From compliance roadbumps to ISO 27001 with confidence: The story of Fledger.ai

ISO 27001 and the importance of support

Fledger's story is not only about achieving ISO 27001. It is about moving from a well-known American platform that felt distant, to a collaboration in which platform and people genuinely came together. Tidal Control is the compliance software they chose, with implementation partner Riskwork providing the guidance. Together they brought Fledger successfully to their goal.

About Fledger

Fledger builds software for the legal sector, a world where confidentiality is the highest good. With the LISA platform they help lawyers and legal teams with legal research, document analysis and knowledge management. Their clients require evidence of strong security policies including ISO 27001.

The first attempt: an ISO 27001 compliance platform that was distant

Fledger's first choice fell on a well-known name in the compliance world, and an American compliance automation platform just like Tidal Control. It offered a collection of compliance documentation, security training materials and videos, dashboards and a trust center.

They decided to go with this option, given that it is the most popular platform internationally and also popular in the Netherlands. What followed was disappointing. The provider sought to lock Fledger into a 3 year contract, and while their platform was extensive, it offered only generic support. The overall path and progress was not clear, so with every task Fledger's security team felt like they were starting over. They felt that the support never really tried to understand them.

It felt like we were sitting at the forgotten end of a large SaaS empire. They delivered what was in the contract. The platform, the support, all the SaaS things. But the feeling that we were really being helped, and would become compliant, was missing.

Giles Slinger

Director of Product | Fledger

Fledger felt they were being supplied with a product built for the compliance departments of very large American enterprises, not for start-ups and scale-ups. After six months of gathering documentation, tracking showed some progress, but the mountain of outstanding tasks seemed hardly to shrink. This could not go on.

The turning point: a Dutch alternative and a different kind of conversation

Through the Breaking Barriers programme run by AIC4NL, Tidal Control came onto the radar. The NL-based Breaking Barriers programme identifies and recommends key partners such as Tidal as support for scale-ups seeking to grow. That gives quality assurance and encouragement. But it was the conversation with Tidal Control that convinced Fledger.

Where other providers tried to tempt Fledger with quick promises, sometimes even "certified in a few days", Tidal did something different. No meetings with PowerPoint slides and pressure to start over. Instead, very pragmatic with the simple question: what do you already have in place? - with a commitment to come back with a concrete proposal within a week. That attitude already felt like a click.

What won us over was the willingness from Tidal and Riskwork to take along what we had already achieved. Other providers we spoke to kept pushing the conversation towards starting again, and then we lose twice over. Tidal told us: we can see you have made progress, let's take that with us so we continue from where you are now.

Leo Luiten

Lead Developer | Fledger

Tidal and Riskwork: platform and consultancy hand in hand

Riskwork assessed what Fledger already had and how it could be moved into Tidal. Khali Barez, Riskwork co-founder, had the following to share about this:

Many teams underestimate what ISO 27001 involves at the start, which is normal. Fledger had got stuck halfway through the project because the basics were not yet in order and the previous platform gave too little guidance there. Our first task was to straighten out the foundation.

Tidal helped enormously with that: the platform is intuitive enough that you do not have to be a compliance specialist to work with it, and it brings structure where there was none before. That way we could lay the foundation together with Fledger, and we hand them something they can maintain themselves

Khali Barez

Co-founder & senior ISO | Riskwork

Martijn, co-founder of Tidal Control, worked in parallel to get things done faster. The close link between platform and implementation partner made the transition straightforward. No generic introduction to a dashboard followed by "good luck", but someone who took the time to listen to what Fledger really needed.

The product is important, but the service itself as an addition was what we were looking for. Above all we wanted to go from a bad experience to a sustainable one. Getting your certificate is one thing, maintaining it afterwards is something else entirely. Riskwork and Tidal helped us not only to get over the finish line quickly, but to understand why the steps were needed. That way the knowledge stays in house, also after the audit.

Leo Luiten

Lead Developer | Fledger

A reliable link in the chain

The distinction between supplier and partner is essential for Fledger. It is the people behind the platform who make the difference, and who made the switch to Tidal a real upgrade, without higher cost

What the Tidal Control platform delivers day to day

Besides the service, Fledger also values the platform itself, mainly because Tidal Control is set up to be accessible and easy to use.

With the previous platform I felt like I had to be certified to navigate the software, with Tidal I do not. You do not need a diploma to use a screwdriver. It has to be intuitive, because I just need to get things done efficiently. Tidal Control certainly excels at that.

Leo Luiten

Lead Developer | Fledger

That intuitive setup lies mainly in the navigation. The sidebar divides the work into logical blocks. The dashboard shows tasks and issues, documents and policies, vendors and assets at a glance. That layout means you quickly find the right place without too many buttons.

The person behind the platform still counts

Fledger works on AI for the legal sector themselves and therefore knows the importance of efficient AI, but also of real human contact and connections when it comes to compliance. That human contact went very far in Fledger's case, and was enormously appreciated.

They even worked through a wedding and insisted on staying in contact over a honeymoon to help us meet our deadlines. We hadn't asked for that; it was way beyond the call of duty, but it showed the character of the RiskWork team.

Giles Slinger

Director of Product | Fledger

Compliance as an ongoing collaboration

For Fledger, ISO 27001 is not a closed project but an ongoing way of working. Giles points to the importance of structural follow-up, such as the monthly and quarterly tasks.

I am happy with how Tidal Control makes the ongoing maintenance easy. Especially things like the monthly and quarterly recurring tasks are important to keep the implementation and compliance housekeeping healthy.

Giles Slinger

Director of Product | Fledger

Asked whether he would recommend Tidal, Giles and Leo are clear: "Tidal will deliver a market-leading clean, well-designed platform ready for start-ups and scale-ups, as well as enterprise use. And if you want guidance, 100% consider getting support from Riskwork."

Ready to get your own project moving again?

Fledger's story shows what happens when software and guidance come together, and when a partner listens instead of pushes. A project that first stalled got moving again with Tidal Control and Riskwork. Not by starting over, but by building on what was already there.

Are you stuck in a compliance project that is not moving forward, or are you just starting out? Book a call with our team, or first do a quickscan