Compliance is becoming an increasingly big – and complicated – part of many businesses’ existence, so it is no surprise that growing numbers, especially SMBs, are looking to outsource this, and resellers can provide the answer.
Compliance has been a consideration for many businesses for years, but in recent years, thanks to a raft of domestic and international legislation, it is taking up increasing amounts of time – which many can ill afford. Unsurprisingly, demand for compliance as a service (CaaS) is growing to deal with this more effectively.
“The global CaaS market was valued at around $3.58 billion in 2024, and is projected to reach $9.97 billion by 2033, according to Business Research Insights,” says Max Pruger, general manager, IT Risk Management Suite, Kaseya.
“There are several key drivers for the growth, including increasing regulatory complexity (GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA), rising cybersecurity threats and data breaches, shift to remote work and cloud-based infrastructure, and demand for scalable, cost-effective compliance solutions.”
Kevin Kriebel, SVP of partnerships at Drata, notes that EU regulatory frameworks such as the NIS2 directive, which requires stricter incident reporting, and DORA, which requires organisations to prove digital operational resilience, are adding more demands on business. “Also, manual evidence collection is not only now impractical but scattered across domains and wastes vital hours and proves a particular struggle for firms with limited staff and expertise,” he says. “For organisations, compliance is about more than just being ready for a yearly audit, when done effectively it can demonstrate a real commitment to security and accountability.”
Tracey Hannan-Jones, consulting director – information security at UBDS Digital, agrees that businesses often have small compliance teams who are not across every framework. “Add to that, organisations migrating to pure SaaS (cloud) services compliance needs to be responsive and scalable to support transition and agility,” she notes.
“As organisations become more converged, so does the need for effective risk assessments, internal audits and support for policy management whereby one policy can meet many frameworks. By outsourcing, organisations can reduce internal cost overheads and focus on their core operations, leaving experts to guarantee compliance and delivery against contracted SLAs and contractual obligations against delivery, budget and legal controls.
“Additionally, with increased concerns of over data breaches and hacks, emerging and maturing data privacy laws, using CaaS providers ensures compliance through specialised tooling and skills to support monitoring and managing data and, a joined-up approach for vulnerability management.”
But as Ross Down, CRO, IO, notes, the consequences of non-compliance can be costly. “71% of all organisations we surveyed were fined for data breaches or compliance failures last year, with 24% of mid-sized businesses paying penalties of over £250,000,” he says. “This is on top of the reputational damage organisations suffer if they fail audits or fall victim to breaches.”
Problems for SMBs
This shows the dangers of non-compliance, and the problems it can pose for SMBs that don’t have the resources of larger rivals. “For SMB’s who must have security certifications to bid on tenders and demonstrate compliance under third-party supplier questionnaires, it is no longer enough for ‘someone’ to ‘do their best’ and it becomes a blocker for SMBs to trade up,” says Tracey.
Max agrees that compliance is a major challenge for SMBs. “Compliance does not scale downwards,” he notes. “A five-person Department of Defense (DoD) contractor must meet the same 110 NIST 800-171 requirements as a 500-person DoD contractor.
“SMBs struggle with resource constraints, which include limited budgets and small IT teams; cybersecurity risks, often, SMBS are prime targets for attacks, but don’t have a robust defense system in place; and manual processes, where they still rely on spreadsheets and outdated systems for auditing and reporting.
“Additionally, regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, PCI and HIPAA, among others, are highly complex, and many SMBs lack in-house legal counsel and compliance experts to rely on for help. Finally, there are training gaps – employees may not understand compliance responsibilities. CaaS alleviates these issues by automating tasks and offering expert guidance.”
Ian Ashworth, senior director partners and alliances EMEA at Qualys, agrees that with the NIS2 and DORA launch, changes in PCI DSS 4.0, more EU regulations coming in around AI and data too, it’s a challenge for businesses of all types and sizes to keep up with what is coming into force, where it applies to them and what practically they should do to address those problems.
“Providing compliance advice on a continuous basis makes it easier to understand risks, then make changes or get plans in place where investment might be needed,” he adds. “Where business leaders understand the value at risk around compliance issues, they are more likely to support making changes. This approach also creates a long-term revenue stream for partners that they can offer alongside their other security services or products.”
Getting into CaaS
CaaS is a developing service, and for resellers and MSPs that want to add this to their portfolio, there are ways to get into it.
For instance, MSPs often manage the core data required for compliance activities such as IT infrastructure information, user data and key processes. “Where the MSP is established as a partner, the customer will recognise the MSP as a potential provider for CaaS, with the ability to deliver efficiently based on business and process knowledge,” says Zahid Khimji, co-founder at Klyk.
“Designing CaaS can also be part of broader governance, risk and compliance offerings. This can fit within fractional and subscription services offered by MSPs.”
Karl Bagci, head of information security at Exclaimer, says that the key is to work smarter, not harder. “CaaS integrates naturally with existing IT and security offerings, so look at where services can be built out,” he says. “In the same vein, compliance automation tools can reduce manual workload, and speed up the overall process. Finally, look at developing critical recurring services like policy management, control monitoring, and audit prep, to help adhere to initial compliance and accelerate updates in-line with new or refreshed frameworks.”
Max sees that resellers have three main entry points into providing CaaS. “Compliance providers, which act as full-service compliance consultants and offer audits, documentation, training and support; MSPs with a compliance partner, which work with a dedicated compliance firm and focuses on implementation and support; and a hybrid MSP who offers IT and compliance services in-house,” he says. “Resellers should select the frameworks they specialise in (SOC2, HIPAA, ISO 27001); identify their target industries and use platforms that streamline and outsource service delivery.”
Offering CaaS can also enhance trust, adds Kevin. “Today, prospects and partners expect more than just a certificate on a website,” he says. “They want transparency. This means easy access to verified security documentation and audit results. If organisations can selectively share this information with customers, regulators or partners, then relationships can be strengthened. Implementing real-time trust centres not only reassures stakeholders but can accelerate sales cycles by removing uncertainty and proving alignment with security best practices.”
Ross adds that resellers can build on existing managed services, layering in compliance with frameworks like ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR or NIS 2. “By partnering with established compliance platforms, they can benefit from clear pathways, reporting and auditor-ready templates,” he says. “It’s important to focus on scalable, repeatable processes across multiple clients rather than ad-hoc consultancy, which is where a compliance platform offers real value.”
CaaS conversations
When talking to customers about CaaS, there are various facets that resellers should highlight. Ryan Swann, founder of RiskSmart, notes that it is important to keep it simple. “Businesses want to know compliance doesn’t have to be a headache,” he says. “The big points to get across are that automation cuts down the manual work, the service grows with them, expert frameworks keep them on the right side of regulations, and it’s cheaper than doing it all in-house. Framing it as something that helps them grow, not just a cost, really lands.”
Zahid sees three key focus areas for resellers: confidence, risk management and business growth. “Firstly, with confidence both internal and external trust,” he says. “Having the peace of mind that regulatory requirements have been identified and are being adhered with. With risk management the ability to identify, manage and remediate risks through defined processes and team awareness. Finally, there is clear linkage between compliance management and business growth – being able to adhere to regulatory requirements supports business development.”
Ian adds that businesses want to know they’ll be audit-ready without the stress of pulling everything together at the last minute. “They want all their evidence in one place, not spread across dozens of spreadsheets that might need manual checks and updates before they go to their auditors,” he says.
“You can also look at the cost for an annual audit compared to a regular service – spreading the payments around compliance and security can help, but the main objective should be to deliver more value back to the business. Rather than being a tick in the box exercise for compliance, can you use this investment to help them reduce their risk or deliver better services? Tying into more practical business risk elements will help increase your chance of selling the service in the first place and then keep that customer satisfied over time.
“Customers want to know compliance ties back to actual risk, so they can see where to act first. They also want reassurance that issues aren’t just found but remediated and tracked. If you can show them that one control often ticks multiple boxes across different standards, that’s another win because it reduces the workload. Leadership teams appreciate reports that are clear, simple and show progress over time.”
Future
Commentators agree that demand for CaaS will continue to grow. “Compliance isn’t getting any easier,” says Ryan. “If anything, it’s spreading into more areas like data privacy, ESG and supply chains. The big shifts we’re seeing are compliance becoming part of wider risk management, more automation and AI taking the grunt work out, SMBs moving to managed services instead of one-off consultants, and resellers/MSPs stepping up to deliver it at scale.”
Karl adds that as regulations tighten, compliance strategies will pivot. “Annual audits will no longer cut it, and it will be replaced by continuous monitoring,” he says. “But this also means that technologies will advance, and automation will play an increasingly important role to gather evidence and keep companies agile.
“With all this in mind, businesses’ mindset around compliance will also evolve. It won’t just be about staying safe or ticking boxes to avoid fines, it’ll be critical to winning bigger contracts, improving business outcomes and driving long-term sustainable growth.”
CaaS is evolving into a genuine strategic differentiator, notes Kevin. “Businesses that adopt automated compliance gain the ability to demonstrate security maturity and provide transparent evidence to stakeholders on demand,” he says. “This combination of operational efficiency and trust accelerates sales cycles and can create a clear market advantage. For resellers, packaging scalable automation with trust-building services positions them to deliver not just compliance, but long-term assurance and competitive edge for their clients.”
This article first appeared in News in the Channel magazine issue#33.
