Monday 25 February 2013

ISO9001 - the new,cool kid on the block?


You don't need me to tell you that we are living through the worst recession in most people memories.  In tough times, businesses have 2 choices:-

1. Hunker down, conserve resources and hopefully come out of the other side
2.  Find a way to differentiate your business from the competition, become more efficient and competitive and come out fighting

For businesses that have chosen option 2, there are a couple of pieces of good news:

The first one is that help is on hand.  Help to make you more profitable, help to win you more customers, and help to make you stand out from the crowd.

We will come back to the second piece of good news in a moment, but let us just focus on the first for just a second longer…

This help comes in possibly one of the most surprising forms – ISO9001:2008!

The British Standard synonymous with Quality Management is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance of late.  This is due, in part, to businesses looking for new, cost-effective ways to set themselves apart from their competition.

In certain circles ISO9000 certification is nothing new – if you regularly supply to the Public sector or if you are part of the supply chains for some of the automotive manufacturers in Europe then this will be fairly common place – but for other industries it is relatively un-chartered territory.

So, herein lies the opportunity – if you want to set yourself apart from your competition, if you want to demonstrate to the world that you are a supplier who can work to the highest standards, if you want to invest in your people and processes, if you want to win new work (a survey in 2011 carried out by the British Assessment Bureau found that 44% of ISO certified companies were winning new and better work) then maybe ISO9000 is for you

And now, back to the second piece of good news;

There are currently schemes available to support the design and implementation of ISO9000 – and by support, I mean financial support, up to 40% of the value of the project (covering the writing of the processes and procedures, preparing the business for the implementation, training staff and also the initial inspection costs)

So, what are you waiting for?  Take the first steps to setting your business apart from the competition today – by calling Blue Box Management Consultants for a no-obligation chat through the options around ISO9000 and the funding that is available.

Blue Box are currently working with a number of clients to help improve their processes and procedures, helping them to become and remain more competitive and profitable, and to win and retain new clients.

Call us on 084 3289 3288 or email info@blueboxconsultancy.com