When Clients Sound the Alarm: How to Launch Compliance as a Service Fast

You’ve onboarded a new client; congrats! But in the onboarding process, you discover something new:

Your client requires HIPAA compliance. ASAP. 

Is your MSP ready to act? 

For many Managed Service Providers (MSP), that answer is no. MSPs aren’t all spending their “free” time building a compliance offering but when a high-value client comes to you with a compliance requirement, they have to adapt. Many MSPs don’t turn their attention to compliance services until a client demands it — but waiting can cost you. 

These types of situations can be urgent, since the businesses data security is on the line. Fortunately, with the right tools and a structured method for building compliance services, you can meet client needs quickly without impacting speed or quality of service.

So let’s run through the simple structured methods MSPs can use to start offering compliance services.

Step 1: Get curious about your client’s request 

Cybersecurity compliance is a requirement for businesses to work in specific fields, like healthcare, finance, and government contracting. Compliance with security frameworks is often seen as a requirement for cybersecurity insurance as well.

These security frameworks exist to give a guideline of best practices and standards to adhere to, ensuring companies are taking the right steps to protect their information. 

So when a client comes to you asking for compliance help, that request is the beginning of a larger story. 

As a trusted partner for their business, you can adapt to their request by following the simple steps to get started. And that first step is understanding what your client needs.

Need guidance for those conversations? We’ve built a free tool to help you assess client needs. 

Step 2: Assess compliance needs based on industry and location

Depending on the business’ region and the industry, different compliance frameworks are necessary for the business. 

Many frameworks are specific to each region, like Europe’s GDPR data protection framework, or the USA’s SOC 2 Type I & II.

The company’s industry is relevant too. A company that is subject to regulation by the FTC will have to comply with the FTC Safeguards rule to protect customer information. Retailers and eCommerce companies need to comply with the PCI DSS framework, which maintains credit card data security to make sure payments are secure for each transaction.

Want to see which frameworks are most relevant to your existing clients? Check out our frameworks database in the Compliance Bootcamp. 

Step 3: Kick-start the compliance service process

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you define and structure your Compliance as a Service offering.

We recommend planning this out internally first, then once your MSP has gone through the process, you can begin the compliance service for your clients. 

Asset Audit:

• Determine which assets (e.g. data, systems, hardware, software) are critical to business operations and client services.

Threat Identification:

• Identify external threats and internal vulnerabilities that could compromise business assets (e.g. natural disasters, critical outages, cyberattacks, human error).

Risk Analysis:

• Evaluate the likelihood of each threat occurring, including its impact, potential damage, and estimated downtime (see Chapter 4 in the Compliance Boot Camp to learn more about the Risk Assessment Matrix)

Risk Prioritization:

• Prioritize risks based on their likelihood of occurrence and level of impact on the business.

Risk Mitigation:

• Develop strategies to reduce and mitigate identified risks, including:
  1. Compliance framework implementation
  2. Disaster recovery planning
  3. Backup solutions
  4. Redundancy measures
  5. System updates
  6. Security controls

Ongoing Monitoring:

• Continuously monitor for threats and adapt risk mitigation strategies as necessary; regularly review risk assessments to account for changes to business operations and evolving threats.

Incident Response Protocol:

• Create a protocol to follow during a cyber incident so everyone in your organization knows how to address these events and mitigate the damage.

Compliance Training and Awareness:

• Build a culture of compliance within your organization to ensure all employees and stakeholders are aware of security protocols and potential threats.

Stakeholder Communication:

• Communicate potential risks and risk mitigation techniques to stakeholders to help build trust and enroll everyone in the risk management process.

By following this process, you can tailor your approach to each client while still covering the essential components of a strong compliance service.

Don’t just respond to compliance needs — use them to grow your business

What starts as a reaction to an urgent request can become a huge opportunity to expand the business offerings of your MSP.

Compliance doesn’t have to be daunting. If you want to sharpen your approach to Compliance as a Service in a fun, interactive way, check out ScalePad’s full Compliance Boot Camp. It’s live now — with nine detailed chapters, hands-on tools, and resources built to help MSPs tackle compliance with clarity and confidence.

Want to take the first step into offering Compliance as a Service? ScalePad’s ControlMap breaks down barriers to setting up Compliance as a Service through simple, manageable tools that let you scale and open improve your revenue.

Book a ControlMap meeting to learn more about automating evidence collection, simplify audits, and stay ahead of security frameworks.

Evan Pappas

Evan Pappas is the Content Writer at ScalePad, interviewing MSPs to share their stories through case studies, blogs, videos, and more. He joined ScalePad after a career in Journalism and is bringing his unique angle of storytelling to the MSP industry.

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