Does non-compliance in tech really matter?

• Compliance requirements like SOC 2 and ISO 27001 can be time-consuming and disruptive but are often necessary for securing business, meeting regulatory demands, and avoiding legal or financial penalties
• The importance of compliance depends heavily on industry, with sectors like finance, healthcare, and operational technology (OT) treating it as mission-critical
• Compliance is not the same as security, but it often acts as a driver for building stronger cybersecurity practices, especially when embedded into continuous operations rather than handled as isolated projects

Discussion on Reddit reveals that while technical compliance may feel like a bureaucratic burden to developers and tech teams, it plays a crucial role in protecting businesses, especially in regulated industries. Operational technology professionals emphasized that in critical infrastructure, non-compliance can have devastating consequences. Other users noted that compliance frameworks often surface deeper security or process issues that businesses were already neglecting. In these cases, the pain stems from years of tech debt, not the compliance itself.

Several contributors stressed that the effort required for compliance varies based on how proactive and mature a company’s existing cybersecurity posture is. Teams that treat compliance as a continuous, integrated process find it more manageable than those that handle it reactively as one-off projects. Tools like Vanta, Drata, and CIS Benchmarks were mentioned as helpful, though some noted they still require thoughtful configuration to avoid noisy or misleading alerts.

Others pointed out that while ISO 27001 and SOC 2 are process-heavy and flexible in scope, failing to meet compliance standards can lead to lost contracts, higher cyber insurance premiums, or regulatory fines. In industries like finance or healthcare, failing to meet standards like PCI DSS or HIPAA can have legal consequences or shut down core business operations. The consensus was that while compliance isn’t synonymous with security, it plays a foundational role in ensuring minimum protections, meeting customer expectations, and reducing risk exposure.

Read the full discussion