Tax Desk: building a security programme from the ground up.
Tax Desk provides specialist tax services and handles information that clients expect to be protected carefully. YDC helped build the security foundations, governance and processes needed to create a structured security programme, with ongoing consultancy continuing today.
The situation.
Tax Desk had established strong operational momentum and reached the stage where security needed to evolve into a formal, structured programme rather than a series of individual controls added as client questions appeared.
Rising customer expectations and the confidential nature of client tax records made clear governance essential. Rather than patching requirements piecemeal under deal pressure, Tax Desk chose to establish verifiable security foundations from the start.
What the engagement involved.
We started by mapping the data handled, core technology relied upon, third-party suppliers, key staff roles, and commercial risk factors. This ensured the security framework was tailored around how Tax Desk actually runs, rather than forcing operations into a rigid, generic template.
We structured the essential pillars of a practical security programme: risk management, asset protection, supplier governance, access controls, incident response, business continuity, and team awareness. Every policy and control was designed to stay manageable in daily operations.
We established ongoing routines for supplier reviews, system monitoring, access checks, team training, and executive governance to build the trail needed for ISO 27001 readiness. This was not about creating paperwork for its own sake; it was about creating a system the business could actually run.
The outcome.
Tax Desk now has a structured security programme bringing together risk, responsibilities, suppliers, security controls and evidence, with a defined route towards ISO 27001 certification.
The biggest change is not a new tool or a single policy. It is that security now has a structure. That makes the business easier to manage, easier to evidence, and better prepared as expectations continue to grow.
Frequently asked questions
You do not need to have everything in place before you start.
Organisations can build their security programme as they reach the point where they need one, with YDC helping establish the structure, controls and ongoing approach.