4 steps to save time and money
Do you feel like your company is always swamped with audits? From one review to the next, product checks, and SOC reports, it seems like a never-ending resource-intensive task. On top of that, your compliance team spends a lot of time and effort addressing findings from these audits. The indirect costs of these audits are enormous!
First, optimize the length and complexity of each audit:
The duration of an audit depends on your company's size, the number and complexity of sites, their scope, the count of employees - both remote and on-site, and even contractors. The maturity of the management system also plays a role: each audit outcome can influence the duration of the subsequent audit. Consider the level of risks associated with the business processes.
Second, consider the integration of 2-3 or more ISOs into one.
This involves having a single system in your company that meets the requirements of multiple ISOs, but it’s also the business management system that your company would use even without the need for ISO certification. The IMS (integrated management system) can reduce your audits to just once a year, down from five or six.
Third, incorporate other compliance frameworks, audits, and reports.
Some audits, like SOC 2, can't be fully integrated, but they can be conducted concurrently with other audits, such as the ISO 27001 and SOC2 audit. This leads to fewer disruptions in your company's business processes and reduces the overall cost of mandatory compliance audits.
Fourth, save time and money
To significantly cut down the time spent on addressing findings, consider scheduling a gap audit or a second-party audit before the third-party one.
Case study from my experience: the company with 180 sites, eight ISO certifications, and three additional security framework audits. They save $2.5 million annually in direct and indirect expenses after combining audits.
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