5 Ways to Save Time in Your InfoSec Audits

Audits, whether PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HITRUST, or any information security standard, can feel overwhelming, especially for teams balancing compliance with daily operations. The good news? With the right preparation, technology, and support, you can reduce audit fatigue and make the process far more efficient.

Here are five proven ways to save time in your infosec audits without sacrificing quality.

1. Centralize and Standardize Your Evidence

One of the most common time drains in any audit is tracking down documentation spread across inboxes, shared drives, or individual systems.

Recommendation: Use a GRC platform to manage controls and evidence. The right tool enables you to:

• Assign ownership for each control
• Attach evidence directly to requirements
• Track testing and remediation progress
• Set reminders for recurring, frequency-based activities (e.g., quarterly reviews, annual risk assessments)

When evidence is organized and mapped across multiple frameworks, you can reuse it efficiently, eliminate duplication, and streamline the entire audit process.

2. Automate and Leverage AI in Evidence Collection

Manual tasks, screen captures, spreadsheets, and sign-offs not only waste time but also increase the chance of errors. Today’s compliance tools can connect directly with cloud platforms, ticketing systems, and HR databases to gather evidence automatically. Emerging AI capabilities can take this further by identifying gaps, testing control effectiveness, and even suggesting draft policies or remediation steps.

Recommendation: Automate wherever possible, including:

• Access reviews (provisioning/deprovisioning logs pulled directly from systems)
• Vulnerability scans (continuous reporting instead of periodic uploads)
• Change management (evidence from Jira, ServiceNow, GitHub)
• AI-enabled control reviews (flagging anomalies or outdated evidence automatically)

Automation + AI ensures your evidence is always accurate, consistent, and audit-ready—while freeing your team to focus on higher-value work.

3. Prepare Your Team in Advance

Audits run only as smoothly as the people supporting them. If stakeholders don’t understand what’s expected, delays and repeat requests are inevitable.

Recommendation: Hold a short pre-audit kickoff session to review:

• What evidence will be requested
• Who is responsible for each control
• How to leverage the GRC tool to provide or validate evidence
• Expectations for communication with auditors

Aligning your team upfront minimizes bottlenecks and keeps the audit moving forward.

4. Adopt a Continuous Readiness Mindset

Organizations that succeed in audits don’t wait until audit season to start preparing. Instead, they embed continuous compliance into their operations, tracking controls and updating evidence throughout the year.

Recommendation: Use your GRC tool to schedule recurring tasks for frequency-based controls such as monthly scans or quarterly access reviews. AI-enabled dashboards can provide real-time compliance health scores, enabling you to proactively address issues rather than reacting during audit crunch time.

5. Collaborate With Your Auditors

Auditors aren’t just examiners; they’re partners in validating your security and compliance program. Early engagement and clear communication can prevent rework and speed up the process.

Recommendation: Provide auditors with organized, system-driven evidence exports. When they can easily trace artifacts back to requirements, the review process is faster, smoother, and reflects well on the maturity of your program.

Final Thoughts

Audits will always require effort, but they don’t have to be disruptive. By leveraging GRC tools, automation, and AI, combined with strong preparation, continuous readiness, and collaboration with auditors, you can save significant time and reduce stress.

At CompliancePoint, our Assurance team helps organizations of all sizes streamline their audit processes across PCI, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HITRUST. Whether you’re preparing for your first assessment or managing multiple frameworks, we can help you design efficient, technology-driven compliance programs that reduce effort and improve results.

Ready to save time in your next audit? Contact CompliancePoint at connect@compliancepoint.com today to learn more about our services.