Achieving your CMMC audit should never be a budget-busting nightmare. Yet organizations fall prey to wastes that cause them to spend more than necessary on things that don’t even help them in the long run. They buy solutions that are too fancy for their needs. They bring in help to complicate processes and seemingly look good, yet they miss the requirements. And they focus on the shiny things instead of the basics.
When you identify where organizations tend to waste money, you can come up with your comprehensive audit prep budget with much more confidence that it won’t go to waste in the auditing process.
The Software No One Really Needs
If there’s any item that organizations purchase without a real need first, it’s specialty CMMC software that promotes CMMC compliance in a box. Organizations read the promotional materials and pay tens of thousands of dollars for platforms that help organize documentation.
They’re not bad products – it’s just a waste for most small to medium-sized contractors as they could have used basic folders and templates with already somewhat robust project management tools. What’s more, these overly priced platforms don’t implement security controls for you – they just track them.
Instead of starting with the expensive tools, start with documenting what you need – and what you have – and utilize tools that are free for now.
The Consultants Who Complicate (But Know Their Stuff)
It’s understandable that companies would want to bring in help to get the CMMC process done as it’s hard enough doing it all on one’s own – especially if this is the first time going through the CMMC requirements – but not all consulting arrangements are good arrangements.
For example, some consulting teams want to reinvent the wheel. They’ll say that you need new policies, procedures, and documentation, although you’ve kept yours up to par thus far, and they’re ready to use. Or they sell packages of “managed compliance,” wherein they handle everything for you. Sounds good – but what happens when the auditor asks your staff how something works, and no one in-house can answer it because they outsourced it all?
You need guidance to make your internal team stronger. The sweet spot is finding guidance that helps you build internal capability. Working with experts on cmmc audit preparation helps you understand what needs to be done while keeping your team in the driver’s seat.
Solutions Companies Pay A Lot For When There Are Free Alternatives
Far too many organizations buy enterprise-level security solutions instead of using free tools to meet basic CMMC requirements – and not necessarily because they’re more expensive.
For example, vulnerability scanning platforms cost thousands when OpenVAS or Nessus Essentials are free and meet requirements. Similarly, patch management systems often come with a hefty price tag when internal Windows Updates and similar options can manage the same items in smaller environments.
Auditors care that you’re meeting the control requirements; they don’t need you to have paid brand-name standards across the board – many times the free version works just fine.
The Implementation That Doesn’t Help
It’s understandable that companies want to implement whatever solutions they can that make them look good in front of an auditor – but that’s a waste of money. This often happens when IT teams consider what’s cool versus what’s applicable from an auditor standpoint.
For example, implementing advanced intrusion detection systems equipped with AI threat analysis sounds awesome – but have you developed access controls and hardening steps first? Use common sense and understand that if an auditor has a checklist, he’s not going to cross off A just because you emphasize Z. He’s going to be critical if A isn’t accomplished first.
The Training That’s Not Effective
Training is required, so companies allocate a budget for it. But where companies waste money in this arena is through a lack of successful application.
For example, organizations will pay thousands for an off-the-shelf training platform with no particular relevance to their environment. They’ll ask everyone to click through once and call it a day. These platforms are thousands per year – and if it’s not specific to your needs, people won’t retain any of it – and it’s a waste of money.
Better training means training that’s relevant to your environment – which means role-playing on systems that matter and using an internal feel without necessarily running up costs.
The Documentation Overkill
This is where companies really fall flat – and that’s through overcomplicating their lives by creating excess documentation when less is more.
In reality, CMMC auditors want concise and accurate documentation – not thousands of pages of items sent their way because organizations think they’ll be impressed by volume. They won’t be! A one-page procedure your staff knows by heart trumps a fifty-page process your team never refers to.
So you can save money here by not stressing yourself out over creating extensive documentation for audit purposes that also has value to your staff – for work purposes.
Unnecessary Replacements of Existing Systems
What’s ironic about CMMC requirements is that they can have organizations spending money unnecessarily in areas where they’re succeeding because they don’t think their existing setups can meet CMMC expectations.
Too often organizations implement expensive cloud-based migrations instead of realizing that their systems are old but could secure for CMMC compliance with some tweaks.
This happens with older systems – clients look at existing on-premises systems and instantly think they can never meet security-minded approaches. Thus, they budget for cloud migrations, system purchases, data transfers, and employee migrations without establishing comprehensive underutilized expectations.
Yet many existing systems can be kept in place through access control provisions and minimal cost for logging, updated securities and appropriately segmented networks. There’s a big difference between effective upgrades and unnecessary replacements – and they’re exponentially different in price sometimes.
The Duplicate Services
Unfortunately, organizations pay for overlapping items because people within the contractor team don’t communicate when purchasing security services.
For example, your IT company may provide endpoint protection that caters to CMMC – but someone else thinks they need advanced threat detection. Or someone else has network monitoring through one professional but purchases separate services elsewhere that operate minor differences but essentially monitor the same items.
A good gap assessment resolves this ahead of time by determining what’s truly in-house and what’s missing before unnecessary purchases occur.
The Rushed Timeline Costs Money
It’s simple – don’t rush; you’ll spend more money than anticipated. When companies engage with audit dates before being prepared fully, everything becomes an emergency, and regrettably so.
Rush fees from consultants? Check. Expedited services out of premium pricing? Yes! Staffing extends its hours – including overtime payments? Every minute counts!
Often patterns emerge showing two or three times more are spent by those who rush versus those who implement effective timelines in preparation for audits.
So what’s valuable? Know your scope and required timelines before stressing yourself out at the eleventh hour!
Expenditure Helps You Achieve What’s Necessary
What makes perfect sense after comparing how companies waste money versus getting the job done right is that it isn’t as sexy as one imagines. Instead, it’s money well spent in areas people believe they need savings most.
It’s good feedback from professionals who see contracts go seamlessly. It’s proper project management from goal-oriented persons who can recognize your actual needs.
You won’t find enjoyable miscellaneous expenditures; instead, you’ll find those that make sense as gap assessments from people who understand what it means to grasp secure alignment with CMMC requirements from start to finish.
It’s easier to spend money on misaligned purchases without recognizing deficiencies but impossible to get cash back without aligning systems effectively through proper assessments from the start!
The Real Return on Investment
No one wants to waste money! It means wasting resources on things you get nothing out of which creates systems even harder to sustain going forward. You pay for extra platforms you’d never use again anyway; you’re paying for documentation no one would read anyway; you’re paying for security controls without anyone monitoring compliance anyway!
Then you’re essentially paying for some sort of burden on effort as opposed to legitimately securing practical means to sustain which makes you a smart company!
Any company that spends its money wisely will come out on the other end with systems in place that emerge from educated effort as opposed to a handful of hope for short-term goals!
Your staff will understand what’s going on and why it’s operating in such a way. Your documentation will help people job better which means trained professionals catch what needs catching without underwhelming themselves.
The difference truly is whether or not people know how to spend wisely when conditions rarely justify spending less – but spending it on sustainable systems as opposed to makeshift means!