As competition increases it becomes more and more difficult to differentiate your business in a crowded marketplace. What makes you different to the many other small to medium sized Australian businesses that sell similar products or services? How can you stand out and continue to generate the growth that you need? What can give you the X-factor you need to attract new customers?
Achieving ISO Certification can help you stand out from the crowd. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of International Standards. Over 20 million businesses worldwide are certified or recognized.
ISO Certification can expand the opportunities your business has before it. Given that it is recognised internationally, it can open you up to new markets and new client categories, and positioning your operation as an Aussie business that is truly different to its competitors – more professional, more responsible, more committed and more mature. This can have a positive effect on many stakeholders who are important to your operation – bankers and financiers, insurance companies, staff and unions and existing customers.
In addition to how your business is perceived, there are many practical advantages to ISO Certification in Australia. This strategic management ‘toolbox’ can give you more control over your business and allow you to help increase workplace productivity, reduce errors, accidents and wastage, and target new business from government and multinational enterprises (which often demand ISO Certification as a minimum standard in tenders and competitive offers).
So, given the benefits, it makes sense to engage the services of a qualified and experienced ISO Certification Consultant, such as Pykett Management Systems, to help you navigate the certification process.
The Five Key Stages of Attaining ISO Certification in Australia
There are multiple different ISO standards. Regardless of which standard you are trying to attain, the process fairly similar. With each, there are five important steps in the process of getting your ISO Certification in Australia. Broadly, they are:
Stage 1 – Comparison of your business’s existing processes again the Standard
Stage 2 – Preparing your ISO Documentation
Stage 3 – Creating your ISO Certification Management System
Stage 4 – Training staff and implementing the system
Stage 5 – Monitoring and auditing
Now, let’s take a closer look at what is involved in each of these steps.
Stage 1
An experienced ISO Certification Consultant in Australia, such as Pykett Management Systems, can work with you to ascertain what your business has done in the past in terms of certification; what it is you’d like to achieve from the process; which of the ISO Certifications suit your business best; and which would bring the most potential benefits. The ISO certifications include Standards such as:
- Quality Management
- Safety Management
- Food Safety Management
- Environmental Management
Stage 2
The documentation you submit will be reviewed to decide whether your business will achieve accreditation. It must lay out your objectives in meeting the particular Standard and the procedures that your business must follow to achieve each of those objectives.
Your documentation will be reviewed by a Conformity Assessment Body which has been accredited by JASANZ (Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand) as part of your audit.
This stage is where many businesses fail. If your documentation is not up to scratch, your application will be denied. An experienced ISO Certification Consultant can help to ensure that your application doesn’t fall at this important hurdle. The skilled team at Pykett Management Systems have decades of experience in creating ISO documentation.
Stage 3
Pykett Management Systems can then work with you to help you create an effective management system to enable the ongoing monitoring and updating of your new processes. We can create this structure for you; review the work that you have done to create your own structure; or work side by side with your team to develop it. With years of knowledge and experience from industries including civil, construction, engineering, electrical, manufacturing, architectural and more we have advised countless businesses to achieve certification of their own management system.
Stage 4
The Implementation phase is probably the most time-consuming of the ISO Certification process. This is where the ‘rubber hits the road’ and where the theoretical becomes reality, as the new procedures that have been created to achieve and maintain certification are integrated into your business. An experienced ISO Certification Consultant can help a great deal during this phase, by:
- Training your employees on the new procedures
- Creating a risk-based schedule for your internal audits
- Carrying out the initial internal audit once procedures have been implemented
- Doing follow-up audits
- Contributing to management review meetings
Employee training is key – including the training Pykett management Systems can supply for your management staff who may have responsibilities to comply with the standards or manage the company’s compliance. Your employees at the ‘coal-face’ must know what is required of them and why these new processes are important, and all levels of management must be aware of the implications their decisions may have on your accreditation, as well as how to take advantage of the new credibility your ISO accreditation brings.
Stage 5
ISO Certification usually lasts for a period of three years. During this time, there are a series of audits – both internal audits that your team or consultants carry out, and external audits by outside observers – to ensure that your business is meeting its responsibilities and remains compliant with the relevant standard/s.
As experienced ISO Certification consultants, Pykett Management Systems can carry out multiple audits over the year to ensure you are in compliance, identify any new challenges that have arisen due to changes in your operations, identify any opportunities to streamline your processes and make them more efficient, and respond to any changes in certification required by new legislation or statutory requirements.
The owner of Pykett Management Systems, Martin Pykett, has been writing and implementing Management Systems for over 25 years and has held the role of Senior Lead Auditor (JAS-ANZ Accredited) Certifications for the past 15 years. His expertise is highly regarded in the industry in Australia and his certifications cover three distinct International and Australian standards.
In addition, Pykett management Systems can offer refresher courses for staff on compliance, as well as training new staff on their responsibilities under the standards.
Take The Next Step Today
If you are ready to talk about how ISO Certification can improve the credibility of your business, expose it to a new level of potential clients, reduce waste and inefficiency and strengthen its perception across the range of stakeholders you deal with, it’s time to talk to the expert ISO Certification Consultants – Pykett Management Systems Australia. Pykett Management Systems can do as much or as little as you need, from complete writing, implementation and management of your companies’ systems through to being a helping hand on the sideline as an ISO consultant or business coach.
