7 tips to follow to implement ISO standards

You will surely wonder how to implement them in your company, which ones you can use, and which benefits you will have by doing so. At Full Audits we want to help you find the answers to those questions.

ISO standards were created to help companies, and through the coordination, simplification and unification of criteria, they can reduce costs and increase effectiveness, trying to standardize the standards that rule the quality of products and services worldwide. Currently, more and more companies decide to implement Quality Management Systems, since it is a strategic decision that they cannot let go.  We share 7 tips so you can apply the rules to your company:

1. Study and publicize the ISO standard to be implemented.
Being clear about the purpose to avoid deviating from the path, is the first step for the task to go well. It is necessary to understand and introduce to the members of the company, which benefits the implementation of the chosen quality standard will give the company, and how long it will take to implement.

2. Appoint the person(s) in charge of the Quality System
The people chosen, will be the ones in charge of analyzing the current situation of the company.They will evaluate and analyze which resources should be used, both economic, human and technological.The verification, monitoring and control of all processes must be carried on. And of course, together with the management team, make the appropriate decisions to resolve incidents.It is no longer strictly necessary for the audit to be carried out by a specialized team. With tools like Full Audits, it is possible to audit to achieve ISO standards. With our system it is not necessary for the people who use it to have technical training, nor does it need server configurations.

3. Analyze the company’s situation.
Since we have set the goal, now we have to know how far it is from our current situation.
That is why we must make an evaluation of all the processes of the company that are involved.
This information is important to later analyze what is the percentage of viability of complying with the ISO standard that you want to certify.
This work, as we have said before, will be carried out by the person(s) in charge of the Quality Management System.
With the use of our tool’s Checklist, this step becomes very simple and intuitive, since personalized lists can be created that will later be completed by the team.

 4. Involve the entire team and make communication effective
Communication is essential in any process. The awareness of the employees and members of the company regarding the benefits that the certificate and the implementation of the ISO standard will provide, will only happen if the communication is fluid and effective.If everyone in the organization is motivated and committed so that everything goes as planned, there is little chance of failure.Without communication nothing could be coordinated or organized. Our software allows the entire team to be integrated into the same platform, synchronizing the people in charge of the audits with the rest of the company’s areas. This will make the audit more efficient and everyone will have the necessary information to fulfill their tasks.

5. Perform internal audit.
Here comes the process of verification and/or validation of compliance with the processes and its purpose is to identify which activities are carried out as expected, which are not and which need to be improved.Done correctly, it will make it possible to identify errors, as well as correct them in time, and take the necessary measures to get back on the right track. In addition to being an essential step to obtain an ISO standard certificate, the management of internal audits will improve the internal management of the company. Workers will be more efficient and productivity will improve. If you want to know more benefits about internal auditing, consult our article ”What are audits and what is their role in an organization?”

6. Decide which organization will certify
One of the biggest doubts of the interested parties is always if the implementation of a Quality Management System necessarily implies to implement the ISO standards, and the answer is no. You can get it up and running without the need to obtain a certificate. But in case you want to do it, you should choose the organization that guarantees greater professionalism, quality and effectiveness.

 7. Perform the certification audit The moment of truth.
An official audit that will check if you meet all the objectives and requirements. If the audit is positive, they can grant you ISO certification. In the event that the results are not as expected, the company will have a period of three months to correct the errors. If you want to continue reading more about ISO standards, we invite you to continue reading on our blog “ISO Standards: Everything you need to know to enter the world of certifications”