The key benefits of ISO 27001 certification: safeguarding your business
In the business world we’re bombarded with jargon and acronyms. We adopt the terminology, use it every day and take it for granted that everyone knows what we’re talking about. The cyber security space isn’t exempt. But when it comes to securing your business, it shouldn’t be so complex. Especially when it comes to cyber security and standards such as ISO 27001 compliance.
One of the comments we often hear from our customers is that while they know what the standard is, they don’t understand the full benefits of achieving ISO 27001 accreditation.
In this article we’ll be exploring the benefits of information security management, the impact the standard will have on your business, what to consider around the cost of implementation, and how we can help.
Breaking it down: what is ISO 27001?
The ISO 27001 standard is an international framework that governs information security management systems. Other standards that you might be familiar with include ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management). Just as these standards give your business a solid base on which to build your quality or environmental approaches, ISO 27001 enables you to establish and maintain a strong foundation on which to build your approach to cyber security.
Importantly, it isn’t a ‘one-and-done’ accreditation. It sets the baseline from which to establish best practices and ongoing assessment of your approach to securing your business. Once you’ve achieved your ISO 27001 certification, you need to renew it every three years.
The big question: why do I need ISO 27001 certification?
We’re all aware of the constant evolving threat landscape, the sophistication of cyber criminals and the impact a cyber-attack could have on your business in terms of productivity, customer (and market) trust, and crucially the bottom line.
By becoming ISO 27001 certified, you’ll have a risk-based approach to cyber security that will help you allocate budget and resource according to your specific business, the assets you hold and the way that you operate.
One of the main benefits of ISO 27001 is that it demonstrates to your shareholders, customers and suppliers you have the right tools and practices in place to effectively manage and mitigate risk — whether that is around securing customer data or security of outsourced processes. The latter is especially important considering the supply chain is one of the weakest points for many organisations. CSO Online stated that in 2022 attacks on the supply chain were up 633% on 2021.
ISO 27001 certification also gives you a significant competitive advantage, elevating your business above others in your industry that do not have the same commitment to keeping suppliers, customers, and customer data safe. In a similar vein, certification plays a major role in helping you meet legislative or regulatory compliance, depending on the sectors and markets in which you operate.
In summary, having the right framework in place gives you the ability to be more resilient when it comes to cyber-attacks, mitigate the risk of new threats, keep your data safe, and ultimately save money.
What to consider: ISO 27001 cost for certification
As mentioned, achieving ISO 27001 certification isn’t something that can be done once and forgotten about. It requires an ongoing commitment from your entire organisation, and (at least initially) a significant investment of time and resources from your key staff who are most likely already stretched.
There is, of course, also a cost to consider. Not just in terms of what the certification costs but also any upgrades or changes you need to make to your organisation, processes, etc., in order to reach that compliance.
Factors that influence cost include:
- External certification costs: the cost of external certification depends on the number of geographical locations, industry regulation and complexity, and headcount of your organisation.
- External consultant fees: engagement with external security consultants to design and establish security processes and controls.
- ISMS automation tools: investment in tools to automate ISMS processes, audit evidence collection and storage.
- Leadership involvement: senior leadership must invest time in management processes to achieve and maintain certification.
- Security tools: you may need to implement new security tools to meet ISO 27001 requirements or address security risk mitigation strategies.
- Current security posture: the more your current security posture differs from industry best practices, the higher the cost of implementation will be.
The good news is that you don’t need to do it alone. RightCue offers a transparent, comprehensive approach that will help you and your senior leadership to seamlessly manage the process — always ensuring the process is aligned to your strategic business objectives. More than that, we streamline the process and make it relevant to your business, empowering you to reduce reliance in external consultants, minimising audit time and non-compliances.
Achieving ISO 27001: Requirements of ISO 27001 and how we do it
We work with you to adapt the fundamental ISO 27001 processes to match your business culture, to keep disruption to a minimum, promote accountability, and importantly promote employee engagement throughout your organisation.
Part of our approach, detailed below, is to schedule a mock certification audit that will not only ready your team for the real thing, but will also highlight areas of concern that can be addressed before certification.
Stage 1: Gap assessment
- We create a detailed plan looking at budget, resourcing and timeline, based on
- The maturity of your security processes
- Your business goals, organisational culture
Stage 2: Laying the foundations
- Our team creates information security policies specifically for your business based on your most valuable assets, data flows and systems (network, cloud, etc.)
Stage 3: Implementation
- We provide training and advice, and help with a selection of tools and technical controls
- Our unique approach allows you to identify and address key risks while also building key capabilities within your team such as security risk management, business continuity planning, cyber incident response, and management review
Stage 4: Mock certification audit
- This is carried out by one of our consultants independent of the implementation team
- You and your team gets a better understanding of the process and becomes familiar with what is required
Stage 5: Certification assistance
- We manage the process with the certification body and help you address any issues raised during and after the audit
ISO 27001 expertise: Why us?
Not only do we have an in-depth understanding of the certification and regulations, we also have a wealth of business and technology expertise. We keep on top of trends and changes in the market, including preparing the latest versions of ISO 27001 family of standards as they are released. Our team of skilled professionals has experience across key sectors, with expertise in:
- Supply chain risk assessments
- Security audits for all types of systems
- Knowledge of industry best practices such as CIS, NIST, as well as ISO 27001
- Penetration testing
- Vulnerability assessments
- Data Privacy and GDPR
- Knowledge of market leading security tools and solutions
- Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus
- Cloud security assessments
You can see this expertise in action – hear from some of our customers who we’ve helped, like Zylpha, a legal software firm, and PRD Technologies, providers of an award-winning billing solution.
Client testimonial
“We chose to work with RightCue based on their extensive experience with ISO 27001 certification and CSA Star. That knowledge proved invaluable throughout the process. They even ran a mock assessment which was harsher than the real thing!
“Their support in ensuring we had everything in place and preparing us so robustly helped us to achieve the accreditation. But even more importantly, helped us to reflect and ensure our processes were robust and appropriate through a period of quick growth.”
Imran Musawi, Cyber Security Engineer, Solidatus
Should I do it? Contact us for an ISO 27001 consultation
In today’s business environment having any competitive advantage is important, as is keeping the trust of your customers and growing your bottom line. ISO 27001 certification is one of those tools that help you achieve that – and more, safeguarding your data, your customers and reputation. Compliance needn’t be insurmountable or complex; with the right help, you can enjoy the ongoing benefits.
Get in touch with us today for first-rate ISO 27001 consultancy services, and find out more about the benefits your business could enjoy and how we can help.
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Get in touch with us
If you would like help with achieving your ISO 27001 accreditation, contact us to find out more about RightCue’s ISO 27001 consultancy services.
Not quite ready to get certified with ISO 27001? Take a look at our Cyber Essentials Plus services for SMEs instead.
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