Blog Is Implementing ISO9001 Beneficial for Smaller Organizations?

Is it right for smaller organizations

CertiKit’s Managing Director, Ken Holmes believes so, “As a small business ourselves, we at CertiKit have found that having an ISO9001-certified QMS in place has helped us enormously in focusing our attention on our objectives and being able to base decisions on measured data, rather than rough perceptions.”

The ISO9001 is beneficial for all business sizes and this is reflected in the variety of businesses currently certified to the standard. Some smaller organizations decide to merge some of the supplied documents together so that the total number of documents in the QMS is reduced.

Ken adds, “Smaller businesses are uniquely placed to gain the benefits of ISO9001 quickly, with their shorter decision cycles, fewer employees to train and raise awareness with, and a higher degree of top management commitment.”

There are several benefits of implementing a QMS for smaller businesses. It can help enormously in focusing attention on objectives and being able to base decisions on measured data, rather than rough perceptions.

Other benefits could include:

• Increased customer trust
• Continual business improvement
• Increased business sustainability
• Understanding critical processes and how they contribute to quality and customer needs

What is the function of the QMS?

The ISO9001 standard proposes that we don’t just need a set of processes; we need a QMS. The function is to wrap itself around the processes and ensure (among other things) that:

1. We know what it is that the processes are supposed to achieve (objectives)
2. We have thought about what could go wrong (risk and opportunity assessment)
3. Everyone knows their part in operating the processes (roles, responsibilities and authorities)
4. It’s clear that this is the way we do things (leadership and commitment)
5. We update the processes when things change (management review)
6. The processes get better over time (continual improvement)

How can the seven quality management principles (QMPs) improve overall business?

1. Customer focus can help expand customer base and increase business reputation
2. Leadership will help increase internal communication and create better business coordination
3. Engagement of people will grow an overall increase in motivation, business understanding and development
4. Process approach for optimised performance and consistent process outcomes
5. Improvement for overall improved process performance, organisational capabilities and customer satisfaction
6. Evidence based decision making will provide an increase in operational efficiency
7. Relationship management can create a well-managed and stable supply chain for goods and services

Is it right for your business?

We believe implementing ISO9001 is beneficial for smaller businesses. Implementing a quality management system is always a culture change towards becoming more proactive as an organization and, with the day-to-day reactive pressures of delivering a product or service, it can sometimes seem daunting. However, we hope you will find that it’s well worth the effort as you come to the gradual realisation that it’s really the only effective way of doing it. The standard demonstrates that the business is committed to improvement of quality as part of its daily operations to benefit customers, employees and stakeholders.

Editor’s note: The original post was published in May 2019, and updates have been made in April 2022 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

More ISO9001 Resources

CertiKit is a provider of ISO toolkits, consultancy and internal auditing services, and has helped more than 4000 organizations worldwide with their compliance.

For more guidance on implementing the ISO9001:2015 standard, we’ve put together a list of our best free resources including sample documents, blogs and downloadable documents.

Free ISO9001 Resources