Overview
• Utopia and their consulting subsidiary SAIM set out to improve their IT security posture and meet TISAX certification standards to align with industry best practices.
• The certification process called for clearly documented IT security and audit readiness.
• deeploi supported Utopia in the final stretch – delivering visibility, documentation and audit assistance within one focused week.
IT Challenge
Utopia – a long-standing media platform for consumer advice – takes its role in IT security seriously, especially as it partners with leading clients in sensitive industries. They needed the TISAX certification for their consulting subsidiary, SAIM. Pursuing the TISAX certification was a strategic decision to sharpen internal processes and set a new standard for operational excellence.
TISAX (Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange) is an industry-standard certification demonstrating a company's commitment to high standards of IT security and data protection.
“For us, it wasn’t just about ticking a box,” said Christian Riedel, Managing Director at Utopia. “We saw this as an opportunity to become even more structured and professional in how we manage IT and data security.”
While the companies worked with a certification agency for the broader process, the IT portion presented specific challenges – especially when it came to IT security documentation and audit readiness. “To be honest, the amount of documentation... I really underestimated the amount of time needed to evaluate all the guidelines,” Christian explained.
Solution with deeploi
Utopia and SAIM brought in deeploi to support the IT security requirements tied to the certification – from documentation to audit readiness.
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With just one week, deeploi helped setting up the cloud backups and the documentation and closing remaining gaps quickly: “deeploi helped us last minute to get all the things done we needed for the certification.”
Also, the result of this collaboration was the formalization of Utopia’s onboarding and offboarding workflows. By introducing structured access management steps, Utopia strengthened its internal processes and aligned day-to-day IT operations with the expectations of a TISAX-compliant organization.
“During onboarding, we now consider which specific projects a person will be involved in, so we grant access only where it’s needed,” Christian explained. “And offboarding is even more important. We follow a clear checklist to systematically remove access and close accounts.”
Outcome
With deeploi’s focused support on the IT security front, Utopia and SAIM completed their TISAX certification with confidence and even exceeded expectations in the audit.
• Passed the audit with high scores and improved them further post-audit.
• Saved 2 days of valuable time through deeploi’s support, centralized IT visibility and exportable documentation.
• Avoided additional audit-related costs by applying deeploi’s targeted recommendations, including backup configuration and audit readiness support.
• Introduced structured onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure secure access management.
• Fostered a stronger internal IT security culture that continues to shape operations and awareness across the company.
About Utopia and SAIM
Utopia is a media platform for sustainable consumer advice, while SAIM – consulting by Utopia – supports companies committed to driving real change and transforming towards more sustainability.
Utopia
• Passed the audit with high scores and even improved them post-audit.
• Saved 2 days of granular work through centralized asset visibility and ready-to-export IT documentation.
• Avoided additional external audit service costs by leveraging deeploi’s guidance, including recommendations on cloud backup and audit requirements.
• Established structured access processes and fostered a stronger, security-first IT culture.
