Zudello Case Study

“If you are considering certification to ISO 27001 and don’t have countless days to plan and document every policy, train staff and all the other tasks while preparing for the audit, then there is simply no question—you must have de.iterate on your team.” - Zudello Chairman, John Fison.

Founded in 2018, Zudello seamlessly automates and simplifies end-to-end accounting functions, improving business processes, efficiency, security and performance. Zudello leverages a unique combination of AI, machine learning and cognitive recognition technologies to deliver its unique automation platform. This is combined with other features, together with simple implementation and onboarding, to ensure customers receive a rapid return on investment.

As Zudello’s Chairman, John Fison, explained, “The Zudello platform automates back-end accounting functions, from processing of invoices through to automating approval workflows and the reconciliation of statements and receipts. It can also integrate with inventory systems. We eradicate all the usual pain associated with accounting processes, particularly manual data entry. This saves companies a huge amount of time and enables them to deploy their skilled people on higher value-adding tasks.”

Given the sensitive nature of the financial data that Zudello processes and stores, the platform was designed and developed using industry recognised ‘defence in depth’ methodologies for data security risk management. Zudello prides itself on delivering the ultimate level of information security, resilience and compliance to its clients.

Certification to the global standard ISO 27001 Information security management plays a key role in Zudello’s security, resilience and compliance program.

An easy decision

For John, partnering with de.iterate to secure and maintain ISO 27001 certification was an easy decision.

“The Zudello team includes highly experienced software developers, and several industry-leading cyber security experts with experience in building, designing and deploying secure global solutions to customers of all sizes. Zudello was already ahead of the curve in terms of in-house cyber security experience.”

“Despite these extensive in-house resources, the team didn’t have the time or specific expertise to undertake a compliance review and design a plan that would ensure we gained—and then maintained—certification to the ISO 27001 standard. Given how important the certification is to the business, we knew immediately that we needed to partner with de.iterate.”

Going Beyond a Solution Provider to a Partnership

“The value that Andrew, and the de.iterate team, brought to the project was their ability to design a strategic plan and then project manage Zudello throughout the entire journey to gaining ISO 27001 certification.”

“de.iterate delivered both a holistic, blue sky approach and then undertook the nitty-gritty of its practical implementation—helping us achieve certification within six months. We were very impressed with this.”

“When we first kicked off the project, Andrew promised us a lot. At the time, I didn’t know if he’d be able to deliver as effectively and quickly as he claimed. We were absolutely delighted when he did—and more. de.iterate carried the bulk of the load—they were not like a typical consultant who gives you instructions, but then refuses to help with the actual implementation of the plan.”

Seamless from Start to Finish

de.iterate is a single platform that delivers auditable policies, user training, and risk management. As Zudello quickly discovered, it saves time both during the initial certification process, and on an ongoing basis.

“The whole process was seamless from start to finish. Once employees downloaded the app and logged in—which was very simple to do—all they had to do was follow along with the modules. de.iterate really is completely intuitive. Not a single staff member complained that they’d had problems using the app, and no one needed any technical support,” said John.

“This was one of the major benefits in partnering with de.iterate—from a leadership perspective, we didn’t need to invest time or resources in the roll out at all. Our previous certification and audit preparation processes have involved hours of documentation, paperwork and training. Andrew and his team made it all exceptionally easy.”

Credibility in the Face of an Audit

Traditional compliance frameworks are built around one day of the year: the annual audit. Then, for the other 364 days of the year, employees are confused and companies are non-compliant.

In contrast, de.iterate’s compliance solution is designed to ensure that employees understand exactly what they need to do, every day of the year. All its policies are written in simple, easy to understand language, and broken down into easily digestible modules. This way, employees can answer the auditor’s questions—even before they ask.

“When the auditor came in and asked our team questions, all our staff were very well versed because they’d completed the training via the de.iterate app. The team could prove categorically that they had been trained in real detail,” said John.

“The de.iterate platform generates a range of detailed reported across various metrics. You can see how long employees are spending on the training. For example, it’s simple to tell if an employee is simply going through the motions and clicking ‘next’ on each policy, before running straight through to the quiz questions at the end of each training module.”

“The fact that Zudello was using the de.iterate platform gave the auditor a lot of confidence that we take ISO 27001 certification seriously. It gave Zudello instant credibility.”

Ongoing Compliance Made Easy + Engaging

“de.iterate continues to save us thousands of dollars every month. It has eradicated the need to take staff away from their core jobs to provide ongoing, updated cyber security training in endless meetings. We’re not paying for consultants to come in and provide face-to-face training that often has to be run multiple times because staff are inevitably sick or busy or out of the office.”

“Instead, we can simply push updates to all our staff through the de.iterate app. Staff can complete the training via the app whenever it suits them best—whether it be in the office, or on the train on their way home. And our staff are all too happy to complete the training because it’s not a big time commitment. It’s not an unwieldy, time consuming, boring video—it’s interactive and engaging content.”

Service and Professionalism at the Right Price

“Typically, when entering into these types of arrangements, there is a very real fear that the consultant’s costs will blow out. We were very pleasantly surprised with this project—the estimates provided by Andrew at the outset were very accurate. There were absolutely no surprises in the final invoice. Andrew and his team were very professional throughout the entire process.”

“We loved the service delivered by de.iterate. In fact, we appreciate the value we’ve derived from de.iterate so much so that we have already recommended it to a whole host of other businesses—many of which have benefitted from the platform already.”

“If you are considering certification to ISO 27001 and don’t have countless days to plan and document every policy, train staff and all the other tasks while preparing for the audit – then there is simply no question—you must have de.iterate on your team,” said John.

Need Help? Questions? Queries? Keen for further information? Contact de.iterate today.