First Client, Lasting Relationship: Multi-Standard Certification for a Specialist Handling Organisation
Sector: Specialist Logistics and Handling | Scope: BS25999, ISO 22301, ISO 27001 | Outcome: Full certification achieved; CIR Award for Strategy Through Partnership; capability built in-house
Every consultancy has a first client. This one has been with Cambridge Risk Solutions since the beginning — and the relationship that developed over the course of the work is, in many ways, the clearest expression of what Cambridge Risk Solutions believes good consultancy looks like.
The organisation — a specialist handling company — came to Cambridge Risk Solutions for BS25999, the predecessor to ISO 22301, at a point when business continuity certification was still relatively unusual outside the financial and public sectors. The work was done properly, the certification was achieved, and when the standard evolved to ISO 22301, the transition was managed as part of the continuing relationship.
The Information Security Challenge
The information security piece came later, and came with a story. The organisation had been working with another consultancy on ISO 27001 and was not making progress. The approach felt overcomplicated, the fit was not right, and the project had stalled. The Managing Director asked Cambridge Risk Solutions to step in — specifically because the more pragmatic, plain-English approach that had worked so well for business continuity felt like the right one for information security too.
It was. ISO 27001 certification was achieved, completing a suite of standards that gave the organisation a genuinely robust and integrated approach to resilience and security.
Recognition
The work was recognised beyond the organisation itself. Cambridge Risk Solutions and the client jointly won the CIR Business Continuity Award for Strategy Through Partnership — one of the most respected independent accolades in the UK resilience sector — for the programme of work delivered together. It was an acknowledgement not just of the technical quality of what had been built, but of the collaborative approach that had made it possible.
A Relationship That Outlasts the Work
Over time, the organisation built its own internal capability — the goal of any good BC and IS programme. Cambridge Risk Solutions has not been needed for day-to-day support for some years. But the relationship has never really ended. Some professional relationships outlast the work that created them, and this is one of those.