At CMIT Solutions, we’ve spent more than 25 years helping small and medium businesses meet their IT compliance requirements, and the single most consistent finding is this: the minimum control standards most businesses need to meet are the same whether you’re subject to HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or CMMC.
Limit who can access data, protect it in transit and at rest, monitor your systems for threats, and have a tested plan for when something goes wrong.
Explore our business data compliance solutions to see how CMIT Solutions can guide your business through every step.
What Is IT Compliance and Why Does It Apply to Your Business?
IT compliance is the process of aligning your technology systems, policies, and practices with the rules set by regulators, industry bodies, or government agencies.
Those rules exist to protect sensitive data: a patient’s medical record, a customer’s credit card number, or an employee’s personal information. Businesses of all sizes carry these obligations.
The Federal Trade Commission makes clear that businesses of all sizes have legal responsibilities around data security, not just large corporations. Regulatory bodies don’t scale their fines to your headcount, and a violation is a violation regardless of how many employees you have or how long you’ve been in business.
CMIT Solutions works with SMBs every day to turn complex regulatory language into a practical, manageable roadmap, because most business owners shouldn’t have to become compliance experts just to keep their data safe.
IT Compliance vs. IT Security: Why the Difference Matters
IT compliance and IT security are closely related, but confusing them is a costly mistake. Security is the full set of tools, policies, and practices your business uses to protect its systems and data. Compliance is the subset of those practices that a regulatory body has made mandatory for your industry.
Think of it this way: security is your strategy, compliance is your baseline. A business can be fully compliant and still suffer a breach if its security posture goes no further than the minimum required. Conversely, a business with genuinely strong security practices may still fail a compliance audit if it hasn’t documented and formalized those practices correctly.
CMIT Solutions builds security programs that satisfy regulators and go further, because checking a box alone doesn’t guarantee protection against today’s threats.
Which IT Compliance Frameworks Apply to Your Business?
The compliance framework, or frameworks that apply to your business, depend on your industry, the type of data you handle, and whether you work with government contracts, payment systems, or healthcare information. Many SMBs find they need to satisfy more than one standard simultaneously, and some frameworks share significant overlap.
| Framework | Who It Applies To | Core Data Protected |
| HIPAA | Healthcare providers, insurers, and business associates | Patient health information (PHI) |
| PCI-DSS | Any business that processes credit or debit card payments | Cardholder data |
| CMMC | DoD contractors and subcontractors | Controlled unclassified information (CUI) |
| SOC 2 | Cloud service providers and SaaS vendors | Security, availability, and confidentiality controls |
| GDPR | Businesses handling data from EU residents | Personal data collection, processing, and consent |
| SOX | Publicly traded companies | Financial record integrity and internal controls |
| GLBA | Financial institutions, lenders, and financial advisors | Customer financial data |
| FISMA | Federal agencies and their contractors | Federal information system security |
Most small businesses in healthcare or hospitality will encounter HIPAA and PCI-DSS most frequently. If your business has grown to include federal contracts or cloud-hosted services for enterprise clients, CMMC and SOC 2 may also apply.
Multiple overlapping obligations are common, which is exactly why CMIT Solutions takes a managed approach, addressing each framework your business is subject to in one coordinated program rather than handling them in isolation.
The Minimum IT Control Standards Most Frameworks Require
While each framework has its own specific requirements, the majority of them converge on a consistent set of foundational controls.
Meeting these controls won’t just help you satisfy one standard; it lays the groundwork for compliance across several simultaneously, reflecting the practical guidance outlined in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 Small Business Quick-Start Guide, published specifically to help SMBs get started.
- Access and identity management: This sits at the center of nearly every compliance framework and is built around the principle of least privilege, meaning users only receive the access necessary to perform their roles. Multi-factor authentication is now a baseline requirement across HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and CMMC, significantly reducing overall attack surface.
- Data encryption: Encryption is a non-negotiable control standard that applies both in transit and at rest. For businesses storing protected health information or cardholder data, unencrypted storage is not just risky; it constitutes a direct compliance violation.
- Monitoring and logging: Systems must generate, retain, and assign responsibility for reviewing activity logs. Most frameworks require log retention for defined periods, typically between 90 days and one year, because without logs, there is no reliable record of events surrounding a security incident.
- Incident response planning: Organizations must maintain a documented and tested process outlining what happens when a breach occurs. Regulators evaluate whether a plan existed, whether it was followed, and whether reporting timelines were met, making this documentation a key audit artifact.
- Employee training and policy enforcement: Security awareness training is formally required under HIPAA’s Administrative Safeguards and is a scored control under CMMC. Documented policies such as acceptable use, password management, and data handling are mandatory artifacts in nearly every compliance audit.
CMIT Solutions helps businesses implement each of these controls correctly, document them in a format auditors accept, and keep them current as standards evolve.
💡 Additional reading: IT compliance checklist
A Closer Look: HIPAA Compliance for Healthcare and Business Associates
HIPAA is one of the most consequential compliance frameworks for SMBs, particularly because its reach extends well beyond hospitals and clinics.
If your business handles protected health information on behalf of a covered entity, whether you are an IT provider, billing company, legal firm, or marketing agency, you may qualify as a Business Associate and carry full HIPAA obligations under a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
The HHS HIPAA Security Rule organizes requirements into three categories.
- Administrative safeguards include risk analysis, workforce training, access management procedures, and contingency planning. A written risk analysis is not optional; it is the cornerstone of HIPAA compliance, and its absence is among the most frequently cited violations in enforcement actions by the HHS Office for Civil Rights.
- Physical safeguards cover workstation security, device controls, and facility access. For businesses operating in shared spaces or using laptops and mobile devices, these controls require specific policies around screen locks, device encryption, and the disposal of hardware containing PHI.
- Technical safeguards include unique user identification, automatic log-off, encryption, and audit controls. Every system that accesses PHI must have these controls in place.
Under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, covered entities must report breaches affecting 500 or more individuals to the HHS Office for Civil Rights no later than 60 calendar days from the discovery of the breach.
For breaches affecting fewer than 500 individuals, the report is due to HHS within 60 days after the end of the calendar year in which the breach was discovered.
CMIT Solutions helps healthcare businesses and their business associates meet each of these requirements, from drafting the initial risk analysis to maintaining the documentation that protects you in an enforcement review.
PCI-DSS: What Every Business That Accepts Card Payments Must Know
If your business accepts credit or debit cards, whether in person, online, or by phone, PCI-DSS applies to you. The standard is maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council and applies regardless of your transaction volume. PCI-DSS v4.0 is now fully in effect, with all future-dated requirements having become mandatory as of March 31, 2025.
The minimum controls most SMBs need to address under PCI-DSS include:
- Installing and maintaining a firewall that separates cardholder data from other systems.
- Never storing sensitive authentication data after a transaction is authorized.
- Encrypting cardholder data wherever it is transmitted across open networks.
- Protecting all systems against malware with regularly updated antivirus software.
- Restricting physical access to cardholder data and maintaining an access log.
- Testing security systems regularly, including quarterly vulnerability scans.
Merchants who use third-party payment processors may qualify for a simplified Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), but this doesn’t eliminate compliance obligations. It means your vendor handles some controls on your behalf, and you need a written agreement confirming exactly which controls those are and where your responsibility begins.
CMIT Solutions helps businesses in retail and hospitality establish that documentation and close the gaps that SAQs frequently leave unaddressed.
Non-compliance doesn’t just create regulatory exposure; it creates operational risk. Use our IT downtime calculator to see what a compliance-related disruption could cost your business.
CMMC: What Defense Contractors and Subcontractors Must Prepare For
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is a Department of Defense framework that applies to any business in the defense industrial base, including many small subcontractors who may not realize they are in scope.
If your business handles Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) as part of a federal contract or subcontract, CMMC compliance is not optional.
CMMC 2.0 establishes three maturity levels. Most SMBs working with the DoD will need to achieve Level 2, which requires compliance with the security practices outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-171, finalized in May 2024. Level 2 also requires a third-party assessment by a Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) for contracts involving prioritized acquisitions.
Controls that SMBs frequently find challenging include MFA across all accounts, communications protection, audit and accountability logging, and incident response documentation.
CMIT Solutions guides businesses through the gap assessment and remediation process needed to reach and maintain CMMC certification.
IT Compliance and Cyber Insurance: A Connection SMBs Can’t Ignore
One of the most important shifts in the cybersecurity landscape over the past several years is the tightening relationship between compliance posture and cyber insurance eligibility. Insurers have moved from broad policies with minimal technical requirements to detailed questionnaires that assess your actual control environment before quoting coverage.
Insurers now routinely ask whether your business has implemented MFA, endpoint detection and response, privileged access management, and offsite backups before offering a policy or determining your premium.
In some cases, failing to have specific controls in place, controls that overlap directly with HIPAA, PCI-DSS, or NIST frameworks, results in outright denial of coverage or significant exclusions.
Building your compliance controls to the minimum standards required by HIPAA or NIST doesn’t just keep regulators satisfied; it makes your business insurable at a reasonable cost.
CMIT Solutions helps clients build programs that satisfy both audiences at once, so compliance investments work harder for your business.
The IT Compliance Audit Process: What to Expect
A compliance audit, whether conducted internally, by a third party, or by a regulatory body, follows a consistent structure regardless of the framework being assessed. For many SMBs encountering this process for the first time, knowing what to expect makes preparation far more manageable.
The process typically begins with a scoping phase, where the auditor identifies which systems, processes, and data stores fall within the compliance boundary. This is followed by a documentation review, in which your policies, procedures, access logs, training records, and incident response plans are evaluated against the framework’s requirements.
The technical assessment phase involves scanning systems for vulnerabilities, reviewing configurations, and testing controls like MFA and encryption. Finally, auditors produce a findings report that identifies gaps and assigns risk ratings.
For businesses undergoing their first compliance audit, the most common finding isn’t a catastrophic technical failure; it’s missing or undocumented policies. Controls that exist in practice but were never written down don’t receive credit.
CMIT Solutions works with clients to document existing practices, identify real gaps, and build a remediation plan before an auditor ever arrives.
Learn more about how CMIT Solutions supports federal contractors through our CMMC compliance services.
Common IT Compliance Mistakes Small Businesses Make
Certain compliance failures appear repeatedly in SMB assessments, and most of them are preventable with the right guidance. CMIT Solutions has helped businesses recover from each of these situations and works proactively to make sure clients never reach that point.
- Assuming a vendor handles it all: Cloud providers, POS vendors, and software companies may manage certain controls, but compliance responsibility is always shared. A clearly documented Shared Responsibility Model should define what the vendor covers and what your organization remains accountable for.
- Treating compliance as a one-time project: Compliance standards evolve regularly, and requirements change over time. As of March 31, 2025, all future-dated requirements in PCI-DSS v4.0 became mandatory, meaning what was compliant last year may no longer meet current standards.
- Skipping the risk assessment: HIPAA, NIST, and CMMC frameworks all begin with a formal risk assessment that identifies vulnerabilities and prioritizes remediation. Skipping this step leaves you without a required document and without a strategic roadmap for security investment.
- Neglecting third-party risk: Every vendor with access to your systems or data introduces potential compliance exposure. Managed IT providers, payroll processors, and cloud vendors should be evaluated and, where required, governed by formal agreements such as a BAA or Data Processing Agreement (DPA).
- Underestimating the human factor: Technical controls protect infrastructure, but employees are often the entry point for attackers. Security awareness training is both a compliance requirement and a practical safeguard against phishing and credential-based attacks.
IT Compliance Requirements by Industry: Healthcare and Hospitality
The compliance landscape looks different depending on the industry your business operates in. Two sectors where CMIT Solutions has deep experience, healthcare and hospitality, illustrate how requirements stack and interact in practice.
Healthcare:
- Healthcare businesses must navigate HIPAA at a minimum, and increasingly NIST CSF 2.0 as a complementary framework recommended by HHS for cyber risk management.
- Business associates, including IT providers, legal firms, and billing companies, carry their own compliance obligations under signed BAAs.
- The HHS Office for Civil Rights consistently identifies impermissible uses and disclosures of PHI, along with insufficient administrative safeguards, as the most frequently cited violations in enforcement actions.
Hospitality:
- Hospitality businesses, hotels, restaurants, and event venues primarily face PCI-DSS compliance obligations due to high volumes of card transactions.
- Hotels that store guests’ personal data for loyalty programs may also face GDPR obligations if they serve international travelers.
- Point-of-sale systems, property management software, and reservation platforms each represent a compliance surface that requires its own assessment.
Businesses that operate across multiple locations face compounded complexity, as each location may have its own systems and network environment to evaluate.
The table below shows how control requirements overlap across these two industries, helping identify where a single compliance investment covers multiple standards at once.
| Control | HIPAA | PCI-DSS | NIST CSF 2.0 |
| Risk assessment | Required | Required | Required |
| Multi-factor authentication | Required | Required | Recommended |
| Encryption at rest and in transit | Required | Required | Recommended |
| Employee security training | Required (Admin Safeguards) | Required | Recommended |
| Incident response plan | Required | Required | Required |
| Access controls (least privilege) | Required | Required | Required |
| Audit logging and monitoring | Required | Required | Required |
| Third-party vendor agreements | Required (BAA) | Required (written agreements) | Recommended |
CMIT Solutions helps healthcare and hospitality businesses map their obligations across all applicable frameworks and build a single, efficient compliance program rather than managing each standard separately.
Take our insurance readiness assessment to see whether your current compliance posture would satisfy a cyber insurer before your next renewal.
Let CMIT Solutions Guide Your Business to Full Compliance
IT compliance doesn’t have to be a source of stress, and your business shouldn’t have to navigate it without expert support.
With more than 25 years of experience and a network of 900+ IT experts, CMIT Solutions guides small and medium businesses through every stage of the compliance journey, from initial risk assessment and gap analysis to policy development, technical control implementation, employee training, and ongoing monitoring.
We work across HIPAA, PCI-DSS, CMMC, and other frameworks relevant to your industry, translating complex regulatory language into practical steps your team can follow.
Whether you are preparing for your first compliance audit, responding to a regulatory inquiry, or building a compliance program from the ground up, CMIT Solutions provides the expertise and hands-on support to get it right.
📌 See how this approach works in practice. Optyx, a multi-location optical retail business, partnered with CMIT Solutions to bring consistency, security, and reliability to its IT environment across every location.
The result was a scalable, compliance-ready infrastructure that allowed their team to focus on growing the business instead of managing IT problems.
Read the full Optyx case study to see how CMIT Solutions delivers for businesses like yours.
Ready to take the first step toward IT compliance? Call us at (800) 399-2648 or contact CMIT Solutions online to schedule a consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it realistically take a small business with no compliance program to become fully compliant?
A small business starting from scratch can reach compliance readiness in 60 to 90 days for a single framework if documented policies and basic security controls are already in place. Building a program across multiple frameworks, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and NIST together, for example, realistically takes 6 to 12 months of phased work. A gap assessment at the outset produces the most accurate timeline for your specific environment.
If my business gets breached and regulators find out we weren’t compliant, what penalties are we actually looking at?
Pre-existing compliance failures discovered during a breach investigation significantly compound the penalties your business faces. Under HIPAA, civil monetary penalties scale by culpability tier, with willful neglect carrying the steepest consequences, as HHS Office for Civil Rights enforcement data makes clear. Under PCI-DSS, card brands can impose fines, raise transaction fees, and revoke your ability to accept card payments. A documented, good-faith compliance program in place before a breach materially affects how both regulators and card brands respond.
I use a cloud provider for my business data. Does that mean my business is automatically HIPAA or PCI-DSS compliant?
No. Cloud providers secure the infrastructure layer, but the compliance obligations above that layer belong entirely to your business. A business storing PHI in a HIPAA-eligible cloud environment still needs a completed risk analysis, a signed Business Associate Agreement with the provider, active user access controls, and trained employees. Using the right cloud platform is one piece of compliance; it does not replace the documented program your business is required to maintain.
What should I actually look for when choosing a managed IT provider to help with compliance, and how do I know if they are doing it right?
A managed IT provider qualified to support compliance should be able to implement and document technical controls, manage ongoing monitoring, assist with policy development, and prepare you for audits, not just keep your systems running. They should also be willing to sign the required agreements, such as a BAA under HIPAA or a DPA where applicable, before handling your sensitive data. If a provider cannot explain which controls they manage and which remain your responsibility, that is a gap worth addressing before signing any contract.
My business is growing, and we are adding new services. At what point do we need to reassess our compliance obligations?
Any time your business changes how it collects, stores, or transmits sensitive data, a compliance review should be triggered immediately, not at the next annual cycle. Adding a patient portal introduces new HIPAA technical safeguard requirements. Launching online ordering expands your PCI-DSS cardholder data environment. Winning a federal contract may bring CMMC obligations for the first time. Growth creates compliance scope creep, and CMIT Solutions helps businesses identify and address those new obligations before they become violations.