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Ask any business owner, manager, or leadership team if they think cyber security and compliance are important, and you’ll almost always hear the same answer, “of course they are.” No company wants to fall victim to a ransomware attack, leak sensitive customer data, or get tangled up in fines and legal battles that damage their reputation.
So if compliance and security are so important, why do so many businesses struggle to achieve them? Unfortunately, knowing something is important, and actually being able to act on it, are two very different things.
For many small and medium-sized businesses, compliance and security are rarely neglected out of laziness or ignorance. The problem is that achieving them often feels impossible. The guidance is full of complex technical terminology. The requirements seem to assume you have an in-house security team or already have experience with compliance. The documentation feels endless. And the costs, whether in time, money, or stress, can seem impossible to absorb when you’re already focused on simply keeping the business running day to day.
It’s no surprise why so many organisations either put it off, do the bare minimum, or quietly hope that it won’t become an issue. It’s not a case of a business not caring about compliance or security, it’s the fact that they lack the tools, knowledge or resources required to put adequate measures in place.
The Value of Compliance
Before diving into the challenges, it’s important to acknowledge the value that compliance brings. Frameworks like Cyber Essentials, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 aren’t arbitrary hoops to jump through. They provide structure, helping businesses:
- Secure their data and systems.
- Protect against cyber threats.
- Prepare for incidents and minimise their impact.
- Build credibility with clients, suppliers, and regulators.
Proper compliance reduces risk and strengthens your business in the long term. For many, it’s also the key to accessing new opportunities, being able to bid for contracts, work with government bodies, or enter highly regulated sectors where certain compliance standards are required by law.
But understanding why compliance matters isn’t the problem. The struggle comes when businesses try to actually implement compliance into their organisation.
The Knowledge and Resource Gap
Unfortunately, this is where many businesses hit a wall.
Terms like “access control,” “vulnerability management,” or “network segmentation” might be second nature to IT professionals, but for businesses without that expertise, they will likely have little clue where to even begin. Many small-to-medium sized companies often don’t have dedicated IT staff, let alone someone who specialises in information security. In these cases, the responsibility often falls on whoever is available, whether it’s an operations manager, finance officer, or business owner.
The result is predictable:
- Teams struggling to interpret technical controls.
- Progress stalls due to uncertainty or fear of “getting it wrong.”
- Businesses delay starting, hoping to find the time later, but later rarely comes.
Even for those with some IT capability, compliance quickly becomes a drain. It’s not just about ticking boxes, it involves ongoing documentation, system configuration, employee training, and continuous monitoring. For businesses that have never tackled compliance previously, all of this must be built from scratch, which is often too much to handle on top of their day-to-day operations.
The Perceived Cost Barrier
Another major factor is cost. Many businesses, especially those operating on tight margins, view compliance as something only available to large organisations or well-funded startups. Between hiring consultants, purchasing security tools, and dedicating staff time, the perception is that compliance requires significant financial investment.
This view isn’t helped by the fact that many solutions in the market are geared towards larger organisations, with tools and software priced towards big teams with big budgets. This often leaves smaller businesses in a grey area, wanting to work towards compliance, yet unable to justify or even afford the high cost.
And yet, attackers aren’t skipping small and medium-sized businesses. In fact, they’re often the preferred target due to the knowledge that many smaller organisations have weaker defences and fewer resources to defend against threats.
Good Intentions, Limited Means
As mentioned, many businesses aren’t ignoring security because they don’t care. The reality is that they are acutely aware that they need to be compliant, that their partners, stakeholders or investors will likely require compliance at some stage, and that they are at a higher risk of financial losses, either from lost business or security breach, because of their poor security.
This results in an unfortunate dilemma:
Businesses want to be secure and compliant, they just don’t have the internal expertise, time or resources to make it happen.
And if a business manages to work towards compliance, the process is often so overwhelming that it’s tempting to either give up or settle for the bare minimum, with just enough to scrape through an audit, without actually improving security.
This leaves businesses exposed, even if they technically have a certificate on the wall that claims otherwise.
Making Compliance Possible for Businesses of All Sizes
At OneClickComply, we’ve seen this struggle firsthand. Too many businesses are left feeling like compliance is something reserved for companies with big budgets or specialist teams. It shouldn’t be.
That’s why we’ve built OneClickComply. To make security and compliance accessible to everyone.
- Whether you have a small team, or no in-house IT at all.
- Whether you’re new to cyber security or have tried and stalled.
- Whether you’re a startup, an established small business, or an MSP working on behalf of clients.
OneClickComply helps automate the difficult parts of compliance:
- Identifying what’s missing.
- Guiding you step-by-step with plain-language tasks.
- Automating the technical work in a single click.
- Keeping you continuously compliant at all times, not just when your audit is due.
Most importantly, we’ve built OneClickComply to be both affordable and approachable, without sacrificing quality or security. Whether you need a specific standard like Cyber Essentials, SOC 2, or ISO 27001, or you just want to strengthen your organisation’s defences, we can help you move from “we can’t achieve this” to “we’ve got this under control.”
Compliance in a Click
Security and compliance aren’t just for the largest businesses. They are essential for anyone who handles data, serves customers, wants to grow in a competitive market, or works in a regulated industry.
OneClickComply makes compliance possible for any organisation. Whether you’re starting from scratch, or looking for a simpler way to stay secure, we’re here to help. No overwhelming lists or complex manual processes, just simple, efficient, and automated compliance.
