ISO certification helps businesses meet international standards for quality, safety, efficiency, and security. There are several types of ISO certifications, including ISO 9001, 14001, 27001, 45001, and 22000.
The right one for you depends on your industry and business objectives.
Depending on your field, you may need multiple ISO certifications to operate legally or remain competitive.
ISO certification is especially important for DoD contractors, manufacturers, service providers, healthcare organizations, IT companies, and food businesses looking to improve compliance, credibility, and operational efficiency.
Since each certification serves a unique purpose, the best ISO certification for your business depends on your specific needs. Keep reading to learn how to choose the right one.
ISO certification is an official seal of approval from an independent certification body, confirming that your company meets the requirements of a specific ISO standard.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops these internationally recognized standards, but it does not issue certifications itself.
Technically, ISO certification is voluntary since there are no legal mandates requiring it. However, many businesses pursue certification to show their commitment to quality, security, and continuous improvement.
In some industries, such as defense, clients like the Department of Defense (DoD) may refuse to work with companies that lack ISO certification.
Achieving certification can boost your credibility, give you a competitive edge, and open doors to new markets. The certification process involves several key steps, which we’ll cover shortly.
First, let’s take a closer look at the main types of ISO certifications and what they mean.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published over 25,000 standards for various industries, though not all of them offer certification.
However, businesses can obtain multiple ISO certifications depending on their needs. Below are nine of the most important ones to consider.
With data security more important than ever, ISO 27001 certification proves that you have a strong information security management system in place.
This certification helps you identify and mitigate security risks, protect confidential data, and comply with relevant laws and regulations. Achieving ISO 27001 can enhance your reputation and build trust with customers and partners.
ISO 9001 is one of the most widely recognized ISO standards, focusing on quality management and customer satisfaction.
Implementing this framework can help you streamline processes, reduce errors, and continuously improve products or services. ISO 9001 certification shows your commitment to delivering high-quality offerings that meet customer and regulatory expectations.
If sustainability is a priority for your business, ISO 14001 certification provides a framework for developing an effective environmental management system.
By achieving ISO 14001, you can reduce waste, improve resource efficiency, and demonstrate your commitment to environmental responsibility, an important factor for stakeholders and customers.
A safe and healthy workplace is essential for any business. ISO 45001 certification helps you establish an occupational health and safety management system that identifies risks, prevents accidents, and promotes employee well-being.
For food-related businesses, ISO 22000 certification ensures that food safety is maintained throughout the supply chain.
This standard covers every stage of food production, from raw material procurement to final product delivery.
ISO 50001 certification helps businesses optimize energy use, reduce carbon emissions, and lower operational costs.
With this certification, you can track energy consumption, implement cost-saving strategies, and comply with environmental regulations.
If you’re in the medical device industry, ISO 13485 certification ensures that your design, production, installation, and servicing processes meet strict regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
Unexpected disruptions like cyberattacks, supply chain failures, or natural disasters can put your business at risk. ISO 22301 certification helps you develop a business continuity plan so you can keep operations running during a crisis.
This certification focuses on risk assessment, emergency planning, and recovery strategies to minimize downtime and financial losses, especially important for businesses in finance, IT, and logistics.
Bribery and corruption can severely harm your company’s reputation and finances. ISO 37001 certification provides a framework to prevent, detect, and address bribery risks in your operations.
This certification is particularly valuable if you operate internationally or in highly regulated industries. Implementing ISO 37001 shows your commitment to ethical business practices and compliance with anti-corruption laws, helping you build trust with clients and stakeholders.
Implementing an ISO management system and achieving certification comes with significant advantages, no matter your industry or business size.
Many industries must follow strict legal and regulatory requirements, and ISO certification helps you stay compliant.
By getting certified, you can ensure that your business meets industry-specific regulations, reducing the risk of fines, legal disputes, or operational shutdowns.
This is especially important for highly regulated sectors like healthcare, food safety, IT security, and environmental management. If you’re a contractor working with the Department of Defense (DoD), ISO certification may also be a requirement.
ISO certification makes audits and regulatory inspections easier by providing documented proof that your business follows internationally recognized best practices.
ISO certification is a globally recognized mark of quality and reliability. Achieving certification increases your credibility and shows that you meet rigorous international standards.
This can help you unlock new market opportunities, as many customers and business partners prefer working with ISO-certified organizations. Certification can also give you a competitive edge when bidding for contracts or tenders.
ISO certification helps you streamline operations, reduce waste, and optimize resources. By following standardized procedures and best practices, you can eliminate inefficiencies, minimize errors, and improve workflow.
This leads to increased productivity, cost savings, and a more structured approach to business operations.
Meeting ISO standards shows that you’re committed to delivering high-quality products or services that consistently meet customer expectations. ISO certification helps you:
This focus on quality and reliability can lead to higher customer loyalty, repeat business, and positive word-of-mouth referrals.
ISO standards provide a structured approach to identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks across different areas of your business.
Whether you’re managing quality, environmental, or information security risks, ISO certification helps you establish a strong risk management framework.
By proactively addressing risks and implementing preventive measures, you can minimize the likelihood and impact of adverse events, helping you maintain business continuity and security.
One of the key principles of ISO certification is continuous improvement. It encourages you to regularly monitor, measure, and analyze your processes and performance.
By identifying areas for improvement and implementing corrective actions, you can enhance efficiency, adapt to market changes, and maintain a competitive edge.
This ongoing improvement cycle helps you stay agile, proactive, and well-positioned for long-term success.
Choosing the right ISO certification for your business is a strategic decision that requires careful thought.
Some certifications are mandatory for compliance in regulated industries, while others help you stand out by demonstrating best practices. To make the right choice, follow these steps:
Start by looking at the industry regulations and legal requirements that apply to your business. Certain sectors like defense, healthcare, food, aerospace, and finance have strict compliance mandates that require specific ISO certifications.
For example:
Think about your company’s strategic goals, operational challenges, and risk factors. The right ISO certification should align with your priorities.
Here are some common choices based on business needs:
Your customers’ needs should also factor into your decision. Certain industries, large corporations, and government agencies require vendors to have specific ISO certifications.
Find out if your target market values a particular certification or if having one would give you a competitive edge. Engaging with customers and gathering feedback can help you align your certification efforts with their expectations.
Review your existing management systems and processes. Identify any gaps that need to be addressed to meet ISO standards.
Ask yourself:
Understanding these factors will help you determine the feasibility and impact of pursuing a specific certification.
If you're unsure where to start, working with an experienced ISO certification consultant can simplify the process, especially for small businesses that might feel overwhelmed.
Companies like BEMO offer automated compliance solutions, particularly for ISO 27001 and CMMC, helping businesses streamline the certification process.
ISO experts can:
Getting the right certification can open doors to new opportunities, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen your business’s reputation.
Once you’ve identified the right ISO certification for your business, you can begin the certification process.
Achieving certification involves several key steps to ensure your management system meets the standard’s requirements. Working with a compliance partner like BEMO can make the process smoother and help you maintain certification over time.
A gap analysis is a detailed review of your current policies, procedures, and systems to see how they compare to the ISO standard. This step helps you pinpoint areas that need improvement.
During this process, you will:
Many businesses choose to work with an external ISO consultant for this step to get expert insights and avoid missing critical requirements.
Based on your gap analysis findings, you’ll need to update or create policies, procedures, and documentation to align with ISO requirements. This step typically involves:
It’s important to communicate these changes to employees and make sure they have access to updated policies. Involving your team early will make implementation more effective.
Your employees play a key role in ISO compliance, so training is essential. All team members involved in your management system should understand:
Providing regular training ensures that employees stay informed and can contribute to compliance efforts.
Internal audits serve as a self-check to evaluate how well your management system aligns with ISO requirements. These audits should be conducted by trained internal auditors who are independent of the processes they’re reviewing. An internal audit involves:
Any non-conformities or areas for improvement should be documented and corrected before the official certification audit. Internal audits should be done regularly, typically once a year, to maintain compliance.
Once you’ve implemented the necessary policies, completed internal audits, and trained your employees, you’re ready for a certification audit conducted by an independent, accredited certification body. The certification audit happens in two stages:
If any non-conformities are found, you’ll need to address them before receiving your certification. Once all requirements are met, your business will receive an ISO certificate valid for three years.
ISO certification requires ongoing commitment to maintaining and improving your management system. To stay compliant, you’ll need to:
While achieving ISO certification can be time-consuming, compliance experts can simplify the process. Next, let’s look at how long certification typically takes.
The time required to achieve ISO certification varies based on factors like your business size, industry, and current level of compliance.
For businesses with structured processes, certification can take 6 to 12 months. If you’re starting from scratch or working in a highly regulated industry, the process may take 12 to 18 months or longer.
Here are the estimated timelines for common ISO certifications:
These are general estimates, but your actual timeline may vary based on several factors.
Several factors can affect how long it takes to get certified, including:
To streamline the ISO certification process, consider working with experienced ISO consultants who can provide guidance, support, and resources throughout the process. They can help you conduct a gap analysis, develop an implementation plan, and prepare for the certification audit, potentially reducing the overall timeline.
Achieving ISO 27001 certification can feel overwhelming, but BEMO simplifies the process with automated compliance tools, expert consulting, and end-to-end project management.
BEMO helps you streamline certification, track compliance progress in real time, and ensure long-term adherence to ISO 27001 security standards.
Here’s how BEMO can help:
BEMO takes the guesswork out of ISO 27001 certification by managing every stage, from the initial gap analysis to the final certification audit. The fully managed service includes:
Traditional compliance methods can be manual and resource-intensive, but BEMO’s automation tools make ISO 27001 certification faster and easier. With BEMO’s platform, you can:
This proactive approach eliminates surprises during audits and ensures you maintain compliance year-round, not just during certification periods.
BEMO’s dedicated compliance engineers provide hands-on support at every stage, including:
With BEMO’s guidance, you can achieve ISO 27001 certification faster and maintain a strong security posture long after certification.
The best ISO certification for cybersecurity depends on your security priorities, regulatory requirements, and risk management needs.
However, ISO 27001 is the leading certification for businesses looking to protect sensitive data, manage cybersecurity risks, and stay compliant with industry regulations.
If you need to secure your data and defend against cyber threats, ISO 27001 provides a structured framework to help you do so. Additionally, your business may benefit from:
To choose the right certification, evaluate your security risks, industry requirements, and long-term compliance goals.
ISO certification is a valuable investment for businesses looking to improve security, quality, efficiency, and compliance.
Whether you focus on data protection with ISO 27001, workplace safety with ISO 45001, or environmental responsibility with ISO 14001, choosing the right certification helps you meet industry standards and customer expectations.
While achieving certification takes effort, it strengthens your credibility, opens new market opportunities, and helps you attract potential clients. It also ensures regulatory compliance and reduces legal risks, making your business more resilient.
With the right strategy, expert guidance, and automation tools, you can streamline the certification process and maintain high standards in an increasingly competitive and regulated business environment.
Obtain ISO 27001 certification with BEMO expert guidance today!
ISO 27001 is an internationally recognized standard for information security management, while SOC 2 is a U.S.-based framework focused on data protection for service providers. ISO 27001 is often required globally, whereas SOC 2 is commonly requested by U.S. clients.
Yes, ISO 27001 supports GDPR compliance by implementing strong data protection controls, encryption policies, and risk assessments that align with GDPR requirements.
Unlike frameworks such as NIST or CIS, ISO 27001 provides a certifiable information security management system (ISMS) that ensures organizations meet stringent security requirements globally.
ISO 27001 is not legally required, but many industries, including finance, healthcare, and government contracting, expect vendors to be certified to ensure strong security controls.
Costs vary based on company size, consultant fees, and audit expenses, but organizations typically spend between $10,000 and $50,000 on certification and implementation.
Regular internal audits, employee training, vulnerability assessments, and automated compliance monitoring help organizations maintain their ISO 27001 certification long-term.
To obtain ISO 27001 certification, implement an ISMS, conduct a gap analysis, address security risks, undergo internal audits, and pass a third-party certification audit with an accredited body.