Partner Case Study
How AGDATA Uses Hyperproof and Grant Thornton to Scale Audits and Achieve ISO 27001 Certification
Frameworks
SOC 1
//
ISO 27001
AGDATA is a trusted provider of data collection and management, marketing program management, and analytical solutions for clients in the crop protection, agriculture, specialty chemical, and animal health industries. With data services at the core, surrounded by an extensible array of streamlined software solutions, their unified platform represents over three decades of innovation and expertise.
Product Used: Comply, Mitigate, Vendor
Industry: Agricultural data and analytics
Location: Headquartered in Charlotte, NC
4 offices worldwide
5 core audit members, 40 total employees involved
Why they love Hyperproof and Grant Thornton
75%
reduction in time spent on audit prep
$22k
annually saved in communication costs with auditors
80 hours
saved on security admin
The Challenge
Disjointed audit management and manual tracking
Before adopting Hyperproof, AGDATA’s compliance and audit processes were highly manual, relying on spreadsheets, Jira, and email threads to track progress across multiple frameworks. “Once upon a time, we were working from a giant Excel spreadsheet,” says Jonathan Kennedy, Senior Security Administrator at AGDATA. “It had a bunch of columns, filters, and tabs to track all the controls and requests, and it was tough to manage.”
Each SOC audit was managed separately, resulting in duplicate work, inconsistent data, and limited visibility into AGDATA’s overall compliance posture. The absence of a centralized system meant that evidence was stored in various locations, ownership was unclear, and version control issues were prevalent. Managing these fragmented workflows consumed valuable time and created unnecessary complexity for a lean team trying to maintain multiple certifications simultaneously.
Resource and team coordination struggles
Coordinating a large and diverse group of contributors made AGDATA’s audit process complex and time-consuming. Rebecca Jackman, Continuous Improvement Project Manager at AGDATA, noted that although there are only five core audit members, the project requires the involvement of more than 40 employees across various departments and regions. Managing communication, tracking deliverables, and maintaining consistency across so many participants without a centralized system created significant operational strain and slowed overall audit progress.
Scalability and auditor communication
Before implementing Hyperproof, pursuing new certifications like ISO 27001 was a major challenge. Without a unified way to map controls, assign responsibilities, or track progress, certification efforts were slow and error-prone. Coordinating across departments caused delays and unpredictable audit timelines, making communication with auditors slow and fragmented. The team relied on spreadsheets to manage audit progress, which made it difficult to keep evidence organized and ensure everyone was working from the most current version.
In addition, Jackman and Kennedy often had to bridge the communication to control owners. Requests from auditors required multiple follow-ups to confirm that the correct documentation had been collected and placed in the right folder or tab. This back-and-forth coordination often delayed audit milestones and consumed valuable time that could have been spent improving security and process maturity.
Hyperproof has saved me weeks of time.
Travis Nieves
Director of Infrastructure and Information Security // AGDATA
The Solution
Centralizing compliance in one platform
Implementing Hyperproof consolidated all audit activities — including SOC 1 and ISO 27001 — into a single, connected platform, where every task, control, and document could be managed within a unified workspace. This centralization eliminated version control issues, improved visibility across teams, and enabled leadership to track progress in real time. As Kennedy explains, “Having a ‘single pane of glass’ view in Hyperproof helps me see when something’s amiss. All of our confusion has disappeared, not just for me, but for others providing deliverables.” With Hyperproof, AGDATA can finally move beyond ad-hoc coordination and focus on driving continuous improvement in their compliance operations.
Hyperproof is game-changing. It’s exactly what I need for managing our audits.
Rebecca Jackman
Continuous Improvement Project Manager // AGDATA
Automation and accountability across teams
Hyperproof’s automation features replaced the manual reminders and follow-ups that once consumed the compliance team’s time. Tasks are now automatically assigned with clear owners and due dates, ensuring accountability across departments and reducing administrative overhead.
“This year was the first year I used evidence automation, and our dev teams even commented that their workloads were vastly reduced. It’s amazing when you see the direct impact on other teams, says Jackman. Team members receive reminders directly in the platform, allowing the project manager to focus on higher-value initiatives instead of repetitive coordination. Dashboards provide leaders with instant insight into task completion and bottlenecks, transforming audit preparation into a proactive and transparent process rather than a last-minute scramble.
Accelerating certification and reducing duplicative work
When AGDATA pursued ISO 27001 certification, Hyperproof enabled the team to reuse existing SOC 1 controls and evidence, rather than starting from scratch. This shortened their certification timeline, minimized redundant work, and reduced consulting costs. With mapped controls across frameworks, AGDATA could satisfy multiple audit requirements simultaneously, completing certifications faster and more efficiently. “If we didn’t have Hyperproof, we probably wouldn’t have achieved the certification, period,” Nieves says. The structured workflow and scheduling tools also enabled the team to distribute review tasks throughout the year, ensuring continuous compliance rather than rushing to meet deadlines.
To meet ISO 27001’s risk-tracking requirements, AGDATA relies on Hyperproof’s Risk module. The system plays a central role in their ongoing security oversight, as Nieves regularly reviews and updates documented risks with his team and IT security committee. As new risks arise throughout the year, they continue to add them to the register in Hyperproof.
An integrated partnership with Grant Thornton
Through Hyperproof and its integration with our proprietary technology, we’ve streamlined audit processes for clients by centralizing audit communication and enabling real-time visibility into compliance efforts. It’s eliminating redundancies and reducing the traditional audit burden.
Managing Director
Grant Thornton
By partnering with Grant Thornton and working collaboratively inside Hyperproof, AGDATA transformed how their SOC 1 audits were executed. Instead of sending files back and forth or repeating walkthroughs, both teams now share a single platform for tracking requests, reviewing evidence, and providing feedback in real time.
Previously, Jackman and Kennedy often acted as intermediaries, relaying messages and evidence between auditors and control owners. Now, Grant Thornton can leave comments and requests directly within the platform, and the responsible control owners respond and upload proof themselves. This streamlined approach eliminated unnecessary handoffs, reduced administrative overhead, and tightened documentation processes.
The combined approach of Hyperproof’s technology and Grant Thornton’s expertise created a seamless, scalable compliance model that supports AGDATA’s global growth and future certifications.
This year, we had everything done on time, and that’s a combination of Grant Thornton and using Hyperproof.
Travis Nieves
Director of Infrastructure and Information Security // AGDATA
Why they love Hyperproof and Grant Thornton
75%
reduction in time spent on audit preparation
Automated
evidence collection
Faster
SOC 1 set up vs. manual creation in Jira
$22,000
annually saved in communication costs with auditors
The Challenge
Manual, reactive audits that consumed too much time
Rebecca Jackman, Continuous Improvement Project Manager at AGDATA, oversees the company’s process improvement initiatives and internal audit execution. Before adopting Hyperproof, AGDATA’s compliance operations were heavily manual and fragmented. Each audit season felt like starting from scratch, with teams scrambling to find documentation, redoing work, and managing evidence through emails and spreadsheets.
“Before Hyperproof, we were much less organized and prepared to start each audit,” Jackman explains. “It was much more manual when tying things back and forth.”
Jonathan Kennedy, Senior Security Administrator at AGDATA, echoed the same challenge from the technical side of the audit process. “Once upon a time, we were working from a giant Excel spreadsheet,” Kennedy says. “It had a bunch of columns, filters, and tabs to track all the controls and requests and was absolutely bonkers.”
Managing multiple frameworks only made things more complex. AGDATA began with SOC 1, but as its IT and compliance maturity grew, the company pursued ISO certification as well. With each new framework, the administrative burden grew. “Before Hyperproof, it was too manual of an admin task to simply run the audits. There was no time to focus on actually improving them,” Jackman says.
It’s game-changing… It’s like a project management tool specifically for audits, and exactly what I need it to be for managing our audits within AGDATA.
Rebecca Jackman
Continuous Improvement Project Manager // AGDATA
Lack of visibility and engagement across teams
These processes didn’t just slow audits — they made engagement across teams difficult as well. Jackman describes how audit cycles would sneak up on business units with little warning or context. “Before Hyperproof, teams weren’t prepared for audits until they were already happening, and the scramble began. It was also easy to miss collecting evidence until we were down to the wire on a deadline.”
Without a centralized platform or reminders, compliance became something people reacted to rather than continuously maintained. “Before, you got the report, and people just forgot about it altogether.”
This reactive nature limited AGDATA’s ability to treat compliance as an ongoing process improvement effort, exactly the kind of mindset Jackman was hired to drive.
The Solution
Streamlining and automating audit operations with Hyperproof
With Hyperproof, AGDATA completely transformed its audit management approach. What was once a tedious, reactive, and manual exercise is now an organized, proactive process. Evidence is collected automatically through Hypersyncs, auditors can communicate with users directly, and controls can be duplicated for each audit cycle. In addition, Hyperproof’s centralized platform allowed Jackman and her team to track progress, automate reminders, and keep evidence up to date between audits, all in one place.
“Hyperproof lets us be more organized and proactive instead of scrambling when the audits start,” Jackman explains.
Kennedy agrees, describing Hyperproof as the operational bridge between compliance, IT, and audit partners. “Hyperproof’s automatic task creation saves us a lot of time,” he says. “By having integrations with Grant Thornton and Jira, AGDATA has reduced manual steps and mistakes. Every time you add a manual task, you increase the likelihood of a manual mistake, and Hyperproof eliminates that.”
As the project manager responsible for SOC and ISO, Jackman appreciates how Hyperproof reduces administrative overhead so her team can focus on true process improvement. “My focus is on process improvement and executing our internal audits,” she says. “Hyperproof makes it easier to do both.”
Building a culture of continuous improvement
With Hyperproof, AGDATA shifted from reactive compliance to a culture of continuous improvement. The platform helped create ongoing visibility into audit status, assign responsibilities clearly, and reduce dependence on last-minute coordination.
Jackman recalls how she used to have to submit 15 requests for evidence from her development team for their SOC audit, which has now been mostly automated. This automation alone saves their dev team roughly 30 hours of manual time and allows AGDATA to stay continuously compliant.
“This year was the first year I used that evidence automation, and our dev teams even commented that their workloads were vastly reduced. It’s amazing when you see the direct impact on other teams.”
Kennedy sees similar benefits from the security side: “Having a ‘single pane of glass’ view in Hyperproof helps me see when something’s amiss. All of our confusion has disappeared, not just for me, but for others providing deliverables,” Kennedy says.
Hyperproof lets us be more organized and proactive instead of scrambling when the audits start.
Rebecca Jackman
Continuous Improvement Project Manager // AGDATA
Expanding compliance maturity with confidence
Hyperproof has also positioned AGDATA to scale its compliance program. As Jackman’s team took on additional frameworks like ISO 27001, the ability to manage everything from a single platform made expansion easier and less stressful.
“Since I was managing SOC as the project manager, IT wanted to pursue more certifications like ISO 27001,” she recalls. “Becoming the internal auditor of our ISO engagement came naturally.”
Courtney Baglien, AGDATA’s dedicated Customer Success Manager, checks in regularly to make sure they’re operating efficiently. “Courtney is great at understanding what we use and when we use it,” Jackman says. “She’s really good with suggesting different Hyperproof features based on what we’re going through at that time, and extremely responsive.”
As for Kennedy, he’s able to focus a lot more time now on the ISO 27001 audits, as well as his work on other non-compliance-related security administrative tasks. This allows him to spend his time more strategically rather than just checking the boxes on audits.
With Hyperproof supporting both SOC and ISO initiatives, AGDATA can confidently grow its compliance footprint without overwhelming its audit team.
Achieving engagement and efficiency across the business
“Hyperproof is game-changing. It’s exactly what I need it to be for managing our audits,” Jackman says.
“Having integrations, reminders, and that single pane of glass view has made it far easier to keep everyone on the same page. No more chasing people down or missing tickets,” Kennedy adds.
What began as a tactical solution to reduce manual effort has evolved into a foundational part of AGDATA’s compliance culture. Today, Hyperproof keeps AGDATA audit-ready year-round, improves communication between teams, and ensures that compliance remains an integrated business function, not a periodic fire drill.
“Before Hyperproof, we were much less organized and prepared to start each audit,” Jackman says. “Now, everything’s in one place, people know what to expect, and I can focus on making things better instead of just keeping up.”
With Hyperproof, I can focus on making things better rather than just keeping up.
Rebecca Jackman
Continuous Improvement Project Manager // AGDATA
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