Getting expert help with your ISO 9001 certification will save you time and money.
Eight ISO 9001 Management Principles of ISO 9001 Standard
Enlisted below are the top eight ISO 9001 management principles:
- Focus on Customers’ Needs and Demands
- Top Leadership Commitment
- Employees’ Engagement
- Fundamental Process Approach
- Basic System Approach
- Continual Improvement Cycle
- Evidence-Based Approach for Decision Making
- Supplier Vendor Relationship
Mandatory ISO 9001 Certification Documentation
- Objectives and criteria to measure success
- Quality Policy
- Customer Feedback
- Management Reviews
- Internal Audits
- Document Control
- Process Interaction and its Approach
- Supplier Relationship
- ISO 9001 standard copy
What are the Options to Implement ISO 9001 Certification?
There are two basic options to get ISO 9001 implemented in any organization.
- Hiring an ISO Expert Consultant
- DIY (Do It Yourself Approach)
Get the ISO 9001 Certification Cheat Sheet.
ISO 9001 Implementation with the Help of ISO Expert Consultant
If you have decided to take an external help i.e. hiring an ISO expert consultant who has success-proven experience of implementing ISO 9001 standard and the ISO 9001 management principles. Here are the following benefits an ISO consultant should offer you.
- A consultant will Get Your Work Done on Your Behalf
After hiring a consultant, all the implementation process and documentation will be the job of the consultant. Ensure your team uses consultants and provides them support whenever needed and the consultant is well-supervised by the higher management. Your consultant should follow the ISO 9001 management principles.
- Corrective Actions in Documentations
The consultant will have a detailed study about existing documentation of your organization and will advise and discuss the required amendments. After management approval, the consultant will make sure to do necessary corrections and will assist your team to implement such mandatory corrections.
- Training
Make sure your consultant will educate and train your staff about all the mandatory requirements of ISO 9001 standard and will ensure that the team knows and deeply understand.
ISO 9001 DIY (Do It Yourself) Approach
The DIY approach might not be workable for every business type and every business need depending upon the number of employees being working for the group. In this case, your own employees will be responsible for doing process analysis, conducting various interview sessions, designing and even re-designing documentation process but that would again depend on how much your employees are being trained and educated on ISO 9001 standard or if they have some relevant exposure or not.
Make sure your employees are not overwhelmed with other day to day projects because daily routine work might overburden your current employees and they won’t be able to focus on actual most important task i.e. ISO 9001 implementation. Getting your documents ready by your own employees will make them feel empowered and will definitely increase their competency level by making them learn in their own way to sustain ISO 9001 management principles in their system.
How to Decide Which Approach Is Best For Your Business?
There is no hard and fast rule to implement ISO 9001. It is dependent on your current business situation.
Go For Hiring A Consultant Only If:
- You have time limits. ISO 9001 implementation is a time-bound process so hire an ISO expert consultant if you have a time crunch.
- Your employees are busy with current projects and not able to manage ISO 9001 implementation as a priority.
- You are confident about the competency of the ISO consultant.
Go for DIY Approach Only If:
- You have ample time before the audit and your employees have prior experience and knowledge of ISO standards and implementation.
- You had a bad financial year and cannot afford to hire a consultant.
- You don’t believe in knowledge sharing.
Before Hiring Any ISO Consultant
Some ISO consultants might help you by going the extra mile to get you ISO 9001 certified. On the other hand, some ISO consultants prefer to get their job done, go for certification, get paid and move to the next job.
Being a major stakeholder of your company, do your homework first in order to make sure you hire the best of the best ISO consultants.