It is important to invest internal resource time into the ISMS otherwise it will not be fit for the purpose to meet your stakeholder’s needs.
However, there is no need to develop the technology solution, unless it is considered a core competence of the firm and resources are on the bench waiting to be utilised.
Some hi-tech technology ISMS solutions cost millions of pounds to build and years to get fit for purpose.
Even lower tech solutions developed with SharePoint or Google folders and files could take weeks or months to bring alive:
All that time may be invested whilst:
If you run your sales, accounting and other key business systems using excel sheets and word docs, relying on emails and folders for sharing, then you’ll probably want to do the same here.
If you are however serious about information security and privacy, you’ll want to show that too with a professional platform in the same way that Salesforce.com. Xero etc deliver for their target audience. Sheets, docs, emails have a role in the ISMS like they do in sales and accounting solutions, but they are not the only thing you need for success.
If your organisation looks at Xero, SAP, Pipedrive, Salesforce.com, MailChimp, Microsoft Office etc and still builds its own hi-tech internal solutions for those areas then you may want to also build your own ISMS too.
If you are considering low-tech or hitech build of the ISMS yourself, ask yourself what the organisation’s business is and whether that is part of your core business. Is the hourly rate of the resource involved likely to be better focused on the day job?
Even if the organisation develops software for a living, is the time better invested in your core products and services where that may achieve a better return?
Given affordable ISMS solutions exist in the market already, off the shelf, to meet the 10 characteristics, there are only a few reasons why you would want to build one yourself:
• Significant complexity or sensitivity in your organisation information or practices
• Technologies already in place that can be suitably ‘bent’ to reflect stakeholder goals
• Funding constraints (although even these can be overcome with payment on use and affordability models from some ISMS professional solution vendors)
• A desire to enter the ISMS products and services market yourself
An ISMS delivers a positive return on investment. The goal of our whitepaper is to show you why, what, and how you can get RoI from an ISMS that fits the business needs.
A tailored hands-on session based on your needs and goals