According to the ISO organization, about one million companies around the world are certified by ISO 9001.
If you’ve been considering getting an ISO 9000 registration for your company, you might be wondering if it’s even worth it.
Thankfully, we have all the answers right here for you. Make sure you keep reading to find out what they are!
What Is ISO 9000?
First, you should know what an ISO 9000 certification is.
ISO stands for International Standards Institutes. It’s a network that was formed in 1947, and 162 nations are a part of it. The headquarters is in Switzerland, and they are in charge of making sure that everyone upholds the standards.
However, this organization is not a government. It’s more of like a United Nations. Businesses don’t have to abide by these quality certifications set by this organization, but it looks good for potential customers to uphold their quality standards.
In some industries, you have to have this certification in order to win contracts with customers.
While there is no ISO 9000 certification, the most popular one is ISO 9001. This one focuses on quality management. This means that a business has to have certain quality processes in place to make sure they’re up to the ISO standard.
ISO 9001 was released in 1987, and now it’s the standard for quality management.
Benefits of Being ISO Certified
There are many benefits to getting your business an ISO 9001 certification. Again, it’s not a requirement to have for your business, but it definitely has its advantages.
Marketability
Since so many businesses are starting to make their company ISO certified, you’ll have to compete with them. Many customers look for this qualification because it means that they have higher credibility and likelihood of delivering a good product.
Because of this, it’s a great thing to market to draw in customers. It shows the customer that you’re dedicated to offering good quality products or services to your customer.
This can be especially helpful if the contract you are trying to win is a few years. This will help the customer put more faith in you, especially if they’ve never worked for you.
With this certification, you might also be able to break into other industries that you haven’t been in before.
Expenses
In order to get certified, you will need to have someone come in and audit your current processes. Before they can certify you, they’ll let you know of any weak areas in your company that might need improvement.
It can always be helpful to have an outsider come in and let you know how to improve your process.
This will ensure that your business runs more efficiently, which will help you save money down the line.
Customer Service
In order to keep your customers, you have to keep them satisfied and give them good customer service. This is where ISO 9001 can help.
ISO 9001 can give you a process to use to ensure that you as a business do a great job so that the customer rarely has complaints. It will ensure that your product is held to the utmost standards.
During the audit process to apply for ISO 9001, you will also alert your employees to how important it is to deliver a high-quality product. They may start working harder, but even if something does slip through the cracks, there should be certain quality processes to act as a safeguard.
Communication
In larger businesses, it can be difficult to communicate everything to everyone. However, with the quality processes that ISO 9000 can implement, it will ensure that every employee is held to the same standards.
When an audit shows issues that a business is having, it may also prompt internal communication on how to fix that and ensure it doesn’t happen again in the future.
How to Become Certified
If you decide that you do want your business to be ISO certified, there are a few steps to take to become certified.
Firstly, you’ll need a clear mission statement for your business. You should make sure that every employee knows what it is. If they don’t have it memorized, they should have access to find it.
Next, you’ll have to come up with processes and policies to ensure that people meet quality guidelines for your product. These processes should also be somewhere that every employee can find and access.
Once you’ve implemented processes and ensured that every employee is aware of them, you can contact an ISO 9000 organization that is authorized to offer certifications. You can then request an audit from them.
After they set a date, make sure you let all of your employees know that they will be there. You should hold meetings with them to help them realize what is expected of them.
The organization will talk with you about your processes and goals, and they will make notes. They may even talk to a few of your employees. If they deem your organization as up to their quality standards, they will offer you a certification.
However, they may say that you need to raise your standards. If you need help being certified, check out the link here.
Learn More About ISO 9000 Registration
These are only a few things to know about ISO 9000 registration, but there are many more things to be aware of as well.
We know that running any type of business can be stressful, but you don’t have to do it on your own. We’re here for you!
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