ISO 27001 certification cost in 2023
- jai sisodia
- Oct 22, 2023
- 4 min read
Table of Contents
We can reduce your ISO 27001 certification cost by atleast 60%.
Let’s discuss a bit about the ISO 27001 certification.
The total costs associated with receiving ISO 27001 certification can vary hugely from a few thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars depending on various factors.
In this blog, I think it would be a good idea to share with you a real-world example of one of our clients who had a discussion with various other players before reaching out to us.
But before that let us first try and understand the factors which affect the total cost of achieving ISO 27001 certification:
7 Factors Affecting the Cost of ISO 27001 Certification
1. Training and Awareness
Training employees and creating awareness about ISO 27001 requirements is crucial. Costs may include training programs, workshops, and materials to educate staff about information security practices.
2. Risk Assessment and Gap Analysis
Conducting a thorough risk assessment and gap analysis to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your current security practices is a fundamental step.
The cost will depend on the complexity of your organization's operations and the level of detail required.
3. Documentation and Policies
Developing, documenting, and implementing the necessary policies, procedures, and controls to align with ISO 27001 requirements can be time-consuming and costly.
4. Technology and Infrastructure
Investing in technology and infrastructure upgrades, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, encryption tools, and secure software development practices, may be necessary to meet ISO 27001 requirements.
5. Auditing and Certification Fees
ISO 27001 certification involves third-party audits, and there are fees associated with the certification process itself. The cost of certification can vary depending on the certification body chosen.
6. Ongoing Maintenance
After obtaining certification, there are ongoing costs related to maintaining compliance with ISO 27001, including periodic audits, staff training, and continuous improvement efforts.
7. Miscellaneous Costs
There may be unforeseen or miscellaneous costs associated with the certification process, such as legal and compliance expenses or the cost of incident response and recovery in case of security breaches.
Real World Scenario
Background
Our client is a small-sized digital Healthcare company with around 5 employees and based out of USA.
Their main product is a SaaS based digital Remote Patient Monitoring system to be used by Healthcare providers. They did not have a CISO position and were not aware of the requirements of ISO 27001.
They received proposals from 3 other players. Lets see the comparison chart:
The costs can look overwhelming for many small companies who anyways have to deal with several budgetary constraints.
Fact: By the way, we reduced their ISO 27001 Implementation Consultancy fees to less than $500 😀 and also got them a discount on the certification process.
Now, let's explore how you can reduce this cost:
Top 5 Tips to reduce the ISO Certification cost
As you might have already noticed, majority of the factors affecting ISO 27001 certification cost are directly/indirectly related to external consultants.
Therefore, reducing external consultant fees for ISO 27001 implementation can help your company save money while still achieving certification. Here are the top five tips to help you manage these costs effectively:
Below are the details:
1. Have a clear plan and understanding of your requirements. Before you engage with any external consultants, take the time to develop a clear plan for your ISO 27001 implementation.
This should include a timeline, budget, and a list of your specific requirements. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to get accurate quotes from consultants and to track your progress.
2. Get multiple quotes from different consultants. Once you have a clear plan, start getting quotes from different consultants. Be sure to ask about their experience with ISO 27001 implementations, their fees, and their availability.
It's also important to ask about their approach to the implementation process.
3. Negotiate the terms of your engagement. Once you've chosen a consultant, be sure to negotiate the terms of your engagement in writing. This should include the scope of work, the timeline, the budget, and the payment terms.
It's important to get everything in writing so that there are no surprises down the road.
4. Do some of the work yourself. There are some aspects of the ISO 27001 implementation process that you can do yourself, such as gathering documentation and conducting risk assessments.
This can help to reduce your overall costs.
5. Manage the project effectively. Once you've engaged with a consultant, it's important to manage the project effectively. This includes setting clear expectations, tracking progress, and communicating regularly with the consultant. By managing the project effectively, you can help to ensure that it stays on track and on budget.
Here are some additional tips that may help you to reduce your external consultants fees for ISO 27001 implementation:
Consider hiring a part-time consultant: If you don't need a full-time consultant, you may be able to save money by hiring a part-time consultant.
Exploring Remote Consultants: Not all companies and startups needs an on-field consultant. In-fact, majority of the companies can save significant costs by hiring remote consultants based out of cheaper geographic locations.
Look for consultants who offer fixed-fee engagements. Fixed-fee engagements can help to protect your budget and prevent any unexpected costs.
Ask about discounts for multiple services. If you need help with other ISO standards, such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, you may be able to get a discount on consulting fees if you hire the same consultant to help you with multiple standards.
Use online resources and tools. There are a number of online resources and tools that can help you to implement ISO 27001 on your own. This can help to reduce your need for external consultants.
Please share any other tips that you might have found useful.
How can Omya Labs help?
Our ‘Do-It-Yourself’ methodology can significantly reduce your costs. As covered in this blog, our products and services provide you with all the support that you need in your journey to achieve ISO 27001 certification while reducing your costs by more than 60% than the traditional approaches.
Read more about our DIY methodology in the blog here.
Conclusion
The ISO 27001 certification costs can be overwhelming for a lot of companies and startups, but with the right action plan and know-how, you have the power to significantly reduce this.
Do you think this methodology would be relevant for your startup?
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