“Cerivo makes complex compliance easier to work with.”

Compliance is complex. Managing it doesn't have to be.

For Blue Water Shipping, what started as a need for a more structured approach to GDPR documentation has evolved into a broader way of managing compliance, information security, and risk.

Today, Cerivo helps Blue Water Shipping structure its compliance work, document controls for ISO 27001, and turn complex risks into clear, visual insights that are easier to communicate across the organization.

For Thorsten Krams, Global Director of Business Ethics & Compliance at Blue Water Shipping, one of Cerivo's key strengths is its ability to make complex compliance work more manageable.

“Compliance is complex by nature. What Cerivo helps us do is bring that complexity down to a level where we can actually work with it - and communicate it to the rest of the organization.”

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

Bringing structure to compliance

Blue Water Shipping originally started working with Cerivo because the company needed a more structured system for documenting its compliance activities, particularly in relation to GDPR and data protection.

Over time, however, the company discovered that the platform could support much more than the original use case.

Today, Blue Water Shipping uses Cerivo across three main areas: data protection documentation, controls related to its Information Security Management System (ISMS), and risk management.

As the company's use of the platform has developed, Cerivo has become a way to bring structure to several different areas of Blue Water Shipping's compliance work.

Stronger compliance through better documentation

For Thorsten, one of the clearest benefits of Cerivo is the ability to document the compliance work Blue Water Shipping is already doing.

Having a structured documentation framework makes it easier to demonstrate activities and controls rather than simply relying on the organization to know that they have been carried out.

That ability to document the work also contributes to the maturity of Blue Water Shipping's overall compliance program.

“It strengthens your compliance maturity because you can actually document what you do.”

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

For Blue Water Shipping, documentation, therefore, isn't simply an administrative exercise. It's an important part of being able to demonstrate how the organization works with compliance.

Thorsten also points to the importance of documentation when it comes to reducing the risk of regulatory issues related to insufficient documentation.

Making risk easier to understand

One area where Blue Water Shipping discovered unexpected value was Cerivo's risk module.

The team began using the module to register risks, add mitigating measures, and visualize the results. They quickly realized that the visual approach made it easier to communicate risk to people who don't work with it every day.

When the team presented the dashboard to Blue Water Shipping's Risk Committee, the value became clear.

"The dashboard makes risk incredibly easy to explain. Everyone understands green, yellow and red. It gives management an immediate overview of where we should focus our attention."

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and compliance at Blue Water Shipping

The visual overview gives the team a straightforward way to identify which risks require the most attention and makes it easier to bring those priorities into conversations with management.

“You can very quickly show the top three and say:These are the ones we need to sit down and look at.”

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

For Blue Water Shipping, this turns complex risk information into something that is easier to understand, discuss, and act on.

Supporting Blue Water Shipping's ISO 27001 certification

The value of structured documentation became particularly tangible in Blue Water Shipping's work with ISO 27001.

Cerivo is used to document the controls connected to the company's Information Security Management System, giving Blue Water Shipping a structured way to demonstrate its work during the certification process.

According to Thorsten, this was also recognized during the company's ISO 27001 certification.

"One of the reasons we achieved our ISO 27001 certification was our ability to document our controls in Cerivo. Auditors could simply open a control, review the documentation, and move on."

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

For the auditor, the structured documentation made it straightforward to review the relevant controls and supporting evidence.

As Thorsten describes it, the auditor could access a control, see the documentation, and verify that it was in place.

“They could simply go in and see: control number one, the documentation is there. Done. Check. Finished.”

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

It's a concrete example of how bringing structure to compliance can make it easier not only to manage the work internally, but also to demonstrate it externally when it matters.

A platform shaped through collaboration

Blue Water Shipping's use of Cerivo has developed significantly since the beginning, and an important part of that journey has been the ongoing dialogue with the Cerivo team.

Over the years, Thorsten has shared ideas, needs, and feedback directly with the people behind the platform and has seen the product continue to develop.

For Thorsten, being heard and having easy access to the team behind Cerivo has been an important part of the collaboration.

“You can call. You can write. The problem might not be solved here and now, but you know you're being heard.”

Thorsten Kranz

Global Director Business Ethics and Compliance at Blue Water Shipping

That ongoing dialogue has helped Blue Water Shipping explore new ways of using Cerivo as its compliance program has developed.

What initially started as a need for more structured documentation has gradually expanded into other areas as the organization has discovered more ways to use the platform.

Making complex compliance manageable

For Blue Water Shipping, Cerivo's value isn't defined by one single feature.

It's the combination of bringing structure to documentation, making risks easier to understand, supporting the work around ISO 27001, and providing a platform that can be used by more parts of the organization as compliance needs develop.

What started as a need for more structured GDPR documentation has become a broader way for Blue Water Shipping to work with compliance, information security, and risk.

Throughout that journey, the underlying value has remained the same: turning complex compliance work into something that is easier to structure, document, understand, and communicate.

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