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Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) compliance requires elaborate security and compliance workflows, especially if you don’t already have a mature security program or you wish to pursue a higher CMMC certification tier. To maintain compliance standards and implement the program’s many requirements, you may have to develop numerous new processes. 

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Many organizations run into issues when trying to achieve CMMC compliance manually, as it can be tedious and drain a team's time. The best practice is to automate as much of the processes as possible, preferably with the help of a CMMC compliance solution.

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If you're looking to automate CMMC compliance, read this guide to learn: 

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• What CMMC compliance automation involves
• Why it’s beneficial
• How to achieve it

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What does CMMC compliance automation involve?

CMMC compliance automation involves using dedicated software to implement the program’s practices, demonstrate adherence to its requirements, and maintain certification efficiently.

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Specifically, such software is used to automate the following processes:

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• Gap assessments: Comparing CMMC’s requirements to an organization’s existing processes and related practices can be laborious, especially when considering the scope of system, people, and location interactions with Federal Contract Information (FCI) and/or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). Compliance software can be used to provide a comprehensive overview of your current security program and identify any deficiencies faster.
• Security policy creation: Capable compliance software comes with foundational policy templates, guidance, and approval workflows out of the box. You can use these resources to get a head start on defining policies aligned with CMMC’s prescribed practices.
• Evidence collection: Traditional evidence collection often involves gathering documentation through multiple systems, including information scattered in spreadsheets and email chains. Compliance software centralizes document collection within a unified hub, making it easier to access and share CMMC evidence with your interested parties.
• Control testing and monitoring: CMMC doesn’t only evaluate your practices at a single point in time—it evaluates your continuous adherence to them. One of the goals of compliance automation is to manage continuous compliance through automated tests that run at predefined frequencies and provide real-time (or near real-time) insight into your security posture.

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In some cases, you might need several compliance automation solutions to streamline these processes. Ideally, you should be able to find comprehensive platforms that automate various CMMC workflows at once.

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{{cta_withimage27="/cta-modules"}} | CMMC compliance checklist

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Benefits of CMMC compliance automation

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Automating processes for any framework, including CMMC, helps reduce the room for human error and offers a streamlined way of approaching compliance management operations within an organization.”

Faisal Khan

GRC Solutions Expert, Vanta

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LinkedIn

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Automating CMMC compliance streamlines your workflows and increases visibility into your security practices and controls. The specific advantages include:

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• Increased efficiency: By outsourcing manual busywork to capable software, you can drastically increase the efficiency of compliance, security, and other teams involved in the CMMC certification process
• Less pressure on contributing teams: Automation helps your teams remove tedious tasks from their daily workflows, which frees up their time so their expertise can be put toward more impactful work
• Faster certification: Compliance automation can speed up CMMC certification timelines by removing time-consuming processes like monitoring individual practices or gathering evidence manually
• Cost savings: While the investment in compliance automation might seem significant, it typically pays off by absorbing costs associated with process inefficiencies and unaddressed compliance gaps
• Simplified compliance maintenance: After obtaining the initial CMMC certificate, you can use automation software to monitor your practices and ensure streamlined compliance affirmations and recertifications for all levels

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Most compliance automation solutions aren’t CMMC-specific—they support multiple frameworks and standards, helping you manage complex compliance workflows within a single platform. They remove duplicative work and bring visibility to your entire compliance program in one platform.

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3 steps to successful CMMC compliance automation

You can perform effective compliance automation in three steps:

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1. Review your compliance and security workflows
2. Choose and implement the right automation solution
3. Monitor automation results

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Step 1: Review your compliance and security workflows

Before exploring compliance automation solutions, identify which processes to streamline by conducting a thorough review of your security and compliance workflows.

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While priorities vary by organization, processes like documentation and evidence collection are widely recognized as sources of inefficiencies. These often include tasks with high potential for streamlining and automation, such as:

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• Policy reviews
• Technical control tests
• Risk assessments

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Compliance automation software combines the results of these activities to create a single source of truth for demonstrating CMMC compliance. It also makes it easy to share the necessary security and compliance documentation with stakeholders to build trust more effortlessly.

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Of course, your automation scope can extend far beyond these processes. To get the full picture of your workflow and identify the key inefficiencies, seek input from your IT and compliance teams, as well as other departments impacted by CMMC.

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{{cta_withimage22="/cta-modules"}}  | The audit ready checklist

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Step 2: Choose and implement the right automation solution

Your chosen compliance platform can make or break the effectiveness of your automation efforts. While exploring numerous solutions can offer flexibility to meet various priorities, it can also create decision-making fatigue if not approached strategically.

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To simplify research and find the right platform, use the following criteria:

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• Features: Look for a compliance platform with features that align to your technical and functional process needs. An effective solution should, at minimum, include functionalities like policy building, evidence collection, and documentation management.
• Cost: CMMC compliance can be costly—a challenge for budget-constrained teams. It’s crucial to find a platform that doesn’t damage your bottom line by exposing you to hidden costs. Avoid paying a premium for features you don’t need, especially if you already have software that handles those tasks.
• Integrations: Speaking of existing software, your compliance platform must integrate seamlessly with your core systems. Otherwise, you might encounter bottlenecks that result in manual workflows and monitoring, which undermine the purpose of adopting automation software.
• Support: The right compliance automation provider doesn’t only offer a software solution—it should also give you access to a customer success team who can support you throughout the CMMC certification process.
• Ongoing updates: Your automation platform must stay up-to-date on the latest framework requirements and industry standards to support long-term CMMC maintenance.

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Step 3: Monitor automation results

Tracking the results of your compliance automation strategy can be challenging because there aren’t many KPIs to quantify them. As an example, a common metric organizations use is the number of critical or high vulnerabilities detected compared to those that have been remediated. However, this KPI only shows a fragment of the entire effect of automation.

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One way to get a broader picture is to document and compare your workflows before and after process automation. Look at the following factors to understand the impact of automation:

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• The time necessary to complete specific CMMC compliance activities
• Accuracy of the results collected manually vs. automatically
• The number of specific tasks and activities removed as a result of automation

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You can connect these factors to the corresponding costs to clarify the value of automation. Doing so makes it easier to justify the investment to executives and other decision-makers.

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Common CMMC compliance automation challenges

Compliance automation doesn’t happen overnight and might come with notable roadblocks, such as:

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• Data integrity and accuracy: You must develop structured functional processes and technical validation checks to make sure the automation platform is configured with the correct data.
• Transition to new processes: Organizations that have relied on manual compliance processes for a long time might face a considerable learning curve while adopting automated solutions.
• Lack of adequate training: Failure to train your in-scope departments on the best practices for using CMMC automation software can amplify inefficiencies and lead to improper implementation.
• Ineffective delegation: Successful automation isn’t only about your chosen software. You must also assign roles and responsibilities effectively to create a cohesive workflow.

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Your chosen software should help you avoid or overcome many of these challenges.

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{{cta_withimage27="/cta-modules"}} | CMMC compliance checklist

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Automate CMMC compliance tasks with Vanta

Vanta is a trust management platform that streamlines CMMC compliance and provides clear guidance for achieving certification more efficiently and with less friction. It does so through a robust CMMC solution with features such as:

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• Out-of-the-box support and prescriptive guidance for all certification levels
• Automated gap assessments on a real-time dashboard
• Automated evidence collection powered by 375+ integrations
• Pre-built controls and policy templates
• Centralized tracking and monitoring of CMMC requirements

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Vanta automatically maps the existing controls you might’ve implemented from other standards to the corresponding CMMC requirements, which helps you avoid duplicative workflows.

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In addition to Vanta’s experts, who can provide continuous support for your compliance workflows, you’ll have access to Vanta’s partner network to find reputable external auditors necessary for Level 2 and Level 3 certification.

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Schedule a custom demo of Vanta’s CMMC solution to learn more.

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{{cta_simple33="/cta-modules"}} | CMMC product page

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A note from Vanta: Vanta is not a law firm, and this article does not constitute or contain legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. When determining your obligations and compliance with respect to relevant laws and regulations, you should consult a licensed attorney. 

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