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Is ISO certification worth it?
Obtaining ISO certification is not a requirement of the standard or mandatory by law, but it helps the organization to meet customers and as well as the statutory and regulatory requirements. This certification demonstrates an organization’s involvement in promoting its management system performance. Also, for some companies, the ISO certification is a legal or contractual requirement. So the answer is yes, the ISO certification is worth achieving.
In this article, we will let you understand the internal and external benefits of the ISO certification as well as the applicable ISO certifications for your organization.
About ISO Certification
Still confused! What is ISO certification and why is it important? Here is a brief explanation for your queries.
ISO certification is a representation of an organization that has a well-developed management system. It ensures the organizations follow the best practices to bring effective improvement in the system performance. This increases the credibility of your business by establishing that your product and service meets your customers’ expectations.
Want are the types of ISO certification?
ISO has developed more than 20000 standards to help businesses in various sectors such as ISO 9001, 14001, ISO 27001, etc. Each ISO standard has its own requirements, benefits, and as well as ISO certification. Here are some of the ISO Certifications that IAS provides.
ISO 9001:2015 certification
Whether you want to promote the quality of products or services, the ISO 9001 quality management system certification is the ultimate choice for it. This certification is one of the popular management system certifications which are applicable for all types of sizes of the organization. It ensures the organizations to provide high-quality products and services to the customers. Also, ISO 9001 certification helps organizations to meet potentially conscious customers all over the world.
ISO 14001:2015 certification
ISO 14001 environmental management system certification helps organizations to improve environmental performance by reducing the environmental impacts on processes, products, and services. This standard certification reduces wastes and as well as operational costs.
ISO 27001:2013 certification
Prove that your security system is protected with the ISO 27001 information security and management system certification. It reduces information security threats and helps protect the confidential information of the customers/clients.
ISO 45001:2018 Certification
Create a safe working environment for employees and visitors with the ISO 45001 certification. This occupational health and safety management system certification ensures employees’ safety by reducing the occurrence of accidents and injuries in the workplace.
ISO 50001:2018 certification
The ISO 50001 energy management system certification enhances the energy efficiency of the organization by reducing the consumption of energy. It also helps reduce energy waste and costs.
ISO 22301:2012 certification
ISO 22301 business continuity management system certification helps organizations to control and manage the business continuity risks and threats. It enhances the quality, efficiency, and continuity of the process and services.
ISO 22000:2018 Certification
ISO 22000 food safety management system certification helps food business industries to provide safe, high-quality food to the consumers by reducing the food safety hazards and risks. This certification is applicable to all types of food handlers in the food supply chain regardless of their size.
ISO 20000:2018 Certification
This ISO 20000 IT service management system certification helps organizations/service providers to provide quality services to the customers/clients consistently.
ISO 15189:2012 Certification
ISO 15189 certification proves a medical laboratory’s competence in providing genuine results to the customers. Also, this certification standard helps the accreditation bodies and regulating authorities to evaluate the quality and competence of the medical laboratory.
ISO 17025:2017 certification
ISO 17025 Certification helps the laboratories to provide quality services to the customers. This quality management system certification enhances the reputation of your laboratory.
ISO 13485:2016 certification
ISO 13485 is a quality management system certification that specifically demonstrates the high-level performance of medical devices and equipment. This standard is applicable to all organizations that produce and deliver medical devices and as well as the associated services.
IATF 16949:2016 Certification
Enhance the quality management system of your automotive industry with the IATF 16949 certification standard. It ensures the industries to provide quality products and services to the customers.
SA8000 Certification
SA8000 social accountability management system certification helps organizations to develop socially accountable practices in the workplace. It ensures the employees are treated ethically in the working environment.
AS9100 certification
Establish the aviation, space, and defense product’s quality with the AS9100 certification. It helps to demonstrate the quality management system of the aerospace industry.
Operational benefits of ISO certification
Certifying to ISO helps you maintain a better internal management system. It ensures the continual improvement of the process and services. Some of the internal benefits of ISO are:
Increased process efficiency
Reduced customer complaints
Minimizes wastes and operational errors
Reduces failures
Helps to control and manage the errors
Helps meet statutory and regulatory compliance
Promote the working culture
Increases the profitability of your business
How does ISO certificate benefit a business externally?
Achieving ISO certification not only promotes the internal system but also helps demonstrates the overall QMS performance of your organization internationally.
Enhances credibility
Boosts the corporate image
Develops competency
Helps achieve government tenders
Customer loyalty
Employees job satisfaction
Stakeholder’s confidence
Strengthens the relationship with clients/stakeholders
New business opportunities
Moreover, brings global recognition to your business.
In this digital world, there are so many exciting facilities that have developed for communication. Regardless of the place there are in, people can communicate easily with each other with today’s improvements in information technology.
Digitalization is creating major changes in our society and as well as in day-to-day human activities. This also developed a great impact in our business process that is the way we are communicating with our clients. Nowadays, most of the business meetings are happening online and the companies also mostly prefer to conduct in this innovative format!
Achieving ISO certification also becomes an effortless task with this latest technology. This topic covers how can an organization obtain ISO certification online, the certification process, and as well as the benefits and drawbacks in acquiring ISO certification online.
Introduction to ISO certification
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent, non-governmental organization that stands strong with the membership of 164 national standard bodies. With experts’ knowledge and guidance, ISO develops international standards to support the growth of the organizations. ISO does not provide certifications! ISO develops and publishes ISO standards but it does not involve in the conformity assessment or in the certification process.
ISO Certified companies are globally recognized companies that conform to ISO standards and have a strong impression among consumers and shareholders.
This ISO Certification ensures the manufacturing process, services, documentation procedure as well as the management system has all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance.
ISO Certification is not a legal requirement for most organizations. But, for some companies, ISO certification may be required by law or contractually.
Whatever the case, obtaining ISO certification will surely bring lots of benefits to your organization. This certification helps you have the products, processes, services, and systems with standardized improvements.
What is a remote audit?
Remote audit - an amazing hand-in-solution to get certified to ISO!
Sometimes, for some reason, the certification audit could not be conducted in person. Remote audit is a perfect replacement for these kinds of situations.
Remote audit is a virtual audit which is performed online through video conference by using digital platforms such as Google Meet, Zoom, Skype, etc. Through this remote audit, a certification body evaluates the organization process, system and collects the audit evidence remotely. This type of audit helps especially the organizations which are located in isolated areas.
During this Covid-19 pandemic period, Remote audit is the preferable choice for most of the organizations across the globe. Also, it creates an incredible opportunity of obtaining the IOS certification from the place you are. It avoids the need of travelling from one place to another.
ISO Certification process online
Here are the simple steps of IAS to get ISO certification online
Contact IAS:
Visit our website! Fill out the ISO certification application form specific to your organization’s management system and email it to us. Also, attach the required documents mentioned in that application form. You can also drop a mail if you’re not sure of which ISO certification helps represents the effective improvement of your organization. Our management team will help you get detailed information. Or you can contact us and have a free discussion about the certification and auditing process.
Remote audit by IAS:
After receiving the application form, IAS will initiate the procedure for conducting the remote audit. While conducting a remote audit, make sure there will be no interruptions in the internet connection. Proper communication helps the auditors to perform the audit with the flow. Also, it reduces audit duration and saves time.
Issue of certification:
The audit report will be sent to the registered mail address. If there are any deviations, our auditing team will send the audit report with a deviation report. The organizations need to implement the requirements within the specified time given by IAS.
After the effective implementation, our auditing will again conduct another remote audit to make sure your organizations meet the required ISO criteria specific to the scope you’re applied for. Finally, IAS will issue the certification. The soft copy of the certificate will be sent to your mail address.
Certification validity:
The initial certification provided by IAS is valid for 3 years. IAS also conducts surveillance audits in the gap of every 12 months. It ensures the continual improvement in your organization’s process, services, and system.
What are the advantages of certifying to ISO?
By achieving the ISO Certification, the organization can gain the following benefits.
Global recognition
Improved reputation
New business opportunities
Better internal management
Enhanced customer confidence
Better relationship with stakeholders
Increased productivity as well as profitability
How to choose the best certification body?
It is also important to choose the right ISO certification body. Before you contact them, make sure they are providing the certification for the standard you have implemented. Verify whether they are an accredited platform and trustable organization. Some of the facts you need to check before you select the right ISO certification body are:
Accreditation – this tells the certification body is certified to provide the standardized certifications.
Reputation and credibility – this helps you gain the confidence of stakeholders/clients
Experience – look for the certification body’s experience in providing the services in the specific ISO standard
Professional auditors - Ensure the auditors have versatile knowledge about your organization’s process and system
Language – it may be the last point, but it’s also important to choose the certification body that speaks your language. This helps you communicate with the auditors comfortably.
Advantages of obtaining ISO certification online
Time and cost-effective method
By acquiring the ISO certification online, you can reduce the time required for conducting the audit.
No travel or accommodation fee
In on-site audit, sometimes the organization needs to take care of the auditors travel and accommodation expenses. This is eliminated in remote audits.
High-level performance
Remote audit is a convenient method for both the auditors and auditee. It helps auditors to conduct the audit at the comfort of their office and perform the audit more effectively.
No interruptions, happy employees
In the on-site audit, there may be chances to make changes in the employees' daily work schedule. But in remote audit, the auditors will interact with the respective person and collect the required evidence.
Obstacles in getting ISO certification online:
Obtaining the ISO certification online also has certain obstacles.
Lack of internet facility
While performing the remote audit, there may be chances for a slow internet connection. This disturbs the commutation between the auditors and auditee.
Duplicate evidence
The audit evidence can’t be evaluated physically. So, there may be chances of mismatching in the documents and organization’s process.
Poor interaction
Sometimes, the auditors have poor knowledge about the remote audits. So he/she may fail to collect the required audit evidence.
Be aware of fake ISO certification
There are so many spam websites available online. So, make sure you have chosen the right ISO certification body to guide you in the implementation process for the achievement of ISO certification.
Derive the process
Each organization is made up of affiliate process. The process is a set of tasks that use the resources to return the output (people, products ...).
The process is often a complex process, involving product and services. ISO 9001 is designed to manage and improve these processes.
First, you define the main processes.
Second, you define standards for these processes.
Third, you decide how to measure and evaluate the process.
Fourth, you document your approach to quality performance, defined by measurement.
Fifth, you are always getting better.
Define the Process
Flowchart is a fantastic way to describe the decomposing process in part to help explain it easier and help improve your process. A flowchart is a simple diagram showing the process, making viewing and communication easy. They allow you to see more clearly what is really going on in the process and in addition to their interactions.
Define the Standards
Turtle Diagram is a great tool that can be used by your organization to view visual support processes. This tool helps identify inputs, outputs, standards, and other information that allow you to effectively implement and improve processes.
Methods to Measure and evaluate
At every stage there should be a specific activity management system. By combining elements of the critical process and combining actionable strategies with purposeful and objective planning, the organization can lead the best in class leadership's ability to achieve competitive advantage. Therefore, it is important how to measure and evaluate the process. The process can be measure in the following ways
Process effectiveness
Process Alignment
Process Reliability
Process Cycle
Process Efficiency
Resource Productivity
Document the process
A process document describes the steps necessary to complete an activity or process. This is internal and ongoing documentation of the process as it is happening: the documentation is more about the "how" of the implementation than the "what" of the process influence. A company is essentially a group of interconnected processes and if these processes are not written, interruptions can occur. Companies use repetitive processes, which are the basis of their success, therefore the process documentation provides important indications for employees and managers.
Not only do you need to document the processes, you also need to document them properly. A poorly written procedure can lead to failure. Common causes of poorly written procedures are:
Does not explain the purpose or motivation of the task
Release of information
Including unnecessary and disruptive information
Many working documents reveal your business philosophy. Poorly written and outdated documents may indicate lack of care. Topical and polished documents strengthen teams and improve efficiency.
Continual improvement
During activity tracking, look for specific areas that may require a quality review to improve performance, such as transferring tasks from one person to another. Try to reduce unnecessary movement between departments during the procedure. Take a look at some duplicate tasks and determine if they are useful or ineffective.
Organizations need to stay away from work with short-sightedness - getting closer to your mission will prevent you from continuing the process between work and work. You need to work on your job, not deal with it, to be able to identify the important tasks you are developing.
Full fill legal requirements
The organization must have an approach
to identify, maintain and update relevant legal and regulatory requirements,
for reporting relevant legal and regulatory requirements within the organization.
The organization must ensure that certain statutory and regulatory requirements are used as “process records”.
The organization must monitor the “results of the process” for compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Implementation of ISO and consultants Role
An organization may not have the skills, time, experience, or professional qualifications to perform a QMS job without outside assistance. The QMS specialist will:
Ability to invest in knowledge and develop opportunities;
Bringing knowledge and insight into your QMS project,
Improve your chances of getting certified, by preventing any errors in QMS development and implementation.
Training
ISO 9001 needs training for all staff to understand their role in relation to QMS and its relevance. Training at the following levels needs to be necessary for effective implementation
1.Project managers and Team leaders
2.Training of team members
3.Training of Internal auditors
Conduct internal audit
Many companies believe that the internal audit process is a necessary form of damage they must suffer in order to maintain ISO 9001 registration. At best, they consider it a duplicate of the registrar, not realizing that internal audit can be much more efficient because there is time. In the worst case, internal auditors are seen as a kind of internal police force from which it is best to protect oneself by hiding important data or deceiving false data.
Indeed, as the owner of the process, the ISO 9001 internal audit process may be the best way to obtain a detailed set of external insights into the process. They can help identify areas for improvement, or perhaps someday, that will help your process run better, faster, or more efficiently. Below are five key steps that describe how an internal audit can be conducted in accordance with ISO 9001 and how they can best be used to direct owners of internal processes to the development of those processes.
Role of certification body
People often say they are "ISO certified," but they do not issue ISO certificates and do not certify individual companies by any standard. So, who can issue an ISO 9001 certificate? Issued by ISO certified bodies (also known as registrars or CBs).
Steps in auditing process
A certification audit is an audit that the IAS will perform to verify compliance with the ISO 9001 standard before your official ISO 9001 is issued. The certification audit is most often divided into two stages. A Phase 1 audit is performed to determine the organization's readiness for the second phase of the audit. If the auditor determines that you meet the minimum criteria for the first stage audit, your organization will continue the audit in the second stage. The second stage audits will always be on-the-spot audits. In this case, the auditor will interview your staff and check your documented information (procedures, records, etc.) to ensure that you comply with all ISO 9001. The certification audit is usually performed every three years.
After certification, IAS will periodically inspect you through surveillance audits to ensure that you continue to comply with QMS and ISO requirements. Surveillance audits are very similar to certification audits, except that they do not issue or re-issue a certificate. They are usually performed annually by the registrar.