ISO 9001 Recommended
The British Assessment Bureau asked respondents, all of which had ISO 9001 in place, whether they would recommend the standard to other organisations. Overall, 97% of organisations, spanning sole traders to companies on the FTSE 100, said they would recommend the quality management standard to others.
Since its inception in 1987, ISO 9001 has grown to be the most recognised way of demonstrating quality management credentials to stakeholders. Used by organisations of all sizes worldwide, there are thought to be well over 1,000,000 who have achieved third party certification to the standard. Today, ISO 9001 is a business winner because of its popularity within public and private sector procurement departments.
This proved to be the case when the British Assessment Bureau asked their ISO 9001 certified clients. A total of 55% of respondents said they had either won new business, were able to tender for contracts or met a client requirement by implementing the standard. In addition, 49% said they had improved internal processes, and 25% said it had raised their profile or credibility. Verbatim comments such as those from Mike Van Bunnens at Comms365 Limited summed up the experience of many:
“We have definitely won new business as a result of having ISO 9001 certification in place.”
When the results on recommending ISO 9001 were broken down, the survey showed it was larger organisations who were the most keen to recommend ISO 9001 at 100%. Meanwhile, 96% of those in the SME bracket said they would recommend the standard.
The survey included responses from organisations which had achieved certification recently, as well from those with certification in place for some time. There was a slight difference between the two groups, with new clients of the British Assessment Bureau at 96%, whilst the figure increased to 97% for established clients.
The British Assessment Bureau’s Director of Marketing, Robert Fenn, commented on the survey results:
“We’re delighted to see the recommendation figure of ISO 9001 so high. Our annual survey is now in its 4th year and the responses have been consistent over time. This shows that the standard is as relevant and popular as ever.”
ISO 9001 is currently being revised by the International Organization for Standardization; the existing ISO 9001:2008 version is to be replaced by a 2015 update.
Source: Digital Journal
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