ISO 27001: Information Security Management Systems
ISO/IEC 27001:2013 is the internationally recognised standard for Information Security Management Systems. In summary, it is a certification that is obtained by organisations, both small, medium, and large in a variety of different sectors. ISO 27001 certification serves the purpose to ensure the safeguarding of information assets. The standard provides reassurance to stakeholders and other interested parties that your organisation is compliant with legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements and takes information security seriously.
How ISO 27001 Benefits SMEs
Your small or medium-sized enterprise matters. According to the Federation of Small Business at the beginning of 2020, SMEs make up three-fifths of the workforce and around half of the turnover in the UK private sector.
Resilience and differentiation are crucial for SMEs when competing with larger organisations for contracts, particularly in the public sector. Being small and agile is important, but if you’re competing for tenders or trying to attract new business, you may find you need something additional which helps your organisation to stand out, such as ISO 27001 certification.
Another way in which ISO 27001 benefits SMEs is through security. As a small or medium-sized business, you know that information security is crucial, and that the implications of a data breach or cyber-attack can be detrimental. In today’s information-intensive climate, the costs of non-compliance can be substantial when you consider fines, downtime, lawsuits, loss of intellectual property, and harm to your reputation. Despite the influx of cyberattacks on businesses of all different sizes every single day, SME IT Directors don’t always see why ISO 27001 will be relevant to them. The fact is that hackers and ransomware attacks are evolving, and it’s imperative that your business evolves too to ensure it is mitigating security risks where possible.
So, ISO 27001 will benefit your SME as it will provide a framework with a means of managing the threats to your business in order to protect processes, infrastructure, data, and credibility.
Your ISO Standard Will Grow with the Business
A frequently asked question is, ‘As my business grows and adapts, will I need to go through the process of becoming certified all over again?’, and simply put, no you won’t. The beauty of ISO certification is that when your business grows, your ISO standard will grow with it.
When businesses grow rapidly, it is easy for there to be confusion around who is responsible for which information assets. ISO 27001 helps businesses become more productive by clearly setting out information risk responsibilities. Ensuring the delegation of roles and communicating these is integral, as this is how employees within the company will know what is expected of them.
Because ISO 27001 is widely respected across the globe, the certification often negates the need for frequent audits and reduces the number of external customer audit days. This saves your organisation time and enables employees to be more productive.
Advantages of ISO 27001
The main benefits of implementing ISO 27001 are:
- Protection against security threats
- Avoid fines as a result of legal compliance
- Improved trust with stakeholders
- Provide your organisation with a competitive edge
- Reduced downtime should a cyberattack occur.
- Prevent data breaches
- International recognition of the ISO 27001 standard
Start Your Journey to Becoming ISO 27001 Certified
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