The International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, Switzerland issues and maintain standards. The standards are called ‘ISO’ – meaning ‘equal’ in Greek; a play on words suggesting that regardless where you are in the world, the standards mean the same.

Thousands of standards have been issued and accepted worldwide, and include standards for products, product testing and acceptance as well as standards for Management Systems for Quality, Health and Safety, Environment and Business Continuity.

Standards provide globally accepted models to follow and 3rd party certification allows organizations to be recognized as achieving these standards. Companies who are certified use this in advertising, and as a way of differentiating themselves from their competition. These organizations are listed on various searchable websites, which are used by companies seeking out the services of certified companies.

It is a standard for Quality Management Systems based on good business practices, recognized and accepted globally as a model for excellence and as a means of ensuring consistency and managing risk. It was issued in 1987.

Over 1 million organizations in almost every country in the world are certified to the standard. It is flexible enough to be used by large and small organizations, in every manufacturing and service sector and in all levels of government. Examples of non-manufacturing organizations include testing organizations, hospitals, transportation and warehousing, banks, construction, call centers, engineering, and design. Companies with as few as 3 employees and up to 50,000 employees are certified.

Adopting ISO 9001 provides an organized and systematic approach to managing key internal processes, measuring business effectiveness and improving it. Used also by corporations as a means of managing risks and demonstrating due diligence when dealing with suppliers and subcontractors.

Third party independent certification provides assurance to all stakeholders that the organization has a defined way of conducting its business operations and improving performance. It simplifies doing business with Customers and Suppliers around the world.

It was designed for easy integration with the other world leading management standards including ISO 14001 Environmental Management systems and OHSAS 18001 Health and Safety Standard.

The system of Quality Assurance defined in the ISO 9001 standard focuses on process improvement and prevention of problems; not to be confused with Quality Control, which focuses on inspection and detection of problems. Finding problems after they have taken place and trying to fix them is too expensive and no longer tolerated as demands rise and the speed of business increases.

There are a number of advantages of becoming ISO 9001 certified, including:

• Consistency of processes and activities in your organization
• Focus on proactive versus reactive
• Promotes good internal and external communication
• Improves Customer Satisfaction
• Gets new Customers
• Reduces wasted effort and duplication
• Identifies problems and fixes them
• Reduces costs due to reduced waste and effort
• Increases effectiveness of training, and reduces training time
• Increases profit
• Provides marketing advantage
• Differentiates your organization from your competition
• Identifies your organization to prospective new clients.

It is the International Standard for Environmental Management, based on good environmental and business practices. It is based on the same structure as ISO 9001, with a focus on the environment vs. quality.

It is recognized globally, and is recognized as the formal tool for ‘going green’ Certification is a requirement for the suppliers to the largest automakers and other organizations. Government agencies have adopted procurement policies giving preference to suppliers with ISO 14001 certification. It has become recognized by the major industries throughout the world as the best way to handle environmental and regulatory compliance issues.

There are many advantages of becoming ISO 14001 certified, including:

• An organized and systematic approach to reducing valuable inputs and outputs that impact the environment.
• Reduces costs of inputs and outputs; reduces costs of treatment and disposal.
• Recognized by the courts as proof of environmental due diligence.
• Saves companies thousands of dollars in improved waste management.
• Interest by companies in ISO 14001 has been growing since the MOE, and environmental regulators have introduced and are enforcing, new regulations and bylaws with reporting requirements.
• ISO 14001 is perfectly suitable for small and medium size companies.
• Recognition of being good corporate citizen.

To learn more about ISO, check out the ISO website:
ISO 27001:2013 is a standard that specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system for organizations, as well as requirements for the assessing and managing related information security risks.

The requirements are generic and can be applied to all organizations, regardless of size, type or complexity

All businesses are experiencing an increased reliance on Information Technology and Information Systems (especially including mobile devices). There is also a global growth in connectivity where systems are linked to systems so that information can flow freely. Almost everything we do these days relies on the internet and a vast amount of information is stored and transmitted on it.

Along with that growth is an increase in accidental data loss as well as criminal activity resulting in data theft and other disruptive behaviours which severely impact business operations as well as negatively affecting the reputation of that business. There is a growing need for cybersecurity and the global standard is ISO 27001.

It is of importance to your company and of great interest to your clients or customers to know that your systems are secure and have been certified by an independent 3rd party. Of course it will also support your marketing efforts.

To learn more about ISO, check out the ISO website:
http://www.iso.org/iso/about.htm

And please read their FAQ section as well:
http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs.htm

Give us a call, we would be happy to forward any supporting documents that we might think could help you learn more about ISO Certification and Quality Management Systems in general.