DealersCircle, an RV and marine industry service provider, successfully completed a Type 1 System and Organizational Controls (SOC) 2 audit in December 2022 via A-LIGN, an independent security and compliance partner.
SOC is a framework developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to provide regular, independent evidence of company controls to mitigate information-related risk.
DealersCircle’s web-based platform simplifies custom product ordering, product lifecycle tracking, service communications, warranty claims management, parts ordering, reporting, and integration with external systems.
DealersCircle said the company decided to submit to the independent SOC2 audit to provide clients and prospects confidence in its data assets. The SOC 2 audit completion better positions clients to comply with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Safeguards Rule and its associated regulations going into effect June 9.
“Because dealers in the industry now fall under ‘financial institutions’ per the FTC, we felt our responsibility to the over 1,700 dealers and 34 OEMs we currently represent went beyond the new Safeguards Rule requirements,” DealersCircle President Scott Davis said. “We wanted to provide them the confidence that we have taken the necessary steps ahead of the deadline to do everything we can to ensure their assets are protected by our processes, procedures and technology.”
Davis said completing the SOC 2 audit process goes beyond what DealersCircle’s clients required.
“We felt it to be in the best interest of our dealer partners and the manufacturers we represent to do just that,” Davis said. “SOC 2 covers more than just FTC Safeguards Rule requirements and will further prove we are taking every step to ensure client data protection.”
Although the FTC Safeguards Rule has been in effect since 2003, and was amended in 2021, the previous new requirements’ deadline was extended six months to June 9.
“Because of the sensitive data that dealers collect from their customers, the FTC Safeguards Rule does apply to all of them and will need to be adhered to by the impending deadline,” Davis said. “Even if you have another dealer system currently in place such as an internal portal, dealers and manufacturers alike need to be aware of the importance of, and have the confidence in, the system they are using not only meeting these new requirements but also continuing to stay ahead of these and future requirements. Consumer data protection, security and privacy requirements will only get tighter as we move into the future.”
For more information on DealersCircle, click here, or contact Mark Jerkins at Tinsley Creative at [email protected] or 863-583-0081.
