Why you need a consultant to pass ISO 27001

Surely any reader of this blog will know how important safeguarding sensitive information is – not matter what your size of business. Equally, more and more organisations are focusing on the security of their supply chain by way of demanding higher levels of information security and the evidence to prove it. Enter ISO 27001—the gold standard for information security management. Yet, achieving compliance and effectively implementing this rigorous framework in a way that both increases information security and works for your business is no easy feat. Here's where the role of a seasoned consultant becomes indispensable.

Each organisation operates within a distinct ecosystem, possessing its own set of challenges, risk appetite, security needs and business objectives. A consultant adept in ISO 27001 can conduct a thorough analysis of your business’ operations, customising the implementation process to address specific vulnerabilities and align with your goals. Understanding risk is a key part of this and we find this area is one of the biggest barriers when companies try to implement the standard who have never done it before. Building a risk framework that is adapted to the business and takes into consideration the risk appetite of the organisation is key to building the ISMS around it. If your organisation doesn’t understand its own risk appetite the implementation will be inconsistent and potentially expensive as you may have implemented controls you don’t need and missed those you do! An auditor will spot this very quickly.

One of the biggest problems I’ve seen when companies attempt to tackle ISO 27001 without proper guidance is prolonged implementation timelines and inefficiencies. Often, the project is kicked off with a great deal of enthusiasm and fanfare only to be found withering in the corner some 3 months later when the internal lead has been distracted by an urgent project that has effectively taken all resource away from the project. Alternatively, the internal lead is in a constant battle to get the support of internal resource who are too busy “doing the do”. Consultants, with their wealth of experience, streamline the process, providing a structured roadmap that expedites implementation while ensuring comprehensive coverage as well as adding that extra resource that many companies don’t have to hand to ensure momentum is maintained. Our ISO Consultants have solved all the problems before, so why waste time re-inventing the wheel and figuring it out all over again? This applies equally to meeting ISO certification for the first time, re-certifying, or even moving to the new ISO 27001:2022 edition of the standard.

The true litmus test of ISO 27001 lies in achieving and maintaining compliance. A consultant's expertise significantly enhances an organisation’s ability to actually pass certification audits, ensuring that the implemented ISMS aligns seamlessly with the stringent requirements outlined by ISO standards. All our consultants are also trained to conduct ISO 27001 internal audits and have extensive experience of the audit process having been involved in supporting many of our customers during the certification audits with the certification body. They know what an auditor will look for in terms of evidence so can prepare you beforehand to make sure that evidence is available, they know how to respond to an auditor – and what not to tell them!