ISO 27001 Academy FAQs with Roz and Darren

We spoke to Roz Woodward, Securious Cofounder and Finance Director, and Darren Grey, Securious Operations Director, about our pioneering ISO 27001 Academy. They answered some FAQs around the Academy to help explain how our approach to ISO 27001 can help organisations achieve the world-recognised standard for information security more quickly, easily and cost-effectively than ever before…

What is the Securious ISO 27001 Academy?

The Securious Academy for ISO 27001 breaks ISO 27001 down into six digestible steps – easy, bite-sized chunks that build on each other. And I think that’s where it takes the pain away. Between Securious and that company, we can concentrate purely on one step at a time before moving on, and they all build on each other until the end of that ISO Academy, at which point they are what we call stage one ready, which is moving towards the certification audit with an external body. 

Why did you create the Securious ISO 27001 Academy?

It came out of the fact that we wanted to help small organisations to punch above their weight. Because if you’ve got a great business and you want to work with larger organisations, having these things in place can make the difference between them taking you seriously or not.

What are the main benefits of the Securious ISO 27001 Academy?

I think there comes a point within the journey of ISO Academy where the light really does switch on. It’s quite a mountain and a big dark tunnel at the start of that journey. And people don’t understand how they’re going to implement it. They just see a big pile of paperwork – and yes, paperwork is part of it… But usually, once they understand their assets and what they actually have to do to protect them, and that it’s their system that they’re implementing, it’s their decisions, their justification, then the lights start switching on. It becomes a tool for improvement for them, rather than just a certification on the wall.

I think for us, a successful implementation happens when organisations really do want it and they understand it all. And when they come to do their stage one audit, they completely understand that it’s a tool, and they know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. 

I think ISO 27001 can be implemented much quicker using the academy due to the one-to-one relationship and the knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing we found is really key to implementing a good ISMS. And ISO 27001 certification isn’t just a point in time, so the team really does have to own it within the company, and run it. And that’s where we found that the Academy has really benefited

What’s the difference between the group and bespoke academies?

The group Academy was really aimed at small organisations with less than 10, or people that are quite early stage and maybe haven’t got a big team in place, but know that this is going to be something that they’ll need to do down the line. So they want to get it implemented early. 

And then the bespoke is for those companies that are larger, or they have very specific timelines, they want to achieve it by, and they need perhaps a little bit more interaction with us to get it over the line. 

Why choose the bespoke option of the ISO 27001 Academy? 

I think it’s the one-to-one training, the project management side of it, the reviews specifically for your environment and the ISMS that you’re implementing, and also the timelines – it’s ideal if you need to meet a tight deadline for certification. 

And there’s bit more flexibility with the bespoke Academy as well because you might not be able to do it every two weeks to coincide with everyone else’s availability, so at least then we can flex it around your schedules and their timelines. 

How much does the ISO 27001 Academy cost? 

So the bespoke Academy is £2,895 and that includes all of the template documentation that you need. And the group Academy is £995 per company.

What if I’m interested? 

If you’re interested in the ISO Academy, please get in touch with us using the contact form below, and we’ll take you through a quick scope appreciation call and find out your requirements to make sure that we fit our delivery to your needs.