For many companies, ISO 27001 and the NIS2 Directive are simply seen as boxes to tick. Get the certification, pass the audit, avoid the fines. Job done. But that mindset misses a big question: what do these programmes actually give you in return for the money, time, and effort you put in?
Compliance improves security, but it comes at a cost. There are hours of internal work, consultancy fees, investment in new tools, training for staff, and the ongoing effort to keep everything up to standard. Without looking at the return on investment (ROI), it can feel like an endless drain on resources instead of something that helps the business grow stronger.
The Hidden Costs of Compliance
Most compliance costs fall into four areas.
First is the initial assessment. You need to understand where you already meet the requirements and where you fall short. That means gap analysis, internal audits, and often bringing in external experts.
Second is technology. To meet the standards, you may need new tools: logging and monitoring platforms, vulnerability scanners, access control systems, or incident response software. These come with licence fees, setup costs, and training.
Third is policy and process work. Compliance requires written policies for things like access control, risk management, and business continuity. But those documents are just the start they need to be embedded into daily operations, which can slow things down while people adapt.
Finally, there’s ongoing maintenance. Staying compliant means continuous monitoring, regular audits, refresher training, and fixing anything that drifts out of line.
The Business Benefits of ISO 27001 and NIS2 Compliance
The benefits go further than just staying on the right side of regulators. Done well, compliance can reduce the risk of incidents, cut the cost of responding to them, build trust with customers and suppliers, and make the business more resilient when something goes wrong.
You can put numbers on some of these benefits. For example, if stronger vulnerability management cuts the number of high-severity findings by almost half, you can work out what that saves you in downtime and remediation.
Measuring the ROI of Compliance
Start by estimating the potential cost of different security incidents if you had no compliance controls in place. Include direct costs like fines and remediation, and indirect ones like reputational damage and lost sales.
Next, work out which risks your compliance measures actually reduce, and by how much. Use your own incident data, industry statistics, or threat modelling to estimate this.
Then calculate the avoided losses. If a ransomware attack would cost half a million euros, and your controls cut the chance of it happening by half, that is a potential saving of 250,000 euros a year.
Don’t forget efficiency gains. Automation can reduce manual workloads, and better incident processes can shorten recovery times. Those time savings can be translated into real money.
Finally, compare all the benefits against the total cost of running your compliance programme. That gives you an ROI figure you can track over time.
Intangible Benefits That Still Matter
Some benefits are harder to measure but just as important. For example, NIS2’s focus on supply chain security is already influencing how companies choose their partners. And ISO 27001 certification is becoming a minimum requirement in many tenders for high-value contracts.
Compliance also sets a foundation for wider security improvements, such as moving towards zero trust or improving cloud security.
Common Mistakes in Compliance ROI
Businesses often fail to get full value from compliance because they treat it as a one-off project instead of a long-term part of their strategy. Others focus purely on passing the audit, rather than using the controls to actually improve operations. And some never update their ROI figures, even as the threat landscape changes.
Turning Compliance Into Business Value
ISO 27001 and NIS2 are more than regulatory obligations. They are investments. If you measure their impact properly, they can be powerful tools for reducing risk, building trust, and creating real business value. The trick is to stop seeing them as a cost of doing business and start seeing them as a way to make the business stronger.
At Seclinq, we work with companies to align governance, technology, and risk management so that compliance programmes are not just effective, but also worth the investment.