No business is forever free from risks. As businesses grow and develop, their managers have to find ways to minimize threats and keep the processes going, even under severe dangers, disasters or threats. The nature of certain businesses is such that stopping the regular work will not only impact the company itself, but its customers too and the wider society too.

Think of what would happen if industries like financial or healthcare services don’t have backup contingency solutions to work their way through disruption. When you estimate the damage an unplanned security event can cause to your business, you won’t find all those detailed regulations about ISO 20000 and 22301 compliance so tedious.

Government agencies have for long been aware of how various standards guarantee better service and civic protection. Given that there is an increasing number of companies having global offices, greater international standardization is not surprising at all. Despite what may seem like a long and cumbersome procedure, ISO 20000 and 22301 physical security compliance is imperative for businesses to run as usual.

Adopting ISO 20000 and 22301 access control compliance means going through rigorous implementation, training and license process. Yes, you do need to meet strict criteria. Yet, the benefits of the precious ISO 20000 and 22301 compliance licenses are many and interrelated. Hence, many companies often implement these compliance standards at the get-go and save additional trouble of implementing separately. Some even go a step further by also adding ISO 27001 and/or FISMA compliance into the mix.

Modern access control systems can help you meet all those requirements with a single network skeleton adapted to the business needs. This is why it’s important to understand the “whys” and the “hows” of the ISO 20000 and 22301 access control compliance procedures and the benefits they will bring to your business.

Service Management Standards in Access Control

As a general rule, ISO 20000 is a service management system (SMS) standard and ISO 22301 is a business continuity standard. They are relatively new and changes constantly -- the goal which these compliance standards aim to achieve is ensuring smooth, safe and uninterrupted work where customers, providers and suppliers work within sustainable groups. Since the IT management is at the frontline of most modern organizations, they bear the main responsibility. Thus it is no wonder that international standardization organizations are the ones in promoting business continuity in the IT sphere by requiring ISO 20000 and 22301 compliance from governments around the world. In fact, for most service management system requirements, it is the IT professionals that will make it happen.

When you get the ISO 20000 access control license and complete the training, you can become confident that your organization is a well-oiled security machine in terms of all aspects of the business process, such as:

• Planning and forecasting
• Policy-making
• Setting objectives
• Drafting documents
• Process development

Security and the fulfillment of the ISO 20000 requirements will become an important resource. It will earn you the label of a service-oriented organization.

You won’t need to implement the standard for the whole organization. It works perfectly well within departments, too. Regardless of the implementation scope, you need to make sure how the final ISO 20000 access control compliance solution will fit in the existing technologies, physical location and customer needs.

Business Continuity Under ISO 22301: Better Safe Than Sorry

As the saying goes: prevention is better than cure. Often, it is too late to recover from the consequences of a disaster after it strikes. It’s best to boost your prevention efforts to ensure the utmost safety of people and equipment. That’s the point of the rigorous ISO 20000 and 22301 compliance criteria. ISO 20000 and 22301 physical security compliance systems share the same goal of protecting against incidents.

If you have a recovery plan that will enable your business continuity, you will be able to keep the business going by:

• Identifying current and potential threats
• Taking a proactive approach to handling them
• Distinguishing the minimum critical functions

Business continuity means that you own a resilient, contingent and recoverable organization with strong core processes, which are able to support you in unforeseen circumstances, and not only against well-known risks.

When paired together, ISO 20000 and 22301 access control compliance standards can save you time and money. Access control providers are skilled to provide advice against threats, help you set a fire-proof electronic access control system, protect against floods or other natural disasters, but also manage antivirus protection or set instant alternatives when your suppliers fail delivery. No need to fear dreadful consequences if you have a safety net when things go wrong!

ISO 20000 and 22301 Compliance Check for Vulnerable Access Points

Businesses are large organisms with vulnerable peripheral access points. A manufacturing company, for example, has dozens of access points in the supply chain which enable delivery of raw materials or half-finished goods, or exporting goods. On the other hand, it has production departments. They may be on a totally different security level within the organization itself. It also includes high-secure areas that provide restricted individual access. It has storage facilities that need to keep the ready goods safe for customer delivery. It is largely dependent on a perfect supply chain management.

Clearly, organizations are not isolated and can impact others severely. Just like a clogged artery can wreak havoc on the total cardiovascular system, so can a non-compliant organization endanger other players in a system. When you secure ISO 20000 and 22302 access control compliance, you keep those points in check. If you are a large company, chances are you already have some electronic access in place. The good thing is that you can implement layered security standards by choosing to standardize only specific departments.