Don’t Sleep on Compliance; Use it as a Competitive Advantage

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Compliance is a shortcut to Trust

Compliance is one of those things everyone complains about but nobody really fixes.

I have consulted with companies looking to become CMMC compliant. This compliance standard is required for them to bid and work on Federal contracts. The companies that are coming to me have significant Federal contracts.

Up until they approach me, their security posture has been almost non-existent. They lack basic information controls or even an understanding of the consequences of their actions.

Undoubtedly, this forced compliance poses a huge culture shift and a lot of money they likely weren’t planning on spending.

It doesn’t have to be this way for organizations though. Most of the compliance controls for IT should be followed by most organizations anyway. It’s basic security.

I think more organizations would make this a priority, if they realized that compliance can be a differentiator and lead to more revenue.

Dad Shouldn’t Have to Force You

The reality is that waiting until you’re forced into compliance is the most expensive way to handle it. When you’re scrambling to meet a deadline because a contract is on the line, you’re paying premium rates for consultants, rushing implementations that should be methodical, and disrupting your entire organization all at once. Your employees are stressed, your processes are in chaos, and you’re hemorrhaging money on emergency fixes.

Compare that to building compliance into your operations from the start. When security controls are part of your foundation, they’re just how you operate. There’s no scramble, no panic, no desperate vendor calls. Your team knows the procedures because they’ve been living them. The costs are spread over time instead of hitting you all at once like a freight train.

This is a Money Maker; You Just Have to Think Differently

Think about it from a client’s perspective. If you’re choosing between two vendors and one is already compliant with industry standards while the other is scrambling to get there, who are you picking? The compliant vendor represents less risk, fewer delays, and more confidence that they actually know what they’re doing with your data.

This becomes even more critical as regulations tighten across industries. CMMC is just one example. We’re seeing GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and countless other frameworks becoming table stakes for doing business. Companies that treat these as burdens rather than opportunities are fundamentally misunderstanding the market.

The companies that get this right are using compliance as a sales tool. They’re prominently displaying their certifications. They’re talking about their security posture in pitch meetings. They’re winning deals specifically because they can demonstrate they’re trustworthy stewards of sensitive information.

Meanwhile, the laggards are stuck in this cycle of reactive scrambling. They wait until they lose a deal or face a regulatory deadline, then they panic and throw money at the problem. They implement the bare minimum to squeak by, which means they’ll be back in crisis mode the next time standards evolve.

Be a Winner 💪

The path forward is clear: stop treating compliance like an unfortunate tax on doing business and start treating it like the investment in your company’s future that it actually is. Build it in early, build it in right, and watch it open doors instead of just keeping regulators at bay.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Until next week,

—Jared 

Text Me: 314.806.3912

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