Oxford Dynamics builds new robotics and AI solutions to address some of the world’s biggest challenges across a number of sectors, including space, defence, security, and finance. For example, it is working with Defra to create a tracked robot, to replace people from being the first point of contact in the event of a chemical or biological incident. 

Understanding the importance of compliance from the outset, Oxford Dynamics wanted to ensure it had everything in place to meet the needed accreditations ahead of developing technology in the highly regulated industries it operates in.

Researching the best approach to achieving compliance, Co-founder & Director Shefali Sharma discovered Naq by word of mouth. The team saw the platform and could see it was ideal for meeting their compliance needs, providing all the policies, training, and tasks in one place. 

By using Naq, compliance becomes a shared responsibility embedded within the organisation, rather than relying on a single person. While Shefali leads on compliance, K-Jo O’Flynn, Junior Operations Manager, and Shruti Sharma, Operations Intern, manage the day-to-day actions in the Naq platform, ensuring the Oxford Dynamics’ team follows due process and progresses towards meeting compliance with their required frameworks. 

The team found the platform's different access levels particularly useful. Shefali, K-Jo, and Shruti, who are responsible for managing compliance, have admin access. This allows them to view all policies, tasks, progress, and outstanding actions. The wider team and contractors also have access but are limited to viewing only the policies, actions, and training relevant to them.

Everyone also liked the size and approach of Naq, finding them very welcoming, listening and meeting their needs. 

Using the Naq platform, Oxford Dynamics quickly gained its Cyber Essentials certification and achieved GDPR compliance. As they progressed towards these, whenever the team had any questions, they always received helpful, clear, and easy-to-follow advice. 

They find the platform very user-friendly. K-Jo explains: “The Naq platform is so simple, and everything is straight to the point – what tasks you need to do, policies you need to implement and training to roll out. It makes our lives easier.

“Everything is thought through. When reading a policy, you aren’t presented with a daunting  ten-page long document. Instead, you see one digestible section at a time, can see your progress through, and can save where you are up to if you need to stop and return to it.”

The team has also progressed well towards achieving ISO 27001 and anticipates having everything in place for an external audit later this year.  On this, K-Jo adds:

“We feel very well prepared for our audit. When the auditor comes in, we feel comfortable that will be able to clearly evidence everything, all in one place.”   

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Impact

Our compliance work using the Naq platform and the accreditations we have achieved enable us to create trusted relationships with customers. They see we have the right systems in place and feel comfortable that our systems will match theirs, so they can focus on the project itself.