Facing the Challenges: Our Journey to Implementing CMMC Level One

Facing the Challenges: Our Journey to Implementing CMMC Level One

At The IT Company, we're always striving to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to protecting our clients' and our own sensitive information. One of the recent steps on that journey has been working toward compliance with CMMC Level One controls. It’s been an important and rewarding process — but it hasn’t been without its challenges. We wanted to share a few of the lessons we learned along the way.

Balancing Compliance with the Everyday Hustle

First and foremost, balancing the additional workload of implementing CMMC controls on top of our daily operations was a major hurdle. Like many small and midsized businesses, our team already wears a lot of hats. Adding in the responsibilities of thoroughly reviewing, understanding, and implementing new cybersecurity controls stretched us even thinner. It required careful prioritization, strong project management, and most importantly, a team willing to roll up their sleeves and take on a few extra tasks to protect the company and our customers.

Interpreting the Vague and Making It Practical

Another significant challenge was understanding how the CMMC requirements directly applied to our business. The controls themselves, especially at Level One, are purposefully high-level and not particularly prescriptive. That flexibility can be a good thing, but it also left us asking a lot of questions. What exactly does "protect Federal Contract Information" look like in our specific workflows? How do we demonstrate that we've "limited information system access" in a way that makes sense for how we actually work? We had to spend a lot of time reading between the lines, consulting with experts, and even leaning on peer discussions to find interpretations that were both compliant and practical.

Finding the Right Implementation Balance

Finally, we faced the challenge of finding the right balance between "checking the box" and truly strengthening our security. On one hand, it's tempting to do the bare minimum — to simply meet the letter of the requirement and move on. On the other hand, we knew we wanted our efforts to make a real impact on our cybersecurity posture. And, of course, there’s a third extreme: trying to over-engineer every control to an unnecessary level of complexity.

Ultimately, we had to ask ourselves: How do we implement controls in a way that improves security, without overcomplicating our processes or slowing down the business? It was a constant calibration between risk, resources, and reasonable outcomes. Our focus became "security first, compliance second" — trusting that if we built good, defensible security practices, compliance would naturally follow.

What’s Next?

Implementing CMMC Level One controls wasn't just a project for us — it was a step forward in our overall commitment to cybersecurity. The lessons we learned will continue to shape how we approach security improvements moving forward.

For any other businesses facing their own compliance journey: you're not alone. These challenges are real, but so are the benefits. And if you ever want to swap stories or need a little help navigating it, our team is always here to chat.