The wide-ranging benefits of ISO IT software

For any organisation striving to do the best it can for all of its stakeholders – from customers and employees to investors – setting a course towards achieving high standards might seem to be time-consuming and expensive.

Granted, achieving those goals can result in a number of rewards being reaped, not least increased profit, customer satisfaction and reputation. But a commitment to continuous improvement requires operational rigour that will most likely add a heavy layer of administrative work to your organisation – often involving many team members.

When a business strikes out to achieve ISO certification, standards must be monitored, maintained and measured. And that takes a great deal of work. Of course, this isn’t to say that ISO is not worth the effort; far from it. The benefits of ISO certification are wide-ranging – here are just a few:

• Improved processes and reduced quality concerns
• Motivated employees striving towards the same goal
• Greater customer satisfaction leading to repeat purchase and fewer complaints
• Differentiation from rivals and market leadership

A new dawn for technology-driven ISO management

ISO standards are complex by their nature. While they are generally organised across certain areas in which businesses are seeking to excel – for example ISO 14000 Environmental management or ISO 27001 Information security management – each individual ISO comprises many different aspects that must be seamlessly managed.

Fortunately, the days of relying solely on filing cabinets full of critical documents are over. Even having a co-ordinator fire off emails to your firm’s internal ISO task force could soon be a thing of the past.

That’s because Cloud-based ISO IT systems are making life easier for all of the people responsible for maintaining an organisation’s ISO processes. At Qualitation, we are always looking for additional tools that help our customers facilitate their daily business activities, and we believe ISO IT is a beneficial solution.

The new generations of ISO IT automate many of the most tedious and repetitive tasks related to standards. Let’s take a closer look at how these smart software systems are taking the pain out of ISO management.

ISO IT – software for hard tasks

 ISO IT really can remove frustration for everyone involved in the process: internal ISO teams, external certification companies and auditing bodies.

Take a forthcoming audit at any organisation, for example. There will likely be several people involved in ensuring standards are upheld. Keeping each person informed of their duties, and checking their availability for specific times and dates during the audit process, is in itself no mean feat.

Meanwhile, ISO management requires a “Plan-Do-Check-Act” cycle of operational maintenance, and needs the detail to be traceable. ISO IT systems take care of all of this – and can be relied upon to handle a much wider range of tasks.

Whether the job at hand is enabling participants to update and add feedback to shared documents in the Cloud, in real time; marking specific undertakings complete; allocating further actions; automatically appointing new people to the process; or even alerting senior managers to individual jobs that remain outstanding, such as training or non-compliance, ISO IT can help.

What’s more, all of this can be done in the background, efficiently and with minimal disruption to ongoing day-to-day operations.

IT to suit all shapes and sizes 

The good news is, the benefits of ISO IT systems are not limited to enterprise organisations. They suit a range of technical requirements and knowhow.

Micro businesses that are simply seeking a slick way to look after specific standards, for example ISO 9001 Quality management systems, will find this approach pleasingly efficient. 

Medium to enterprise firms, meanwhile, can take advantage of the resource-saving elements built into ISO IT that go beyond the basics that smaller companies need. With one central management platform for wide-ranging and tedious tasks relating to standards, employees can simultaneously be certain of their role while being released from frustrating administrative work.

 

Whether or not your business already has ISO certification in some areas; is seeking to achieve it in others; or just wants to maintain best practice and be as good as it can be; ISO IT can bring much more to the party than admin assistance alone. Best of all, it can still be used by the ISO team at various levels of authority as a central system for updating and commenting on the process.

In fact, the software can now be developed to handle a range of operational imperatives, including:

• Setting and measuring goals aligned to different stakeholder audiences, from long-term growth targets to environmental impact assessments
• Quantifying customer feedback to improve retention and reduce complaints
• Scrutinising processes to reduce cost per sale and widen profit margins

As firms look at issues that go beyond the bottom line, this type of agile software could be a godsend for tackling a wide range of KPIs that have been identified and are subject to regular reporting. It’s all available – in full report or summary form – at the touch of a button.

Qualitation now acts as an agent to several different companies selling ISO IT systems designed to take hassle away from staff while ensuring a more comprehensive and trackable result.

To speak to one of our team about ISO IT software and the benefits for your business of installing a system please contact: enquiries@qualitation.co.uk or call us on 0345 600 6975.