Achieving ISO 27001 Certification acts as a business differentiator, affirming to suppliers, stakeholders and clients that your business takes information security management seriously.
ISO 27001 Certification is a business differentiator and demonstrates to other business they can trust your organization to manage valuable third party information assets/data and intellectual property; this fosters a wealth of new opportunities whilst protecting your business from exposure to risk.
As a result of ISO 27001 Certification, your organization can demonstrate that its people, processes, tools, and systems adhere to a recognized framework. Imagine a world of financial reporting or health and safety without standards. Information security is a bit behind those areas from certification and independent audit perspectives. Still, with the pace of change accelerating for almost everything, more innovative organizations are getting ahead internally, particularly with their supply chain. So you can look at ISO 27001 certification through two lenses;
As a customer, you need confidence that your suppliers are certified to help mitigate your business risks and exploit opportunities, e.g. from more consistent, higher standards and lower total cost and risk of work you encounter from them.
Your customers are getting smarter; they like you need to know that the supply chain is protected adequately. Influential customers are simply mandating ISO 27001 certification and transferring the risk management process down the supply chain. There are other spinoff benefits, too, let alone all the extra business you’ll win from being certified to ISO 27001 versus laggards who are not. For example, well-informed staff will want to work for trusted brands. As insurers catch up with better working practices, it should also mean lower premiums for organizations with independently certified ISO 27001 Information Management System.
What are the benefits of ISO 27001 certification
For all stakeholders, the key message is trust and assurance gained from externally audited information security management. ISO 27001 Certification offers multiple benefits – for example:
Benefits to you
Protect IP, brand & reputation
Win more business from new & existing customers
Reduce the cost of sale
Retain more business
Improved processes leading to cost & time savings
Avoid fines from regulatory non-compliance (such as GDPR)
Avoid civil suits resulting from a data breach
Avoid costs of remedial action resulting from incidents and/or breaches
Attract better staff
Benefits to your staff
Trust in the organizations sustainability
Training for work (and home security)
Clarity through policies & procedures
Pride in the organization and their role in protecting it
Benefits to your customers
Trust and assurance in you and your supply chain
Less likelihood of a costly breach
Reduced cost of supplier on-boarding
ISO 27001 Certification: Is it worth it
Doing nothing is probably not an option if you access and manage valuable information assets owned by others. For some organizations, their whole business is built on developing or managing information assets.
So, in that case, losing some or all of that business or not winning more in future probably means it’s worth investing in becoming certified to ISO 27001, especially if customers or other stakeholders like investors perceive a risk.
Achieving ISO 27001 certification is not as complicated or expensive as it used to be because of innovative solutions like Secunets Audits. And, despite many of the strategic and financial benefits, some leaders still consider it a ‘grudge’ purchase and another bureaucratic tick box exercise. To achieve certification typically means a time and cost investment; like most strategic investments, it is worth considering the return and broader benefits.
