You may be wondering whether it’s worth the cost and trouble of getting ISO and other certifications for your business. According to dozens of studies, the answer is a resounding yes!
In fact, 98% of companies with ISO certification rated it either a good or very good investment, according to a United Nations survey. A recent review of 82 studies on ISO found that certification had “clear benefits” in terms of operations, customer satisfaction and employee engagement. ISO is like making a solid foundation for your house. You can build a strong business on it.
Here are eight concrete benefits from getting ISO:
1) Promotes best practices—ISO and other standards give you access to internationally recognized best practices across your business. Standards exist for everything from quality management to environmental performance, information security, food safety, risk management, and health and safety.
2) Helps you become more productive—Adhering to standards requires you to clearly define, document and monitor your business processes. You also need to set objectives for your company and measure your progress. This work is critical to building a lean, productive business.
3) Keeps customers happy—Standards help keep customers satisfied by improving complaint management, quality control and client satisfaction monitoring. Research indicates one of the top benefits from certification is reduced customer complaints.
“Every business wants more clients, but if you don’t keep them satisfied, you’ll just get more unhappy clients,” Ledoux says.
4) Improves revenues—Certification can help your bottom line. Three in five companies that adopted ISO increased their revenues, according to a 2015 analysis of 92 studies. The revenue increase was significantly higher than for non-certified companies.
The best performance results happen in companies that make a sustained effort to improve operations—not just before the next recertification audit.
5) Opens doors to new markets—Standards gives your business access to new markets. For example, you may be eligible for government contracts that require adherence to certain standards. Or, maybe, you’ll be able to join the supply chain of a larger company or a megaproject. In adult beverage, distributors only have so much room in thier portfolio for brands. Those that distinguish themselves with ISO standards may be seen in a better light than a similar brand without it. It has obvious value for exporters, as many standards are recognized worldwide and can increase your credibility with customers in international markets.
6) Fosters team commitment—Meeting ISO standards can help you foster a more engaged and productive workforce. Certified businesses report better job satisfaction, turnover, absenteeism, employee motivation and manager-employee communication.
The process of certification brings together managers and employees to work toward common objectives, using consistent processes and goals for improvement.
7) Applies to all sizes—Certification is useful for business of all sizes, even those with only a few employees. Smaller businesses sometimes pursue certification because of supply chain requirements or when they want to adopt best practices in their operations.
8) Increase the value of your business – A good foundation builds a good business, and ISO 9000 is a good foundation for businesses that want to expand their market. By introducing a quality management system to any size business, the quality of processes will increase which reduces costs as inefficiency decreases.
In addition, a small business will be able to advertise their use of the internationally recognized ISO 9000 for customers and channel partners. This may create business opportunities that were not available before an objectively verified quality management system was in place.
Having management systems in place will also help when selling your business. The integrity and value of a small business will be apparent with well-documented processes, well trained staff, and proof of quality enhancing businesses’ reputation in any situation and adding to your ultimate valuation.
