Is Obtaining ISO 9001 Certification Worth It For Your Company?

ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, is the largest global developer of voluntary international standards. It offers different solutions and best practices for different types of technology and business. This, in turn, helps companies and businesses to enhance their performance while protecting the consumers and the environment.

ISO 9001 is a well-known standard for quality. Some other common standards would include ISO 14001 for the environment and ISO 27001, which deals with information security management.

All About ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is globally the most recognized Quality Management System standard. It helps the organization meet the needs of its clients and various other stakeholders in the most effective way. When a product or service has acquired this standard, they have a consistently good quality throughout. This standard is based on seven quality management principles, with a continuous focus on the customers and a continual drive towards improvement.

The quality management principles would include:

• Focus on the customers
• Leadership
• People’s engagement
• The overall approach followed in the process
• Improvements
• Decisions should be made according to the evidence
• Relationship management

The importance of these principles varies from one organization to other according to the product or service they offer. The relative importance of these principles may also change over time.

Benefits Of The Certification

Getting ISO 9001 certificate is the best way to prove to your staff, stakeholders, clients, and everyone else that customer satisfaction is the main priority of your business. It comes with several key benefits like:

• When you have the reputation that your product or service is ISO certified, it will help you gain more contracts and tenders. It will also aid in customer satisfaction and retention, which means your overall business revenue will increase.
• Acquiring the certificate will help to improve the credibility of your business. Also, organizations looking for a new supplier, especially in the public sector, will prefer those with this certification.
• You will be able to understand your customers’ needs and remove errors in your product accordingly. The certification will surely increase your customer’s confidence in your abilities to deliver quality products and services.
• It leads to higher operating efficiency by following the best industry practices. When you focus on quality, you can reduce the wastage cost.
• Examining all the process interactions will give you a better process integration. You will find various improvements efficiently and easily. This will help to reduce errors and lead to better cost savings.

Becoming ISO certified requires planning, resources, and of course, commitment. Doing gap analysis and implementing the changes will help an organization get the certificate. It is indeed one of the most valuable certifications, and thus, by getting this certificate, you will gain trust, increase your business revenue and reduce costs.