ISOs are a Baseline: So Now What?

Techbuyer is officially ISO 27001 accredited as of 7th November 2018, meaning that we have international recognition of the fact that we meet the proper standards for Information Security Management. Along with existing ISO 9001 accreditation as a quality assured firm and ISO 14001 for Environmental Management, it means we now have our homework checked on our three main business drivers. While this is an achievement for everyone who has worked long and hard on writing up our procedures and standardising our processes and paperwork, it is only a small part of our larger journey of continuous improvement.

ISOs are certainly not to be underestimated. As international benchmarks of quality management practice, they demonstrate how seriously organisations take established best practice. Information Security, Environmental Sustainability and Quality are all part of our core DNA as a quality refurbished systems provider. However, meeting the standard has never been good enough for Techbuyer; our ambition is to lead the field.

A brief glance at any of the industry press is enough to tell you that the areas of cyber security and environmental sustainability are evolving day by day. Threat vectors appear from multiple directions, from criminal gangs developing the latest version of AI to attack systems, to the more mundane concerns of training new staff coming into the company on what to look out for. As a fast growing, young company, we are constantly finding new ways to educate ourselves on how to face these threats, which is why initiatives like ongoing GDPR training are the norm here.

Innovation is just as important to us, especially when we are part of an industry where upgrades and replacements are so frequent. With 5 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year, we want to do all we can to promote product reuse and hasten the integration of Circular Economy ideals into the mainstream. This means we are proactive in our approach to research and keen to develop as many ways as possible for organisations to reuse IT equipment. Our efforts to advocate for reuse by joining initiatives like the Northern Powerhouse and contributing to the Parliamentary Review are a part of this. However, being practical people, research initiatives like our KTP with the University of East London are just as important, if not more so.

With the opening of our first Asia Pacific office in Auckland last month and another operation planned in Australia at year end, Techbuyer has become a truly global company with offices in three continents. Having international accreditations to rubber stamp our core processes is the right way to go to make sure our systems are resilient as we expand. However, these accreditations are far from an end in themselves. They are part of a much wider process of making our company the best it can possibly be in all the areas that are important to us. So well done to everyone involved… we’re on to the next steps now.