When businesses are interested in ISO certification, the fastest way to achieve this is through a dedicated online service that will help them meet the necessary quality management standards.

When businesses are looking for certification, they are typically thinking about the ISO 9000 family, which is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) that ensure that businesses are meeting their regulatory responsibilities, whilst also ensuring they are keeping up with the demands of customers and stakeholders alike.

Of the five ISO 9000 QMS standards, the one that most companies are looking for is ISO 9001:2015, often known simply as “ISO 9001”, “ISO 9000” or even simply “ISO”.

The standard itself is based around a 30-page set of requirements but its fundamental focus is based on seven quality management principles (QMP) which form or at least should form a foundation for how a business is managed and operated.

Here are the seven and why they matter.

Customer Focus

The first QMP standard is perhaps the most obvious one. As the late entrepreneur and businessman Jack Tramiel put it, businesses are there to serve the customer.

Without customers, businesses simply cannot exist, and with that in mind, companies focused on ISO 9001 should be mindful not only of customer needs right now but the future of their needs in the future.

The priority should be to meet the standards of the customer and serve them, ensuring that the customer’s expectations are understood so they can be delivered upon effectively and efficiently.

Leadership

One of the most critical and misunderstood aspects of many businesses is structure, hierarchy and leadership, as well as the role of leaders in organisations of varying scales.

Leaders need to be the ones to form and shape a united direction and purpose of any organisation and be able to lead a wide range of disparate teams in the same direction to achieve the overarching mission of the company.

Engagement Of People

Companies are ultimately collectives of diverse, skilled individuals, and ultimately no company succeeds without people who are able to do the job they are employed to, are empowered and recognised for their abilities, and buy into the overall goals of the organisation.

Without people on board, you do not have a company.

Process Approach

Business activities are typically a series of interrelated processes that work together to create an overall system, and once a business fully understands this, it can manage and continually improve these processes to achieve consistent output results.

Improvement

Perfection is an overall goal, but not one that is achievable. There is always room for improvement, and an eternal goal for any organisation is to keep getting better, streamline processes and get the greatest return out of every part of the business.

Evidence-Based Decision Making

Data dominates the business world, and whilst one should avoid discounting anything that cannot be quantified, decisions should be made based on effective, objective analysis to as much pertinent information as possible.

Relationship Management

No business exists in a vacuum. Virtually every company has contractors, suppliers, service providers and other stakeholders that are part of symbiotic, interdependent business relationships. It is important to see the value in these relationships and foster them to ensure everyone thrives.