Learn About These Crucial Challenges of ISO 9001 Certification

by Isabel Blamey Professional writer

Summary:

This article is going to pinpoint the key challenges that organizations, big or small, can face while seeking to achieve the ISO 9001 certification for their quality management system.

Being ISO certified means that your business has a validated quality management system (QMS) fulfilling all requirements of the ISO 9001 standard. By enabling you to focus more on quality and bringing efficiency in processes, it can assure higher customer satisfaction and improved internal management. However, just like any big achievement in business, the ISO 9001 certification can be an effort-consuming process and can involve both direct and indirect costs.

Without a doubt, there are many benefits of the certification which overweigh the difficulties or challenges of achieving it. This article points out a few of the most common challenges that can come with certificaiton. It can help you decide whether certification benefits outweigh its costs and challenges.

Certification Requirements are Tricky

Quality assurance experts have always mentioned that. ISO 9001 requirements are quite complex requiring skill and expertise to understand them fully. Each of its clauses must be understood and satisfied in your organization to become qualified for certification. This can be quite challenging, especially if your organization is a new one and you have not yet implemented a quality management system (QMS).

Becoming Certified can be a Time-consuming Journey

The entire journey of designing and implementing the ISO 9001 quality management system properly can take some time. While for a small startup or business firm, it can take between 3 to 6 months, if your organization is large and has multitude processes, it can be more time consuming. For large companies it can be a more time-intensive process to become ISO compliant. Enough time is needed to work carefully to build a QMS that covers each and every area of the business. Besides that, time is needed to appoint certification consultants to guide with QMS formulation, coach employees about its operations, and integrate your new QMS with other managerial systems.

Management is Involved

Documentation is the process of having information and records of everything concerning the QMS. The ISO 9001 standard mandates maintenance of extensive documentation which can be another challenge for an organization. It is a process or part of ISO certification that involves the top-tier management of your organization. Management officials should completely undertake the responsibility of preparing the documents and maintaining them consistently. Maintaining documentation is also essential to establish the tasks or responsibilities of the relevant employees in quality management. It acts as an instructional manual or guide for the employees. Documentation thus it creates a greater accountability of the employees and if anything goes off the track, they can be corrected immediately.

Expensive for Smaller Companies

ISO certification can be a pricy process for businesses and hence small companies may be reluctant to invest in it. They usually have little knowledge and resources to start the certification process. From having advisory on documentation and implementation to performing internal audits, most phases of the certification process require a third-party service provider. In addition, simply achieving the certification is not enough for an organization. An organization also needs to market it or promote to let everyone know about their quality compliance. For instance, they should incorporate in their brand name or logo, signage boards, stamps, signatures and so on. Companies which are unable to show off their certification as a credible achievement might fail to reap some benefits including increased sales, new business opportunities in international markets, and brand recognition. Altogether getting ISO 9001 certified can be a costly affair for new businesses or small companies.

Short-term Results are Few

It is true that ISO 9001 certification brings effective results in the long run, starting with increased process efficiency, customer satisfaction, and increased revenue over time. However, there are not as many remarkable benefits in the short term. You cannot expect to see results just immediately after implementing the ISO compliant QMS.

Getting ISO 9001 certified is a praiseworthy achievement for a business which is worth all efforts and time. Besides making your organization highly competent and quality-driven, it can also make your employees performance-driven and create a difference to your customers.

Author Bio:

Damon Anderson is the owner of a recognized ISO certification consultancy which provides compliance services for the ISO 9001 certification as well as other certifications. He is a blog writer too and writes about ISO 9001 quality management system implementation, challenges, risks, and tips for ongoing maintenance.

Contact Details:
Business Name: Compliancehelp Consulting, LLC
Email Id: info@quality-assurance.com
Phone No: 877 238 5855