What are the benefits of ISO 27701?

All organisations that process the personal data of their employees, suppliers, customers and prospects have to comply with data protection legislation such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the United Kingdom version (UK GDPR) incorporated into UK law as the Data Protection Act 2018.

Processing personal data has many legal requirements, most of which can be open to interpretation or perhaps suffer from a certain amount of ambiguity. Therefore, the legal requirements can be difficult and complex to understand leading to implementation challenges. There isn’t a simple checklist for implementing GDPR, it differs from organisation to organisation. Demonstrating legal compliance can be achieved but often results in areas that are missed entirely or not implemented to the correct levels as required by the legislation.

Why is this a problem?

Under the EU and UK GDPR, organisations (e.g. the Data Controllers) are obligated to assess the data protection status of their third-party providers (e.g. the Data Processors). This due-diligence requires them to document the risk status of third-parties and where necessary, mitigate any risks associated with the processing undertaken by the third-party. Of course, if there was a certifiable version of the GDPR then this would be much more straightforward, however this isn’t the case. Therefore, organisations are left with a rather subjective assessment which takes more time and often isn’t reflective of the third-parties actual status.

This lack of an objective standard for data protection is an issue and does not help when bidding for new business and having to respond to detailed procurement questionnaires.

What’s changed?

The development of a new objective and certifiable standard for data protection is now a game-changer, it will allow organisations to easily assess their prospective suppliers and their adherence to best practice. ISO27701 provides certified organisations with that badge of compliance that has been missing from the data protection space.

What is ISO 27701?

ISO/IEC 27701 is an international standard that provides guidelines for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and improving a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). It is an extension of ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management System – ISMS) and ISO/IEC 27002 (Security Controls), specifically focusing on privacy management. ISO 27001 certification provides several benefits for businesses, including:

Privacy-focused extension of ISO 27001: Helps organisations manage Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Applies to both controllers and processors: Covers responsibilities for both data controllers (organisations deciding how data is used) and data processors (organizations handling data on behalf of others).

Supports compliance with privacy laws: Aligns with regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), and others.

Risk-based approach: Helps identify and mitigate risks related to privacy breaches.

Integrates with existing ISMS: Organisations already certified with ISO 27001 can extend their system to include privacy management.

Who should implement ISO 27701?

Companies handling personal data, such as tech firms, healthcare providers, financial institutions, and cloud service providers.

Organisations looking to demonstrate compliance with privacy regulations.

Businesses aiming to improve trust and transparency in data protection.

What are the benefits to certified organisations?

There are many potential benefits with ISO 27701.

The overhead of data protection questionnaires will be reduced due to the fact that the recipients are already audited as compliant with data protection requirements.

Certified organisations will have a competitive advantage in procurement of their services based upon having this standard in place.

The standard can be achieved alongside a new implementation of ISO 27001 or added on to an existing certification which reduces its overall cost.
For many organisations this will not be too onerous to implement, it should just be a controlled addition to the existing privacy management framework that is already in place for GDPR.

Note – ultimately the most important benefit to certified organisations is a commercial one. They are better placed to adhere to due-diligence requirements and can set themselves apart from their competitors. Also, it is important to note the added benefit to organisations that are looking to be acquired in the near future. ISO 27701 will ensure that the necessary due-diligence requirements for a business purchase can be easily met rather than the convoluted assessment that would otherwise be required.