What is a Quality Management System (ISO 9001)?

For many years now, ISO is responsible for helping establish solid practice and sustainability for businesses of all levels on a global scale. Since the end of the Second World War, it’s been ISO’s mission to put in place a set of standards to follow that are recognised as the correct process. It can be with a product, person, service or any number of different ways to set a good standard. ISO have a range of standards in place that supports the theory that a business has the correct processes and procedures in place. ISO 9001 is a Quality Management System. Abbreviated as a QMS.

What is a Quality Management System?

Including standardised systems to support Energy Management, Food Safety or Information Security, a Quality Management System is important documentation that recognises a business is meeting the required high standards to meet customer satisfaction when selling a service or product. It’s the continued management, improvement and review of processes. Over a million organisations in over 170 countries have ISO 9001.

Holding ISO certification is a way to tell the world quality is important to you. Having a 9001 certification has a range of benefits that will separate those that don’t in many ways.

The Benefits of Having an ISO 9001

• Generate more revenue and reduce costs for your business by creating an all-around efficiency for your product or service.
• Improve processes at all levels to satisfy the supply chains, partners, customers and anyone else involved.
• Increase customer satisfaction by demonstrating you do what it takes to ensure quality before, during and after a product or service is offered.
• Boost employee morale thanks to better communication in line with ISO 9001.
• Monitor all aspects of an organisation’s processes to keep up with industry standards and set a clear direction for the future.

What Do You Need to Setup an ISO 9001 QMS?

For a speedy process, it is recommended you use an approved consultancy. However, where this is not possible, you need to consider:

1. Create the framework for your QMS – consider how you intend to build it (e.g. Dropbox, SharePoint, Lever Arch).
2. Build it using your expertise in-house or externally. You know your processes better than anyone!
3. Start using that system in a controlled manner to understand what’s working and not working.
4. Measure the performance of your QMS and how your business is benefitting from its introduction.
5. Review what might be going wrong with practices you have put in place to monitor not just your QMS, but your business as a whole.
6. Following your review, always look to improve any flaw in your system that requires addressing to improve the customer experience and business goals.

Although there are many different types of standards in place to impact all areas of business and sustainability positively, ISO 9001 is the most recognised standard. Having the correct processes in place for any business or organisation to operate smoothly and evolve can not be underestimated. More than one million businesses with a 9001 in place to date are a testament to that.