Hello there.

I trust you have had an amazing week so far. I am excited but I can’t exactly say why. Could it be because Christmas is exactly one month away? LOL. I feel the Christmas season, or the month of December brings with it a special wind of joy and warmth that just stirs our hearts with inexplicable excitement. It hardly matters that it happens in the dry season with the harmattan winds prevailing at the time. This season also comes the excitement of shopping and trust me; if you don’t express some form of intentionality on self-control, you might just see your bank account going really red. In the spirit of the season, let’s talk about standards. We might throw caution to the wind going by the excitement that we will be swaying to this season and not pay close attention to the standards of products that we purchase or services that we patronize.

Last week, we gave you an overview of the ISO Standardization. Today, we will be narrowing it down to two specific standards that we should consider in the products we purchase or services we patronize especially. These two standards we are considering today affect most services we have been and will be engaging in this holiday period. Follow me as we explore the scope and benefits of ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015.

ISO 27001:2013 – INFORMATION SECURITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This is the international recognized specification for Information Security Management System, also referred to as ISMS. This standard is in high demand and required by IT and e-commerce organizations and this is almost the new normal today. This standard enumerates and depicts an organization’s approach to information security. It includes how an organization identifies risks and opportunities that relates to its valuable information and associated assets and sees how it overcomes them.

This information could range from non-sensitive personal data such as name, phone number, email addresses to sensitive personal data such as religion, ethnic group, blood group of your clients, customers, investors and even employees. A breach in this information could cost your organization its reputation, would detract future clients from doing business with you which in turn could lead to loss of revenue.

As an individual overwhelmed with the excitement of shopping which could also be happening online, especially with the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, are you sure your data is secure on the platform you are patronizing? As a business owner, are your systems secured? How secure is the data of everyone in your system? Be wary of e-commerce platforms you will be patronizing this season.

ISO 9001:2015 – QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This specifies requirements for quality management system, also called QMS. This applies to organizations that seeks to provide consistent quality service and products that are according to statutory regulations and meet customers needs. It also aims to enhance customer satisfaction by continuous improvement of system and products and conformity of customers to the statutory regulatory requirements. This standard unlike the ISO 27001:2013, applies to every organization especially those that who are passionate about continually meeting clients and customers needs without any compromise. So, this ranges from e-commerce platforms, recruitment, food manufacturing, medical services and so on. Please check out that platform you want to order your Christmas chicken from if it has this standardization in place, so you are assured of the quality of what you are consuming.

Standards are what we passively say describe who we are but how cautious are you with standards when they really matter? Don’t just be an individual or organization who only has standards by word of mouth but be one who goes ahead to do the needful and have the appropriate standards that apply to the product or services you offer or patronize instituted within your organization. This will not only save you from losing clients but also secure you international deals and more local deals. 21Search is an organization with these standards in place and can assist you in getting your business appropriately standardized without you feeling any pressure.

Please visit 21search.ng to access more information on how we can help you through this. We recently concluded a webinar on Standardization. You can send us an email requesting for the recording. Here is wishing you a most amazing December ahead. Until I come your way again, stay safe and excited; work smart and not just hard.

 With love,

Lizzy.

Comment (1)

  1. Sebastian Mbahon
    November 26, 2020

    Very informative, sure it enlightens us to reality of information insecurity and the mitigation in place to curtail a potential danger. Thank for this.

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