Benefits of ISO certification 1.

Quality requirements are defined for organization and quality objectives, quality policy are implemented audits improve problem areas and overall quality management gets a valuable standard quality process due to ISO certification. 2. Prevention of losses of man power, materials, customer satisfaction organizational gains and avoidance of other losses are advantages of ISO Certification. 3. ISO Certification adds credibility to the organization in terms of products, processes, service and customer satisfaction, ethics, empowerment of participants in the quality process, compliance to statutory obligations. 4. Adds most important quality awareness, quality requirement, objectives, policy to the organization. 5. ISO Certification is mandatory and statutory requirement for organizations engaged in exports to foreign countries were local laws and regulations differ. ISO is a international certification for quality management. it is about establishing, maintaining, and continuously improving a quality management system in the organization. Overall it helps in the better management of the system of the company. Benefits are classified below. INTERNAL BENEFITS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Better management of core business processes. Increased awareness of quality among staff. improved productivity and quality. Improved internal communication. Reduced wastage and cost per unit/service.

EXTERNAL BENEFITS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Competitive advantage Improves customer demand. Protect your business. Qualify for government contracts. One important thing in the ever growing world of business lies in the fact that all business wants to improve the way they operate. This objective can come in different form like increasing their market share, cost reduction, customer satisfaction improvement or the effective management of risks. Thus to achieve these object ives businesses require a proper quality management system which will among other things help them to effectively and efficiently monitor and improve performances in these areas. ISO 9001, no doubt is by far the worlds most established quality
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framework, with the main aim of achieving assured quality and consistency of output. It therefore sets the standard not only for quality management systems, but for management systems in general. To achieve these set standards implies that management needs to continuously review their: 6. Responsibility so as to make sure that the management team show enough commitment to their quality system and at the same time making sure that these responsibilities are carried out with respect to customer needs and business objectives. 7. Management of resources in order to ensure that the personnel and infrastructure needed to improve the quality system as well as the needed work environment are in place. 8. Realization of product by making sure that what the customers need is what is delivered through quality control in their sales processes, product design, development and production. 9. Measuring the outcome of their actions to determine if customers satisfactions have been met with the effectiveness of the system. 10. With these in mind, the advantages of the ISO 9001 can be looked at from both an internal and external point of view. 11. From the external viewpoint, the advantages are: 12. Increased organization image 13. Because ISO 9001 in internationally recognized, businesses that are ISO certified have a greater image than those that are not since the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is recognized worldwide as the authority on quality management. 14. Increase in customer satisfaction 15. Because ISO 9001 ensures that the needs of the customer is considered and met, ISO 9001 helps businesses to consider if their products are delivered in time and in full while at the same time direct and indirect fed back from the customers are implemented for more effectiveness. By this, the confidences of customers are gained and their satisfaction ensured due to the company efficiency, consistency and dedication to quality service. In the end, customer satisfaction leads to increased repeated sales and referrals to new customers from both past and present customers as well as employees. 16. Increase in competitive power 17. By making it one of their top priorities, ISO 9001 helps management to implement a good management system through a good strategic approach since it ensures that objectives of the system are constantly measured in conjunction to the work practices which in turn increase the completive power in the business 18. 19. From an internal viewpoint, they include: 20. Effective management 21. It helps management in reviewing meetings thus making them powerful forums to analyze performance of all crucial operations and at the same time initiate necessary action through delegation of authority and responsibility. This in the long run helps management to create a well-defined time frame for all operations guides for the team and therefore reduces reaction time of the organization.
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22. Decreasing of expenses 23. Increased sales, operational efficiency, greater profitability and higher returns on assets are evidenced benefits of businesses that their products are ISO 9001 certified. It thus brings about greater efficiency and less waste. 24. Motivation of employees through improved communication 25. ISO 9001 helps to ensure that there is more involvement from employees and this is achieved through improved communication. 26. Process improvement 27. Audit processes, management review and improvement processes based on collected data are outlined in the ISO 9001 QMS outlines. It helps improvements to be made in the business since they are well planned and implemented based on facts, through the use of a documentation and analysis system so as to ensure that the best decisions made are in the interest of the business.
I have contributed to this topic before and recently i read some articles that motivated me to contribute again to this topic Quality Management has been achieved in many organizations due to the emergence of quality standard bodies of which the ISO 9000 series is one of them. There is no doubt that its creation is among the positive impacts that have happened to the area of quality in most organizations. Its basic task is to synchronize the organizations tasks and the system in order for uniformity in products or services and conformity to clients expectations to be achieved. It is thus believed that because the body certification is recognized internationally, organizations that become ISO 9000 certified show they are commit ted to customer satisfaction and quality of product or services. Therefore organizations that take to most of this certification and others too, do so because they expect them in helping the organization in doing things better and in the end to provide for the organization some real benefits. Why then do companies become ISO or quality certified or to put in a more open form, what are the advantages of becoming ISO certified? I have read different articles that have touched this question and I will present a summary from the different authors. Adanur and Allen (1995) Studied manufacturing companies and identified these as the potential benefits of ISO Increase in business profit and reduction of costs Reduction in the number of inferior quality of products Reduction in the complaints of customers Improved quality from suppliers Dale (1994) believes that the advantages of being ISO certified includes Identification of those procedures that is ineffective and surplus Improvement in control, documentation, procedure and communication Existence of fewer errors Improved working environment Atwater and Discenza (1993) based their study in the USA and concluded that ISO 3

certification brings about Improvement in the competitive position of the organization Improvement in the plant operating efficiency Increased satisfaction of customers Quazi and Padibjo (1997) in their study also identified the following as the benefits of ISO certification Improvement in the quality image of the organization Increased competiveness in the market Provides the foundation for total quality management implementation Reduced procedures and documentation To Yung (1997), the benefits of ISO 9000 includes Increased quality awareness among staff Increased marketing advantages Improvement in the documentation system Improved effectiveness and efficiency Pan (2003) based his findings on different Asian countries and identified the benefits of ISO 9000 certification as Improved competitive edge which is achieved through increased productivity, quality improvements, increased customer satisfaction, increased profit margin, and cost reduction Improvement in the public relations of the organization Buttle (1997) grouped his benefits of ISO certification into the following Improved process that brings about the elimination of procedural errors and improved management control and ultimately enhanced customer service and efficiency Improved marketing benefits that leads to new customers, improvement in marketing share and sales increase Increased profitability that leads to improved gains and cost reduction and enhanced staff motivation From the above it is quite obvious that ISO certification brings about so many benefits which vary from one angle to another. But in totality a common place where all these different benefits coincide is that certification to ISO standards improves an organizations benefits from marketing such as customer satisfaction improvement, enhanced corporate image of the organization and increased share of the market. But for all these benefits to be achieved, there must be a clear cut commitment to a culture of quality because there if the tendency that an organization though ISO certified can continue in its provision of products of poor quality if it lacks the correct culture of quality. To conclude, ISO certification is still a good reference to begin the process of quality improvement no wonder ISO certified service organizations place much emphasis on quality measurement than do non-certified service firms. Therefore, ISO certification can 4

deliver business benefits but ISO certification should be seen as part of an overall continuous improvement process, rather than an end in itself