A mid-size private company began losing time in enterprise procurement: buyers were asking for proof of AI governance, and intentions were no longer an acceptable answer. Leadership chose ISO/IEC 42001, the first certifiable AI management system standard, as the proof the market would recognize.
The first internal estimate was sobering: months of drafting policies, scoping documents, and audit preparation before a certification body could even be engaged. Nobody on the team had built a management system before, and every week of delay was a deal at risk.
The team started from the AIMS Starter Kit instead of a blank page. The policy pack was adapted and signed in the first week. The Statement of Applicability came from the template rather than from scratch. The internal audit ran in week three using the included kit, surfacing findings while they were still cheap to fix. Readiness that had been estimated in months was reached in weeks, and the certification audit was booked.