Becoming ISO 27001 certified – what does it mean?

ISO 27001 certification is an accolade that businesses will want to shout about, as do we. Ardent is an ISO 27001 company and has been certified since 2012. This is a certification that has to be renewed yearly, ensuring that you are consistently and continuously meeting the requirements set and following industry best practices. According to ISO Survey 2020, 3,327 companies in the UK have the certification including Ardent.

In this article, we look at what an ISO 27001 certification is, the requirements what it means for us and what it means for our clients.

What is ISO 27001 certification?

Data security is one of the biggest concerns for businesses globally, IT Governance found that there were over 1,243 security incidents in 2021 with over 5 billion record breaches. With steep fines for negligence and regulations such as GDPR in place, companies can simply not afford to be careless when it comes to data security. This is where ISO 27001 comes in.

ISO 27001 is the globally recognised standard focusing on information security enabling businesses of all sizes to protect their information with an adoption of an Information Security Management system.

There are three main objectives of ISO 27001 and they are as follows:

Confidentiality: The data has to be confidential and only accessible to those authorised to it.

Integrity: Only the authorised parties can change the information.

Availability: The data must be accessible to those authorised to it.

What is the difference between ISO 27001 compliance and certification?

Compliance with ISO 27001 is when a company will follow the practices in line with those of ISO 27001. However, certification takes this to the next level. Being ISO 27001 certified means that an independent, recognised body has audited a company to ensure compliance and then issued the certification.  

What are the requirements of being ISO 27001 certified?

There are several requirements to achieve the certification and it’s an investment for companies as it requires dedication of time and resources. There are two key parts of the requirements, the first part consists of 11 (0 through to 10) and the second part, called Annex A provides information on 114 objectives and controls.

Find out more about the requirements.

What does being ISO 27001 certified mean for a company?

A company that is certified can demonstrate that it follows an internationally recognised framework, developed to protect information. It can help companies set themselves apart from competitors and provide peace of mind to their clients. The following are some of the benefits companies will gain from being ISO 27001 certified:

• Win more business, some clients only work with companies with certifications
• Build a positive brand and reputation
• Retain more business
• Avoid negligence and non-compliance with regulations such as GDPR

Julie Bottrill the Information Security Manager at Ardent commented: “There are a number of benefits and they include meeting customer requirements, more clients and increase in revenue, improved quality of services and better customer satisfaction”.

What does becoming ISO 27001 certified mean for our clients?

Our clients can have peace of mind with the knowledge they are working with an accredited partner. They can trust and be assured of our services as we work with best practices to mitigate the chances of a data breach.

Ardent is ISO 27001 Certified

For us, we take data security seriously, we want our clients to feel confident in knowing that we are following the ‘gold’ standard in best practices when it comes to data security. Therefore, we continuously invest in our ISO 27001 certification, so our clients can have peace of mind knowing their data is in safe hands.

If you are looking to work with a technology partner that follows the industry best practices when it comes to data security, get in touch to find out how we can help.

Read about our partnerships Certified AWS Partner and Microsoft Gold Partner

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