ISO, or the International Standards Organization, is an independent body that releases standards prompting companies to commit to quality processes. ISO standards function as decision tools and guidelines for businesses, enabling them to optimize their management systems and adopt the proper checks and balances. These globally recognized industry standards inform businesses practices and ensure their reliability, validity, and security. These standards help companies improve internal processes and develop resilient, productive, and security management systems.
ISO certifications in various domains of industry, ranging from energy management and social responsibility to medical devices. The ISO certification certifies an organization’s management system and ensures that its manufacturing process, service, or documentation procedure satisfies the various requirements for standardization and quality assurance. Obtaining ISO certification allows companies to learn about the various standards and effectively implement them to achieve business success.
Aegis. Qa can provide you with optimum support and consultancy to achieve certification in the desired standard. Some of the most popular ISO standards include:
- ISO 9001: It is a part of the ISO 9000 family of quality management systems. It helps businesses become more efficient and improve customer satisfaction through customer focus, continuous improvement, and risk management. Organizations can only certify to ISO 9001:2015 within this family of standards.
- ISO 14001: ISO 14000 family seeks to promote effective environmental management systems. ISO 14001 is the standard available for certification, prompting organizations to improve environmental performance. It helps them improve their usage of resources, reduce waste, and minimize their environmental footprint.
- ISO 27000: It provides an overview of information security management systems (ISMS). It is designed to assist companies in effectively managing cyber-attack risks and internal data security threats. It includes a series of best practices to help organizations protect and secure company assets. ISO 27001 provides the framework for a technology-neutral, vendor-neutral management system to ensure the effectiveness of IT security measures.
- ISO 22000 identifies requirements to implement and develop a food safety management system. ISO 22000 lays down what an organization must do to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards and ensure food safety. It helps establish a more focused, coherent, and integrated FSMS for organizations working in the food chain. The ISO 22000 includes standards like 22001 for food and drink, and 22002 for food manufacturing, etc.
- ISO 50001 is a voluntary standard that seeks to design, implement, and maintain an energy management system. It prompts organizations to leverage a healthy energy management system, reduce energy consumption and environmental impact, and increase profitability. ISO 50001 provides ways to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency.
Four essential steps to becoming an ISO-certified business
- Develop your management system: You must follow certain strategic steps to become ISO certified. You need to identify your core business processes and involve the employees to document them effectively. You must review, approve and distribute the documents to the stakeholders who require access to these documents.
- Implement your system: Within the organizations, the stakeholders must perform the procedures as per the documentation. The employees must have the proper training to perform tasks optimally. Create effective reporting systems to look into various aspects such as inspection, testing, corrective actions, preventive actions, statistical techniques, management review meetings, and monitoring objectives, among others. Stakeholders must gather data points to monitor the effectiveness of processes. Accordingly, they can identify the gaps and take corrective actions to bring about the required improvements.
- Verify that your system is effective: Before the external audit takes place, it is suggested to conduct an internal audit. It enables you to verify and validate the system and processes for compliance and effectiveness. Go through the sample records, interview people, and address gaps and strengths of the management system. According to the report of the internal audit, take proper corrective or preventive actions.
- Register your system: Once you are confident about the internal audit, you can proceed to select the right Certification Body to certify your management system. The third-party assessor will audit it for external registration. Submit your management system documentation for review to ensure its compliance with the applicable standard. The external auditor will assess if it complies with the system’s requirements and whether your organization is properly implementing the management system.
Does your company need ISO certification?
- ISO certification can act as a resourceful tool for your business, enabling you to unlock various benefits. For some businesses, ISO certification is mandatory, but others certify it voluntarily for strategic advantages.
- ISO certification validates the management systems and brings consistency to business practices. Thus stakeholders can exercise better control over processes to consistently provide customers with high-quality products/services.
- It prompts organizations to combine manual processes with state-of-the-art technology innovation, process automation, and integration.
- It helps improve organizational efficiency through optimization of both internal and external processes by implementing documented and well-defined procedures.
- It helps businesses to enter new markets and increase market share.
To Conclude:
You can initiate your certification journey by outsourcing consultancy support to certify in the required ISO standard effectively. It will help you optimize your organization’s management systems and processes to open avenues for growth and revenue.