Quality ISO? You Pay for What You Get! ISO 9001

You get nothing for nothing these days, most especially quality, which at the best of times comes neither cheaply nor easily.

Quality is typically the reward of effort, investment, and skill, in a “you get out what you put in” kind of way.

Quality is an objective businesses strive for, with many more than willing to adopt international standards, in particular the Qualtiy ISO, 9001.

ISO Quality Management Standard

The ISO Quality Management Standard is the steadfast ingredient that adds that extra ‘je ne Sais quoi’ to those business strategies that result in success.

ISO 9001 is the world’s leading standard for Quality Management. Most recently revised in 2015, it embraces the corporate holy grail of Continuous Improvement, Customer Excellence, Engagement, Evidence-based Decision Making, Leadership, Process Approach, and Risk Management. With its emphasis on streamlining operations and client-centricity, the concept of a QMS approach is one that has been readily employed by thousands of successful Irish companies.

What is the Primary Focus of ISO 9001?

From the smallest service provider to the largest multi-site conglomerate, Irish businesses have pro-actively taken on the rewards-rich implementation of the standard, the requirements are constantly updated to remain relevant to ever-changing business markets.

The most recent iteration of ISO 9001 - the 2015 update - puts a huge focus both on continual improvement and effectiveness, and people. From C-level down to the shop floor, the standard seeks to drive active engagement, clear communications, and invested leadership.

The 2015 revision places heavy emphasis on leadership and management commitment, mandating greater involvement by senior management in managing the QMS to ensure it achieves the required outcomes such as continuous improvement, customer service excellence and the whole concept of clear communication be that internal or external.

ISO 9001 clearly identifies robust Quality Management principles that can be used by leadership teams to drive their organisations towards improved performance. QM principles are a basic and comprehensive rule for operating and leading an organisation aimed at continually improving performance over the long term. They embrace objectives and practices such as client centricity, a key requirement of the management system.

While the primary focus of the Quality Management standard is to meet - and strive to exceed - customer requirements, the whole concept of communication, leadership buy-in, and employee engagement are also equally important.

What is the Process Approach of ISO 9001?

ISO 9001 revolves around a systems approach; this fact-based approach supports good decision-making and is key to achieving mutually beneficial supplier relationships. In short, it provides for an interactive process between client and customer from a systems approach, ensuring that the whole concept of continuous improvement is embraced.  The number of Irish organisations adopting ISO 9001 is growing exponentially, with just over 3,300 companies across all industries now certified to the Quality standard, while globally that number exceeds one million.

In comparison with other EU countries, the uptake in Ireland has been strong with industry readily embracing the culture of a management systems approach.  Many business leaders see ISO standards as an international business language. Their very clearly defined requirements cross all borders, bringing uniformity of system, interpretation, and control through accreditation. As with all ISO standards, certification to ISO 9001 allows for global standardisation and benchmarking of product and service excellence.

What Industry Sectors Can Benefit from ISO 9001?

Flexibility is at the foundation of ISO 9001.

The Quality standard has relevance across all industry sectors making it easier for service industries and the public sector to adopt its management system requirements. These clearly laid out requirements are easily applied to the organisation, making the process of adoption and implementation, and reaping the resultant benefits a simple journey that can be accomplished in a short period of time.

International systems are successful only in so far as their benefits are clearly understood. Once organisations can see and understand the justification for business process transformation and the value add it can bring, they invariably proceed without hesitation.

One of the very clear benefits of implementing a QMS is the increased levels of employee buy-in, productivity, and customer service it can help attain. Above all, it is for this reason that most organisations go to such transformative lengths to both achieve and maintain ISO 9001 accreditation.

Dedicated resources need to be assigned to the management system, with a lot of time and effort committed to its ongoing maintenance, improvement, and of course, success.

So many companies around the world wouldn’t continue to invest in their QMS if they weren’t seeing the value in or benefits from it.

ISO Quality Management Standard

To achieve ISO 9001 certification the efficacy and compliance of the system implemented by the organisation are evaluated and documentation examined. Regular ISO Audits must be carried out to maintain compliance and certification, thereby ensuring the ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the management system. This ultimately results in the system remaining both relevant to and capable of meeting ever-changing customer needs and expectations.

In short, ISO 9001 works to a business process model that is closely aligned to the way in which most successful organisations operate, resulting in Quality Management systems that are effective, streamlined, and transparent.

For more information on ISO 9001 Quality Management System, ISO certification, and ISO QMS services offered by CG Business Consulting contact Caroline at hello@cgbc.ie or 01 - 620 4121.