February 4, 2026 ·
The Illusion of Certificates
SOC 2, HIPAA, and HITRUST are NOT vendor contract compliance.
But many vendors (we've talked to) incorrectly believe this and it exposes their enterprise customers to massive hidden risk.
On the surface it's an easy misconception to form, but when you dig deep you find how stark the difference actually is.
The Difference
These certifications directly cover an extremely limited set of contract requirements.
And in most cases of any overlap, it is topical at best.
A prime (but certainly not unique) example of this is background check requirements.
The SOC 2 background check "requirement" is usually something along the lines of: "The company performs background checks on prospective personnel prior to their first day of work." That's it.
And how about the enterprise contract? I've personally managed contracts where just the personnel background check obligations are 3+ pages of full contract text naming incredibly specific check types and ongoing cadences.
Addressing Risk
When vendors solely trust in certifications, they're wildly out of compliance with MOST of the contract. And this is happening across vendors today.
When vendors think this way, their enterprise partners bear incredible risk too. And what useful tools do enterprises have at their disposal to ensure these vendors are fully compliant?
Harper helps resolve this pervasive vendor misconception and provides enterprises with the granular visibility they need to manage vendor risk.
Harper integrates directly with your vendors to help them organize and track compliance with every exact contract requirement in a purpose-built platform.
Enterprise vendor compliance teams then have this real-time data available in their Harper instance to instantly oversee, analyze, and take action across the entire vendor network.
You've got more important work to do than reminding vendors of contract obligations and chasing vendor documents. Let Harper unlock your team to focus on their highest leverage work. Let's talk!