What benefits will ISO 9001:2015 bring to the business or organization?

ISO 9001 is a standard that sets out the requirements for a quality management system. It helps businesses and organizations be more efficient and improve customer satisfaction.

Implementing a quality management system will help you :

·         Assess the overall context of your organization to define who is affected by your work and what they expect from you. This will enable you to clearly state your objectives and identify new business opportunities.

·         Put your customers first, making sure you consistently meet their needs and enhance their satisfaction. This can lead to more repeat custom, new clients and increased business for your organization.

·         Work in a more efficient way as all your processes will be aligned and understood by everyone in the business or organization. This increases productivity and efficiency, bringing internal costs down.

·         Meet the necessary statutory and regulatory requirements.

·         Expand into new markets, as some sectors and clients require ISO 9001 before doing business.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops and publishes International Standards. It is compromised of the national standards bodies from 163 member countries. It has developed nearly twenty thousand voluntary international standards.

The standard is flexible and can be adapted to a wide range of organizations, including:

·         Large organizations

·         Small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

·         Public and private sector organizations

·         Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

The standard can be used by organizations in any country.

ISO 9001 is an international standard related to quality management, applicable to any organization from all types of business sectors and activities. It is based on eight quality management principles (all fundamental to good business practices):

·         Customer focus

·         Leadership

·         Involvement of people

·         Process approach

·         System approach to management

·         Continual improvement

·         Fact based decision-making

·         Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

The ISO 9001 quality management systems standard offers a wide variety of benefits to an organization.  The quality standard is applicable to companies of any size or sector who is seeking to improve their internal management and operational processes. We recommend that companies who are completing ISO 9001 certification apply the standard throughout their organization, as opposed to at a particular department, site or divisions of the company.

Benefits of the ISO 9001 standard:

·         Ensures products and services effectively meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements

·         Enhanced customer satisfaction and improved customer loyalty leading to repeat business

·         Allows to measure progress towards continual improvement of business performance creating a benchmark

·         Increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to market opportunities

·         Integration and alignment of internal processes which will lead to increased productivity and results

·         Enhanced business performance and better cost management

·         Providing confidence to interested parties as to the consistency, effectiveness and efficiency of the organization

·         Increased credibility and competitiveness in the market

·         Consistency in the delivery of product or service

·         Lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources

·         Improved communication, planning and administration processes

·         Helps to improve organizational performance

The benefits of ISO 9001 are not overstated; companies large and small have gained great benefits from using this standard by discovering cost and efficiency savings.

Improvement of credibility and image –

Because ISO 9001 is an internationally recognized standard, it has become the basis for creating a quality management system around the world, replacing many previously published requirements. When a company is looking for a supplier, it is often a requirement to have a QMS based on ISO 9001 in order to be considered. This is particularly the case if the organization is competing for public sector jobs in many countries. Attaining ISO 9001 certification can be a powerful marketing tool.

Improvement of customer satisfaction –

One of the quality management principles that are the foundation of the ISO 9001 requirements is to improve customer satisfaction by planning for and striving to meet customer requirements. By improving customer satisfaction the organization will retain more repeat customers since happy and satisfied customers are the key to keeping customer loyalty. And such customers bring in additional revenues.

Better process integration –

By looking at the overall process interactions through the process approach of ISO 9001, it can be more easily find out the improvements in efficiency and cost savings. This is done through eliminating the waste that can occur when processes are maintained without a view of the inefficiencies that can arise during process handoff. The better process flow can also be used to drive efficiencies towards fewer errors and resulting reworks, which can improve cost savings.

Improve the evidence for decision making –

A second quality management principle of ISO 9001 is the need to use evidence-based decision making. By driving decisions based on the evidence, rather than on “gut feelings,” it can be more focused on applying resources to the areas that will improve efficiencies and increase cost savings with less trial and error to find the right decision. In addition, by monitoring the process that improving, the organization will be able to see how much improvement has happened based on the data.

Create a continual improvement culture –

Continual improvement is a third quality management principle of ISO 9001. By adopting this culture to improve the processes and organizational output, the organization will find efficiencies and cost savings, including the use of systematic processes when problems occur in order to reduce the impact of the problem and increase the speed of recovery. By making this continual, improving year after year, the company can see continuing benefits from this.

Engagement of employees –

Employees who are involved in the improvements of the processes they work with are happier and more engaged employees. Engaged employees are more productive and will help the company better improve and save, especially when they understand how the quality of the process depends on them.