BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR–Nigeria’s lead underwriter, Unitrust Insurance Company Limited, has become first insurance firm to achieve International Standard Organization ISO/ IEC 27001:2022 in compliance with global best practices.
ISO/IEC 27001:2022 is a world-renowned best standard for information security management systems (ISMS) as it defines the requirements an ISMS must meet to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve an information security management system.
Achieving ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification requires a rigorous and thorough assessment of an organisation’s information security management processes.
Unitrust Insurance attainment of this certification underscores the insurer’s commitment to protecting its customers’ information and setting a benchmark for excellence in Nigerian Insurance industry.
Speaking at the presentation held today in it’s head office, the Managing Director/CEO of the company, Adedayo Arowojolu, said “after going through the whole exercise we have come to discover that when you are talking about information management systems, it has to do with the entire processes of the organization, business practices, products and services, how you manage information and even your staff.
On the benefit of the certification to the organization and stakeholders, he said, “everything we see through the journey of getting the certification has given us the confidence that this is going to add value to our operations, because it looks at the entire team of our operations. It looks at people and compliance. When we talk about compliance not only regulatory compliance, but how is the company fairing. Is looking at the way we handle our contracts and let people comply, which certified and validate that our processes are world standard.
“Aside from that it looks at our cost management. For any organization today, cost management is very key, especially at this time when the macro economic environment is not giving us the level of comfort that we want. How do you manage your vendor.? How do you manage your cost efficiency.? These are the things we have been able to demonstrate that as an organization we are doing them pretty well.”
‘In case of crisis what is the position of the company.? The certification has validated that, if crisis should happen today, we have processes and controls in place that will make this organization business to be sustained.
On benefits to stakeholders, he said it gives confidence that a global organization has accessed and certified us fit for purpose.
On branding reputation, he said “ they have looked at our books, our business processes and they have confidence that the way we run our businesses nothing will happen to our brand for a very long time.”
Presenting the certificate to the company, founder/ CEO, Digital Jewel Africa, the only ISO27001: 9001 consulting firm in Africa, Adedoyin Odunfa, commended the company for leading with example.
She encouraged them to continuously improve the system through regular audits, reviews and updates.
According to her (ISO) 27001:2022 is a standard that consists of management processes and controls that helps organizations to be able to put in place specific controls targeted at the entire information system flow across the organization.
This controls according to her address risk that are inherent in the system and they help you to manage them judiciously.
Moving forward, Unitrust Insurance remains steadfast in its dedication to upholding the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard and continuously enhancing its information security practices.
