Leading compliance by example

Before you lead your clients through compliance, you must lead by example.

You can't sell what you don’t believe in. Building trust with your clients starts by showing that you take cybersecurity seriously.

If you're recommending frameworks like SOC 2, NIST, or CMMC to your clients, but haven’t taken steps to align your own business to those standards, clients may hesitate.

Once you start your own journey, you’ll know what to expect, how to guide them, and what success looks like. You’ll become a trusted advisor, not just a service provider.

Why MSPs Should Start With Their Own Compliance

When you lead from experience, clients will trust they're in good hands.

Lead From Experience

You’ve been through the process—so clients know they’re in good hands.

Lead with Confidence

You’re not guessing how to package compliance services—you’ve already tested them.

Build Trust

Your MSP's policies & assessments demonstrates your commitment to cybersecurity.

Build Your Own Compliance Program

Building a compliance program does not to be complex. Start with these simple building blocks.

Map Out Your Risk

Assess the risks of your tech stack, vendors, employees, and policies. Identify the critical risks to your MSP and build awareness around gaps you may not see day-to-day.
Document & Define Policies

Start with a few baseline policies—acceptable use, data protection & backups, incident response, vendor management, access control—and build from there.
Assign Responsibilities

Assign ownership for key areas like training, risk, and documentation.
Track Your Progress

Put a cadence in place to review, update, and test your compliance program. Track tasks, evidence, and risks in a central location.

Steps to Building Your Own Compliance Program
(Without Burning Out)

Building a compliance program does not to be complex. Start with these simple building blocks.

Map Out Your Risk

Assess the risks of your tech stack, vendors, employees, and policies. Identify the critical risks to your MSP and build awareness around gaps you may not see day-to-day.

MAP OUT YOUR RISK

Document & Define Policies

Start with a few baseline policies—acceptable use, data protection & backups, incident response, vendor management, access control—and build from there.

VIEW LIST OF POLICY TEMPLATES

Assign Responsibilities

Assign ownership for key areas like training, risk, and documentation.

VIEW SAMPLE ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Track Your Progress

Put a cadence in place to review, update, and test your compliance program. Track tasks, evidence, and risks in a central location.

VIEW SAMPLE COMPLIANCE TRACKER

Building a Risk Assessment

A quick guide to help you identify, evaluate, and prioritize risks. Use risk assessments to kick off new client engagements, help them understand their vulnerabilities, and establish your MSP as a trusted provider.

Customer data (ePHI, PII, financial info)
Internal systems (RMM, PSA, email, cloud storage)
Third-party integrations (vendors, APIs)

ASSET INVENTORY

What are we protecting?

Technical (e.g. unpatched software, firewall misconfigurations)
Administrative (e.g. lack of policies, untrained staff)
Physical (e.g. unsecured facilities or access)

THREAT IDENTIFICATION

WHERE DO THE RISKS COME FROM?

Outdated software/patches
Weak passwords
Lack of MFA

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

WHERE ARE WE AT RISK?

Risk Description
Likelihood of Impact
Impact of Probability
Mitigation Priority
Suggested Mitigation

LIKELIHOOD & IMPACT

What's the probable impact?

Prioritized action plan
Owner assigned for each risk
Review timeline (quarterly, annually)
Status

OWNERSHIP & NEXT STEPS

HOW & WHO WILL MITIGATE?

Internal Policy Starter Kit

These are the minimum core policies that every MSP should have in place—internally and as part of their cybersecurity offering to clients.

📃

Acceptable Use
Policy

Defines how employees may use company systems and data.

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

📝

Information Security Policy & Procedures

Develop & manage your Information Security Governance program.

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

🛡️

Data Classification & Handling Policy

Details how to classify and protect data (i.e., internal, confidential).

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

🌀

Incident Response
Policy

Outlines how to respond to and recover from cyber incidents.

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

📂

Vendor Management Policy

Explains how third-party vendors are evaluated & monitored for risk.

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

🛡️

Security Awareness & Training Policy

Ensures all staff complete regular cybersecurity training.

(Or join Ostendio's partner program to gain access to this template and many more!)

Roles & Responsibilities Template

Clearly define who owns what within your MSP’s compliance program.

ROLE	RESPONSIBILITY	EXAMPLE TASKS
Compliance Lead	Owns overall compliance program	Policy management, client compliance guidance
Security Analyst	Conducts risk assessments	Vulnerability scans, risk registers
Account Manager	Interfaces with clients	Explains compliance offerings, schedules QBRs
Technical Engineer	Implements controls	MFA, encryption, logging
Trainer / HR	Delivers awareness training	Tracks completion, manages onboarding
Executive Sponsor	Ensures leadership buy-in	Allocates budget, supports escalation

Compliance Program Tracker

Keep track of your internal and client-facing compliance efforts over time.

CATEGORY	ITEM	OWNER	STATUS	NOTES
Risk Assessment	Internal RA complete	Compliance Lead	In progress	Scheduled quarterly
Policy Management	Acceptable Use Policy reviewed	Compliance Lead	Complete	Annual review due Jan
Awareness Training	Annual training assigned	HR	Not started	Rollout next month
Client QBRs	QBR template finalized	AM	In review	To be used in Oct QBRs
Vendor Due Diligence	Vendor checklist updated	Sec Analyst	Complete	Shared with sales team
Audit Readiness	Internal mock audit	Compliance Lead	Not started	Target Q1

Pro Tip: Ditch the spreadsheet-juggling by leveraging a GRC platform to automate recurring tasks, policy updating, and compliance tracking.

Ready to Package What You’ve Built?

Package What You’ve Built. You’ve built your program—now it’s time to turn it into a scalable, repeatable service your clients will pay for.

Package What You’ve Built

Return to Roadmap Home

STEP 2: Trust Starts with Your Compliance

Your MSP's Compliance Program

Leading compliance by example

Why MSPs Should Start With Their Own Compliance

Lead From Experience

Lead with Confidence

Build Trust

Build Your Own Compliance Program

Steps to Building Your Own Compliance Program (Without Burning Out)

Map Out Your Risk

Document & Define Policies

Assign Responsibilities

Track Your Progress

Building a Risk Assessment

ASSET INVENTORY

What are we protecting?

THREAT IDENTIFICATION

WHERE DO THE RISKS COME FROM?

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT

WHERE ARE WE AT RISK?

LIKELIHOOD & IMPACT

What's the probable impact?

OWNERSHIP & NEXT STEPS

HOW & WHO WILL MITIGATE?

Internal Policy Starter Kit

Acceptable Use Policy

Information Security Policy & Procedures

Data Classification & Handling Policy

Incident Response Policy

Vendor Management Policy

Security Awareness & Training Policy

Roles & Responsibilities Template

ROLE

RESPONSIBILITY

EXAMPLE TASKS

Compliance Program Tracker

CATEGORY

ITEM

OWNER

STATUS

NOTES

Ready to Package What You’ve Built?

Want to make this even easier?

Steps to Building Your Own Compliance Program
(Without Burning Out)

Acceptable Use
Policy

Incident Response
Policy