ISO 9001 Certifications: Difficult and Rigorous, but Worth the Effort (Demo)

In business, ironing out every aspect of your company is what merits a second glance from prospective clients, not to mention closed deals with customers. Ironing out everything—from production to operations, to customer relations—is absolutely imperative because this will determine how your clientele will regard your company. However, no matter how good your company is at what it does, it will have difficulty expanding without certification based on parameters developed by international standards bodies. One of these bodies is the International Standards Organization (ISO), an institution based in Switzerland that helps standardize company management and production quality systems for a range of companies of various sizes and industries. The ISO has several connections to different countries, as well as agencies that conduct the assessment, such as the International Standards Authority, Inc. While the ISO has many policies and certifications, one of these covers good customer service and quality management, which is accomplished by acquiring an ISO 9001 application. Theresa Phillips of About.com writes in her article that an ISO certification can do wonders for your business. Much like other forms of certification, being ISO-certified would greatly help you gain trust over prospective clients as well as help build up rapport with your current ones. Since the assessments conducted by the certification agencies run deep into the company, the process of certification also helps in further ironing specific procedures or systems. The ISO 9001 standard was first adopted in 2000, and is focused on making sure that companies deliver their services with the customer in mind. It helps maintain strict adherence to the standards of the company and the industry, as well as help encourage customers to voice out comments and complaints to check the company’s performance. It also increases efficiency by looking into and helping improve the quality and execution of production or operations. An application for any certification from the ISO is very difficult to gain. While it would always depend on the company’s current condition, becoming ISO-certified will take a lot of time and preparation since ISO audits from assessors like the International Standards Authority Inc. are very rigorous and detailed, and could even take a company up to three years to become suitable for the certification. Rest assured, however, that money and effort invested on your end won’t be wasted. This is because certifications from huge bodies like the ISO help a company improve itself as well as expand its market. No entrepreneur worth his salt should ever turn such an opportunity down.