Type I checks that controls are designed correctly at a point in time; Type II checks that they actually operated over months. For cloud PMS and AI tools it is the strongest evidence of security maturity a buyer can request.
From our data: 22 of 445 software products we track publicly report SOC 2 Type II.
How to read a SOC 2 report
Ask for the report itself under a non-disclosure agreement, not just a badge. Check the audit period, which trust criteria are in scope (security is mandatory; availability and confidentiality are optional) and the exceptions the auditor noted.
A report older than about a year, or one that covers only a parent company and not the product you are buying, is weaker evidence.
SOC 2 and HIPAA
SOC 2 is not a HIPAA audit, but the controls overlap heavily. A vendor with a clean Type II report has demonstrated that access control, change management and incident response work in practice.