The Costs of Failing a Client Security Audit

More and more clients are requiring security audits before they will agree to sign up with a new provider. It’s a wise decision but, for you, it means yet another demand to keep pace with. If you’re tempted to skip it, here’s what you need to know.

Delayed Contracts

Those awkward weeks of preamble between a successful client presentation and a successful client onboarding can feel pretty agonizing when you’re trying to make a good impression – especially if the delay is caused by the business trying to repair the holes and undergo a re-audit. But, really, this is a best case scenario if you fail a security audit, since the majority of clients are likely to up and leave without much of a second look.

Still, however optimistically you want to frame it, delays in procurement can end up causing real problems for delivery, creating bottlenecks that can make the entire company look disorganized and disjointed, rather than just its security infrastructure.

The more likely result is…

Lost Deals

Most things are fixable, such as a spotty security infrastructure. Unfortunately, your security protocols are a lot easier to fix than a frayed client relationship.

By the point of a security audit, clients likely already have invested a significant amount of time and money into you. Even if that’s not the case or concern, there’s an incredibly strong chance you’ve already been the recipient of at least some sensitive information from them in order to put together a bid or presentation during the acquisition process.

And those clients may end up removing you from their vendor lists, which means any future hopes of winning them back are dashed.

Scramble-and-Remediate is Costly in and of Itself

Many things are better pre-empted than reacted to, whether that’s something in business or in your personal life. Better to bring the family umbrella than to have to buy one for whatever price the seller is listing it for when you’re 500 miles from home, after all. Better to go for two check-ups a year than to wait until half the teeth in your mouth are hurting.

You get the picture.

Cyber security is much the same. While constant monitoring and threat management does represent an ongoing cost to the business, it’s a necessary good, since quickly scrambling to patch holes when they’ve already been identified by outside sources (whether that outside source is a client or a bad actor) is far more costly. True, it’s not always easy to know what is or isn’t a threat, which is why tools like Cyver’s CTEM platform are proving invaluable to cybersecurity teams – and why clients have far less patience for providers who aren’t on top of their security.

Plus, rushing to fix things usually breaks something else in the process, and if you’re not in the habit of monitoring your cybersecurity, you won’t know until the next big incident.

It’s a Big Strain on the Team

Team resources get locked in a cycle of acquisition with very little reward, while the internal dynamics between sales and IT can become strained because, unfortunately, the latter team absorbs much of the blame for the incident.

It’s a real drain on morale, not to mention time, money, and creative output – particularly if it’s a problem that starts to snowball from a ‘one off’ to something that happens alarmingly often.