If you are facing the decision on ISO certification, you probably are wondering how it will affect your business goals. You may be facing this decision voluntarily or at the request of a potential customer. In either scenario, the outcomes for your business are very much the same.
Following are some key factors to consider on whether ISO certification will help drive your business goals.
- Create and Promote Industry Best Practices
Like most companies, you try to do business in the most productive and efficient manner. Obtaining ISO certification provides you with access to predefined best practices for your business. Adhering to these across different areas such as health and safety, food handling safety, risk management, etc. gives you access to internationally recognized best practices. - Increase Customer Satisfaction
Working with a known list of industry standards such as ISO certification will provide a sense of security and clarity for your customers. They will be able to refer to standard reporting and metrics on subjects such as quality control, RMA procedures and HSE concerns. - Drive Business Profitability
Having a predefined set of metrics is key to improving your bottom line. Not only do you know ahead of time what Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to track, you know the range you should be in. Measuring these different KPI’s will help you drive productivity and create a universal playlist for everyone to go by. - Build Employee Engagement
Your employees like to know how they are doing and how they stack up to others. Once you’ve obtained ISO certification, you will be able to give every employee a job description detailing their specific roles, responsibilities and authorities. No more guesswork on who is responsible for what. Your employees will become more engaged as they now feel empowered to work inside of their job role while knowing what KPI’s drive their success. - Create New Opportunities
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, you may be facing ISO certification as a request from a client. Obtaining this certification may help you land this contract and think of the future opportunities it opens your business too. Once you’ve obtained ISO certification, you will be able to include that in your bidding and company promotion. Very likely this will enable you to bid on contracts that previously you were unable to and you will begin to receive requests from customers who previously passed you by due to a lack of ISO certification. - Not Just for Big Companies
While the process for ISO certification may sound overwhelming and something only BIG companies do, it doesn’t need to be that way. Smaller businesses can also obtain ISO certification and adopt best practices to stand out in their field. Additionally, obtaining ISO certification as a small business is likely quite a bit simpler as there are less processes and then as your company grows, you are able to adjust your documentation to accommodate the business changes.