Benefits of ISO 27001 Certification

While some organizations are required to comply with ISO 27001 standards and must implement them, other organizations make the choice internally to implement ISO 27001 standards. These organizations sometimes struggle with weighing the benefits against the perceived burdens of investing in the certification. Though certification does take effort, implementing ISO 27001 standards should not be viewed as a burden; rather as opportunity for improvement and continuous strive towards operational excellence, as well as a business decision that results in a positive return on investment.

The Board of directors needs to consider multiple factors in regards to their organization. As technology evolves, so does the increased need for information security. Applying funding towards security investments and issues supports the business objective of maintaining appropriate security controls, these efforts should correspond with levels of risk and data sensitivity. These factors should be addressed when considering ISO/IEC 27001 certification.

The benefits of implementing ISO 27001 standards are abundant, below we have highlighted a few of our favorites.

ISO 27001 Competitive Advantage

As technology is developed and improves, information security becomes more and more vital. This has led to market saturation for organizations whose business is in information security. By obtaining certification in ISO 27001, organizations have the opportunity to prove credibility and show customers that the organization is working according to recognized best practices. This credibility is often a deciding factor, giving the certified organization a competitive advantage (an extremely valuable intangible asset).

In today’s market, more and more organizations are obtaining ISO 27001 certification, resulting in a paradigm shift in the requirements for organizations whose business is information security. Customers are beginning to make ISO 27001 a requirement of suppliers, thus guaranteeing suppliers are following best practices. Stiki witnessed this same paradigm shift when customers began requiring suppliers to be ISO 9001 certified. In today’s market, a supplier is not considered legitimate without the ISO 9001 certification in quality standards.

With ISO 27001, Best Practices are in Place

ISO 27001 certification offers guidelines or best practices in regards to information security. Working in accordance to these best practices has been shown to:

• Drastically lower the amount of incidents within a company
• Processes are defined and easily repeated
• Distribution of responsibility will be clearly defined
• Implementing ISO 27001 and keeping it up to date gives you an overview of the overall status of the ISMS
• Provides motivation towards continuous improvement

ISO 27001 a Common Language for a Global Market

As an international standard, ISO 27001 provides organizations that work in the global market the opportunity to provide credibility that its operations are to the same standards as its partners. This means ISO 27001 implemented organizations across the globe can work together in a common language, lowering cross-cultural barriers and increasing trust.

ISO 27001 Certification and RM Studio

We regularly communicate with our customers to understand how they have benefited from the use of our risk management software, RM Studio. In our recent customer satisfaction survey and in conversations with customers, the following was highlighted as key benefits of ISO 27001 certification using RM Studio:

• Improved company image and reputation
• Increase in sales and customer acquisition
• Improved business management planning
• An increase in efficient operating procedures
• More transparency in business operations
• Increased job satisfaction among employees
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Lower insurance premiums

So why get ISO 27001 Certified?

We understand that implementing ISO 27001 takes a lot of hard work and money, as we continuously renew our own ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification. However, once an organization becomes ISO 27001 certified, the benefits quickly outweigh initial challenges. In the end the ISO 27001 certification process has a positive return on investment and a better tomorrow.