the detailed control descriptions in ISO 27002, you can write your SOC 2 controls in a way that closely mirrors ISO expectations. This alignment makes audits smoother and helps demonstrate that your SOC 2 controls are designed with international best practices in mind.

Step 2: Address the Gaps — Especially the ISMS

The largest difference between SOC 2 and ISO 27001 is the ISMS component. If you already have SOC 2 in place, you’ll likely need to add:

• Risk Register: A formal, documented risk assessment process tied to controls and treatments.
• Statement of Applicability (SoA): A document mapping which Annex A controls apply to your organization and why.
• Internal Audit: ISO 27001 requires a formal internal audit before the certification audit.
• Management Review: Documented review by leadership of ISMS performance and improvement opportunities.

Fortunately, these are mostly governance processes, not technical controls. Many organizations find that once they have the ISMS documented, their existing SOC 2 controls already satisfy most of ISO’s security requirements.

Step 3: Leverage Technology

Trying to manage two frameworks manually in spreadsheets can quickly become unmanageable. Modern compliance automation platforms can help by:

• Maintaining a single set of controls mapped across multiple frameworks.
• Reusing evidence automatically so you only upload it once.
• Tracking deadlines for audits, renewals, and ongoing monitoring tasks.
• Creating dashboards that keep leadership and auditors informed.

If you already have a SOC 2 program, look for a platform that can import your existing controls and then show you exactly what’s left to meet ISO 27001. This avoids starting from scratch and accelerates your path to certification.

Step 4: Align Your Audit Windows

Another major opportunity to save time and money is to align your SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits. If possible, schedule them during the same quarter so that evidence collection, control walkthroughs, and interviews happen once.

Using the same audit firm for both frameworks can result in bundled pricing and a more consistent audit experience. Some firms will also allow you to combine walkthroughs, interviews, and even site visits for both audits, further reducing the disruption to your team.

Step 5: Build a Continuous Compliance Culture

SOC 2 and ISO 27001 are not one-time projects — they require continuous adherence. A unified compliance plan should focus on building a sustainable, repeatable process that keeps you ready year-round.

Practical ways to do this include:

• Automating evidence collection: Connect systems (HR, cloud providers, ticketing) to automatically pull logs and proof.
• Quarterly control reviews: Catch issues early instead of scrambling at audit time.
• Ongoing risk management: Update your risk register as new threats and assets are identified.
• Management engagement: Review compliance metrics with leadership regularly.

Equally important is designating a Compliance Owner. Many compliance programs fail or stall simply because no one is truly accountable for them. Having a point person who understands your environment, your controls, and your evidence makes audits faster, reduces back-and-forth with auditors, and ensures that remediation work gets prioritized. While third-party auditors play a critical role, relying solely on them without internal ownership can create delays and gaps in your program.

By operationalizing compliance and assigning clear ownership, you reduce the risk of last-minute fire drills and demonstrate maturity to customers and auditors alike.

Choosing the Right Partners

Finally, selecting the right auditor and compliance partner is critical. Look for firms that:

• Are accredited to perform both SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits.
• Understand your industry and risk profile.
• Offer tech-enabled audit management to streamline the process.
• Provide actionable recommendations, not just a pass/fail result.

A good partner can make the difference between a painful, resource-draining experience and a smooth, predictable audit cycle.

Final Thoughts

SOC 2 and ISO 27001 share a common goal — proving that your organization can protect sensitive data — but they approach it differently:

• SOC 2 is less prescriptive: There’s no formal ISMS requirement, no management review step, and the risk assessment is generally lighter.
• ISO 27001 is more governance-heavy: It requires a defined scope, a formal ISMS, continual improvement, and supplier management processes.
• Different outputs: SOC 2 delivers an attestation report that is easy for customers to review, while ISO 27001 delivers a formal certification recognized worldwide.
• Different emphases: ISO 27001 prioritizes risk management and governance, while SOC 2 focuses on demonstrating that controls operate effectively over time.

When you put these two together, you create compliance in depth — a layered approach that combines governance, risk management, and continuous control validation. ISO 27001 ensures you have a structured management system and a repeatable process, while SOC 2 provides ongoing proof to customers that your controls are working as intended. Together, they provide both the structure and the evidence needed to build trust and accelerate business growth.

How Compass Can Help

Compass helps organizations of all sizes build, manage, and maintain effective compliance programs for SOC 2 and ISO 27001. Our team provides the guidance, resources, and expertise to streamline your path to compliance, whether you are just getting started or looking to unify and mature an existing program. Contact us today to learn how we can help you align your security initiatives with these leading frameworks and simplify your compliance journey.