Establishing trust and credibility for your brand is essential if you want to run a successful business. Luckily, there are plenty of ways you can build that trust, from marketing strategies and customer surveys to client testimonials.
However, it also takes work to safeguard that trust. Making sure the brand you’ve built is thriving also means investing time and resources into protecting your business. One of the ways you can do that is by becoming ISO 27001 compliant.
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ISO 27001
Most international institutions consider ISO 27001 to be the gold standard for information security management. ISO 27001 main focus is establishing guidelines and practices for organizations to create, implement, maintain, review, and continually develop their information security management system (ISMS).
Organizations that comply with the ISO 27001 standards can safeguard their information assets, from intellectual property and financial data to employee information and customer records.
Who Needs to Follow the ISO 27001 Guidelines?
The short answer is that every business. Whether you’re a big organization or a small business, you’ll need to make information security a top priority. Following these standards will help safeguard your company information and minimize risks of cyber threats and data breaches.
The Link Between ISO 27001 and Marketing
Investing in ensuring you have top-tier information security management measures also means investing in your marketing efforts.
Here are some reasons why being ISO 27001-compliant can help fortify your marketing strategy.
Build Trust
Imagine marketing your company as a secure partner to do business with. Now, imagine making that claim with audit results and ISO certification to back it up. It’s an excellent way to establish credibility and trust for your brand, right?
Additionally, your certification can give you a competitive edge. You can market your business as one that can promise a high level of information security management that your competitors don’t have. This means putting yourself in a better position to win over new customers.
Meet Customer Expectations
Today’s digital age has given birth to different types of consumers, ranging from tech-savvy ones to those who are reluctant to share their personal details. No matter their comfort level, they all expect the businesses they deal with to protect the information they share.
Having a certification demonstrates that you prioritize the security of their data by handling it according to the highest standards of data protection.
Business Continuity
Poor information security management systems can cause breakdowns in business operations. These data breaches and security incidents can prove costly, both in terms of rebuilding systems and recovering from reputational damage.
But having a system that is ISO 27001-compliant can be quick to bounce back when that happens, minimizing the damage and assuring clients and partners that you can efficiently handle disruptions and threats.
How to Get ISO 27001 Certification
An ISO 27001 certification signals that your business takes data security seriously. You’ve invested time and resources in enhancing your information security management systems and meeting the highest standards.
It also signals to your customers that your business has the right measures in place to protect their data from growing and evolving threats.
That said, getting ISO 27001 certification is definitely not a quick process. But below is a simple checklist of what you must do to ensure you’re on course to getting certified:
Have a Checklist of the Requirements
Before jumping into the process of getting certified, it’s important to do your research first. Find out what exactly is needed to pass the ISO 27001 certification.
Assess Your Current ISMS
Once you have your checklist, it’s time to self-audit. This will help you or your project lead determine how much time you will need to allot and the resources required for you to pass the actual audit.
Work on Your Checklist
After determining how near or far you are from ticking off all the boxes, it’s time to get to work. In this phase of your certification project, you will start implementing all the necessary changes or upgrades to your ISMS. After doing this, you or the project owner will initiate another assessment or readiness check.
Find a Third-Party Certification Body
The ISO itself doesn’t hand out certifications, so you will need to find a certification provider. Make sure to find a fully-accredited third-party organization to avoid any complications or conflicts of interest.
Internal and Full Audits
Internal and full audits are both required to get certified. First, your organization must perform and submit the results of an internal audit of your security systems. After that, the certification body will conduct a full audit, reviewing your systems in-depth and evaluating whether you are up to the ISO 27001 standards.
Certification
Assuming that you’ve passed the full audit, you will officially be certified by the third-party auditor.
Maintaining Your Certification
The security systems will be audited annually to ensure you can retain your certification. This is to confirm that your systems are up-to-date and maintain the level of security required to continue to be certified.
Conclusion
Abiding by the highest standards of information security can be challenging, but it is also practical. Plenty of entities wish to take advantage of others’ information and hard-earned resources, and just like the digital world, their methods are evolving as well. Building a business that can protect itself and its customers from such growing and evolving threats is crucial.
Additionally, effective data security measures also help protect the brand’s image or reputation. With top-tier information security, you can market yourself as a secure and credible brand and actually have the systems and certifications to prove it.
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