Is ISO 42001 certification worth it for my company, and how do I get it?

ISO/IEC 42001 is the first certifiable international standard for AI management systems (AIMS). Nobody legally requires it — but three situations make it worth pursuing: enterprise customers are asking for AI governance evidence in procurement; you sell into the EU and want a structured path that aligns with AI Act obligations; or you already hold ISO 27001 and can extend the same management-system machinery. How to get there: 1. Gap analysis against the standard's controls (AI policy, impact assessments, lifecycle management, supplier oversight). 2. Build the AIMS — roles, risk process, documentation. 3. External audit by an accredited certification body. Tooling: Vanta automates ISO 42001 evidence collection alongside SOC 2; Modulos was the first AI governance platform to hold ISO/IEC 42001 product conformity certification; Credo AI and Holistic AI map governance workflows to the standard. If you're pre-revenue or US-only with no enterprise deals, NIST AI RMF adoption first is usually the cheaper, saner start.