Achieving an ISO certification can pay huge dividends for your business in improved efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
What is ISO Certification?
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems.
ISO certification is legitimate proof from a third party that you comply with an ISO management standard. It will potentially allow your key stakeholders to see that you have a well-run business that is stable and ready for growth.
This will help you to apply finance from your bank, impressing potential investors or eventually selling.
What is the ISO management standard?
An ISO Management Standard is a set of internationally recognized guidelines, covering key areas of running and managing a business. It includes areas of:
- Leadership and Commitment
- Managing Business Risks and Opportunities
- Resources such as People and Infrastructure
- Competence
- Communication
- Operational Planning and Control
- Performance Evaluation
- Improvement
An ISO management standard is a way of running your operations so they are consistent and effective. It is viewed as business best practice.
What are the benefits of achieving and maintaining an ISO certification?
There are numerous benefits associated with a company achieving and maintaining an ISO certification. Namely:
1) Boost your marketing and sales efforts
By achieving an ISO certification, it will boost your company’s marketing and help increase your sales. Many large companies require for their suppliers to be ISO certifies. As a result, by attaining an ISO certification it will be easier for your company to enter the foreign market.
2) Identify risks and Opportunities
The best way to deal with quality issues is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. To achieve this goal ISO 9001- the most popular management standard- asks you to identify potential risks to your business and handle them in a structured way. The approach to risk-based thinking allows you to run your business with fewer surprises, more effective decision-making, and a happier relationship with your customers, suppliers, and employees.
At the same time, it asks you to identify opportunities for your business and consider how to take advantage of them in an organized and more fashioned manner.
3) Happier Staff
The employees of your company will have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and how to meet those expectations. The manner in which they work will ultimately affect the overall success of the company.
4) Prevent mistakes from reoccurring
Oftentimes, businesses tend to make the same mistakes because they do not have a system to record and correct mistakes as they occur. ISO needs you to maintain a careful record of the mistakes, understand their root cause, and come up with lasting solutions.
The result is less waste, high quality, and lower costs.
5) Improve your control over your business
ISO requires you to monitor, analyze, measure, and evaluate the effectiveness of your quality management system. By doing so, you will generate performance metrics that allow you to judge how well you’re doing and what you need to improve. Understanding these factors will enable you to get an insight into your business and therefore, you are able to make better decisions.