What Is ISO 27701 (PIMS): Benefits, Primary Focus & Steps

Data privacy is one of the major concerns of your customers, regardless of the industry you operate in. 94% of businesses believe that consumers will reject their products if they’re not reassured about their Privacy Information Management Systems (PIMS). 

But there’s already a strong framework for information security: ISO 27001, so what more? Think of ISO 27701 as an older brother of ISO 27001 that adds to the controls of the latter to protect your customers’ personal information even better. 

Complying with ISO 27701 also aligns you with the requirements of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). So it’s kind of like a win-win. Let’s understand everything you need to know about this standard. 

TL;DR ISO 27701 defines clear roles, privacy risk assessments, data subject rights, and breach response plans for protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII). There are 49 new privacy-focused controls in ISO 27701 while modifying 135 existing ones from ISO 27001.  You cannot comply with ISO 27701 without complying with ISO 27001, although you can apply for certification of both frameworks together.

What is ISO/IEC 27701?

ISO/IEC 27701 is an international data privacy information management standard that outlines processes and policies for protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII). It references ISO 27001 and adds security controls to make businesses data privacy-focused. 

ISO 27701 compliance comprises the privacy controls required by international laws and regulations, such as GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), LGPD (Brazil), and POPIA (South Africa). 

Why is ISO 27701 important, and who must comply with it?

ISO 27701 helps provide a structured approach to safeguard PII and helps businesses give customers rights over their data. It implements risk control measures for data breaches and strengthens customer trust by establishing a standardized Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). 

Organizations that handle PII must comply with ISO 27701, especially those in B2B SaaS, cloud services, healthcare, finance, and enterprises. It is relevant for companies that need a structured privacy management system to meet global regulations like GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD.

If you’re already ISO 27001 certified, you can use ISO 27701 to extend your security framework with privacy-specific controls. 

What are the key components of ISO 27701?

ISO 27701 provides a structured approach to privacy information management. Here’s a breakdown of its components:

1. Privacy Information Management System (PIMS)

This framework builds on ISO 27001 by adding a structured approach to managing personal data, bringing security and privacy controls together in one system.

2. Roles & responsibilities

Clear expectations are set for PII controllers and processors, outlining their legal, contractual, and operational duties when handling personal data.

3. Risk management & Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA)

Organizations need a structured process to identify, assess, and reduce privacy risks. This also ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR’s Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

4. Privacy controls

A mix of technical and organizational measures helps manage data collection, classification, encryption, access, retention, and secure disposal—reducing the risk of unauthorized access or misuse.

5. Data subject rights management

Well-defined processes make it easier to handle requests for data access, correction, deletion (right to be forgotten), portability, and consent withdrawal, with audit trails to track everything.

6. Continuous monitoring & improvement

Regular audits, automated monitoring, and compliance reviews help organizations find and fix gaps in their privacy practices before they become bigger issues.

7. Third-party & supply chain management

Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) and third-party audits ensure that vendors meet privacy requirements and stick to their contractual obligations.

8. Incident response & breach management

A structured response plan helps organizations detect, investigate, and respond to privacy breaches. This includes real-time anomaly detection, forensic analysis, and meeting regulatory reporting deadlines like GDPR’s 72-hour rule.

9. Employee training & awareness

Regular training, hands-on exercises, and assessments ensure employees understand their privacy responsibilities and can apply best practices in real-world situations.

Can the ISO 27701 standard help strengthen your information privacy management?

Yes, the ISO 27701 standards strengthen your information privacy management system. Here’s how it benefits you:

1. Defines clear privacy roles and responsibilities

ISO 27701 established who handles what in your organization. It holds respective people accountable for data collection, processing, assessing, erasure, etc. It also outlines the responsibilities of both data processors and controllers. 

2. Improves data privacy risk management

The standard contains guidelines for identifying the risks associated with handling PII and controls to mitigate breaches and non-compliance.

3. Covers the complete data privacy lifecycle

ISO 27701 governs private data from start to finish, optimizing the processes from collection to disposal. 

4. Governs continuous data monitoring

ISO 27701 requires you to conduct regular assessments and audits to ensure ongoing compliance with evolving privacy regulations and threats.

How do you get ISO 27701 compliant?

The process of becoming ISO 27701 compliant can go two ways: 

1. You’re already ISO 27001 compliant. 
2. Or, you’re starting from scratch.

Let’s cover the more straightforward scenario first.

Getting ISO 27701 when you’re already ISO 27001 compliant

Complying with ISO 27701 standards becomes fairly easy if you already have the ISO 27001 certification. 

ISO 27701 has 184 controls in total. It builds on ISO 27001 by introducing 135 modified controls that enhance existing security measures. In addition, it includes 49 new controls specifically designed to address the management and protection of PII. These privacy-focused controls distinguish ISO 27701 as a dedicated privacy framework.

So, here are the steps to comply with ISO 27701 while already having ISO 27001 certification:

1. Conduct an ISO 27701 gap analysis

A gap analysis maps your existing ISO 27001 controls against ISO 27701 requirements. Compliance management and GRC (Governance, risk, and compliance) tools usually provide automated gap analysis reports highlighting missing privacy controls. 

2. Implement all missing controls

After the gap analysis, you need to set up the controls that have yet to be implemented. You can use pre-built templates, workflows, policies, and other measures mapped to the remaining ISO 27701 control requirements in your compliance management software.

3. Conduct a readiness assessment

A readiness assessment ensures you’ve implemented ISO 27701 controls correctly and are prepared for the audit. Running it alongside an internal audit helps validate control effectiveness. A GRC tool enables real-time compliance tracking, flagging gaps and automating evidence collection to meet audit requirements.

For example, in Sprinto, you can skip a few steps and directly access the compliance health report to see if you have any more compliance requirements. 

4. Get an external auditor 

Once your system is aligned, export compliance reports directly from your platform and provide auditors with structured evidence. Many tools offer audit-ready documentation and access controls to streamline the review process.

Faster audits with a dedicated audit dashboard | See Sprinto in action

Once your auditor gives the go-ahead, you’ll receive the ISO 27701 certification soon. Otherwise, if there are non-conformities (major issues), you’ll go through another cycle of corrective actions and measures. 

Complying with ISO 27701 from scratch

If you’re not ISO 27001 certified, your ISO 27701 certification may take some time. For starters, you have to begin implementing all the requirements of ISO 27001 before moving on to the ISO 27701 controls.

Here’s a step-by-step approach to getting ISO 27701:

1. Establish your ISMS (Information Security Management System)

An ISMS helps organizations protect sensitive information and manage security risks systematically. It forms the baseline for ISO 27001.  

As a first step, you need to define the scope of your ISMS to determine what parts of your ISMS you want to protect—for example, business processes, locations, and data types. Next, you must conduct a risk assessment to identify and mitigate potential threats that could sabotage your information assets. 

We talked to Akshay Bhalotia, Lead, Product Implementation at Sprinto, for advice on implementing ISO 27701 with ISO 27001. He mentioned: 

“When going for ISO 27701, make sure to specifically do a privacy risk assessment, just like you do a risk assessment for 27001, and that your governance processes (such as policies) mention privacy best practices wherever applicable.”

2. Seek professional guidance: Consultants or Tools for ISO 27001 + ISO 27701

Consultants and tools can be included in the first step or after you’ve defined the scope of your ISMS. ISO 27001 consultants bring specialized expertise to your compliance journey. They can assist with risk assessments, policy development, and training.

On the other hand, there are GRC (Governance, risk, and compliance) tools that help automate workflows, reduce manual workload, and make the compliance process more efficient and accurate. 

What should you choose: Consultants or GRC tools? 

Consultants provide personalized advice. However, the consultant route can be quite time-consuming and costly since they are mostly contract arrangements. 

GRC tools, such as Sprinto, integrate with your existing systems to map controls, automatically collect evidence, and monitor continuously. Sprinto also includes access to onboard ISO lead auditors within its pricing model, so you don’t have to worry about personalized guidance. 

3. Define ISO 27001 + ISO 27701 policies

Whether you choose to implement ISO 27001/27701 with a consultant or a tool, you need to define all policies regarding your applicable controls. 

When using an automation tool, you’ll find ready-to-use templates for the above policies that you can customize as per your business’s requirements. 

4. Integrate PIMS components as per ISO 27701

The controls specific to the Privacy Information Management System for ISO 27701 address the management and protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Your systems should align with the requirements under relevant privacy laws, such as GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, etc. 

Another important aspect of ISO 27701 is documenting all procedures for collecting, processing, and storing PII. This step is necessary if you’re doing the compliance process for both frameworks hand-in-hand to save time and effort.

5. Conduct an ISO 27001 & ISO 27701 training program

Since you’re implementing two frameworks at once, cut your employees some slack and formalize the training program so that it’s easily accessible and understandable. All staff should understand their responsibilities for maintaining privacy and information security. 

Sprinto allows you to conduct a framework-specific training program on the platform itself. It’s as simple as your employees getting a training notification in their mail and completing the training modules on time. You will be notified in real time of your employees’ training status. 

6. Prepare for certification

Before you actually involve an external auditor, you need to run an internal audit of your ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 compliance process. The good news is that both audits can be conducted simultaneously. 

The internal audit checks your ISMS scope, the roles and responsibilities under ISMS, and the organizational context (such as stakeholders, internal and external issues, etc.). Note that all these also extend to your PIMS.

7. Engage an ISO-certified auditor

ISO-accredited bodies usually perform certification audits. They evaluate your ISMS and PIMS against ISO standards, including reviewing your documented policies, procedures, and controls against the Statements of Applicability.

Post-audit, if there are any identified non-conformities, you have to address them promptly to achieve or maintain certification. If there’s any major non-conformity, it requires your immediate corrective action and may delay certification until resolved.

“When preparing the Statement of Applicability (SoA) for internal and external audits, you can cover clauses from ISO 27001 and ISO 27701. Combining them into a single SoA document is often more efficient, given the overlap and derivation of many requirements.” – Akshay.

What is the cost of complying with ISO 27701?

As per ISMS online, complying with ISO 27701 can range from around $3,500 USD to $18,000 USD. However, it largely depends on the size of your organization and other factors such as the scope of your ISMS, the number of controls applicable, and your current security posture.  

For example, if you already comply with ISO 27001, your price will be reduced to around $2000-$5000, provided you work with GRC software like Sprinto. 

If you’re starting from scratch, you can opt to comply with ISO 27701 hand-in-hand with ISO 27001 to reduce some cost and effort, too. 

ISO 27701 vs. ISO 27001: What’s the difference?

Factors	ISO 27701	ISO 27001
Focus	Privacy Information Management	Information Security Management
Scope	It extends ISO 27001 to include requirements for a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS) and focuses on protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII).	Establishes requirements for an Information Security Management System (ISMS) to protect data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Certification	Certification requires prior or simultaneous ISO 27001 certification, as it builds upon the ISMS framework.	Organizations can achieve standalone certification for ISO 27001.
Controls	Adds privacy-specific controls and guides PII controllers and processors.	Provides a set of security controls in Annex A, updated to reflect current security threats and practices.
Objective	Aims to enhance data privacy practices, ensuring compliance with global privacy regulations like GDPR.	Aims to manage and reduce information security risks through a systematic approach.

A faster way to compliance

Achieving compliance doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process filled with endless spreadsheets and manual checks. With the right approach, businesses can make compliance easier and faster with low manual effort.

Prometeia, for example, leveraged Sprinto to cut their manual effort by 90% while complying with 10+ frameworks including ISO 27001 and 27701. Taking a smarter route, they simultaneously did 4+ audits. Read the full story. 

The faster you achieve compliance, the sooner you unlock new business opportunities, build customer trust, and reinforce security. If compliance is on your roadmap, Sprinto helps you get there faster—without the headaches.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the primary focus of ISO 27701?

ISO/IEC 27701’s primary focus is establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). It extends ISO/IEC 27001 by incorporating privacy-specific requirements and guidance. It enables organizations to manage and protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) effectively. 

2. Can I get ISO 27701 certification without ISO 27001?

No, ISO/IEC 27701 is designed to extend ISO/IEC 27001. Organizations must establish an Information Security Management System (ISMS) compliant with ISO/IEC 27001 before integrating the privacy controls outlined in ISO/IEC 27701. Certification to ISO/IEC 27701 requires prior or simultaneous certification to ISO/IEC 27001.

3. Does ISO 27701 require a formal audit?

Yes, obtaining ISO/IEC 27701 certification necessitates a formal audit conducted by an accredited certification body. This audit assesses the organization’s compliance with the standard’s requirements, ensuring the PIMS is effectively implemented and maintained.

4. Is ISO 27701 mandatory for complying with GDPR?

No, ISO/IEC 27701 is not mandatory for GDPR compliance. However, it provides a structured framework that aligns with GDPR requirements, assisting organizations in demonstrating their commitment to data privacy and facilitating compliance with GDPR and other data protection regulations.