Why does one company need ISO Certifications?
Every day we want to do things a little better than the day before. Maybe you’ve good results but cannot really measure your improvements. Sometimes it may feel like you’re trying to do everything better, but in a disorganized sort of way. Perhaps you just needed a guide to follow and document everything. Sometimes, that is called ISO certification.
At tec:agency, the search for the right ISO certifications took a while. We knew they were globally recognized and that there are probably tens of thousands of standards covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing. But in the end, we decided to get certified for the quality, security and environmental systems. They are the clear choice for us and our field of work. Quality and security are two of the main pillars on which you build your software product, and grow naturally, and then the environment needs no justification. Love for nature and sport is imprinted in our organizational culture.
How did we do it?
We decided to work on this with a narrow team of four – let us call them the ISO team. We had a coordinator and a responsible for each standard, but we had pretty much everyone else in the company involved in the implementation process; and in the end, it was definitely a team effort.
During the implementation process, the ISO team had a meeting every week, where everybody checked everybody else’s work and asked for feedback. We had lots of debates on matters like risk assessments or finding the best possible solution for a certain policy or procedure. There was such a good synergy between the people involved, we honestly got only fun stories with these meetings.
You can find some of our general policies on our website – here.
If we had to split the whole ISO experience into 3 stages
Impatience – we were just waiting to start already. We didn’t really know what ISO is all about. That Or what was our role in this whole story. With all the research, sometimes nothing really made sense. Everything looked so complicated, it is fair to say that we were a bit nervous.
Order – Out of a sudden, nothing really felt complicated anymore; when we got a coordinator from an external company to help us with the implementation process. We took everything step by step. It was a lot of work. Many hours of editing documents later, we are now left with lots of great memories.
Relief – You could say that the third stage started when we were all done – implementation and paperwork; and boy, we were relieved. For a few weeks we are just monitoring the systems and updating paperwork – and always, keep an eye open for improvements. At this point, we all agree that we found a little something to improve in our daily routines as well. We are truly happy with the energy we have been investing into these certifications; and now that an authorized body validated our work, it is a rewarding feeling that floats within our company.
What’s next?
The ISO certifications are valid for a 3-year period; and during this time there are several “ceremonies” that you usually need to attend, to remain certified; after 3 years there is a new audit, that you need to pass to renew the certifications.
There is always room for improvement on each standard; and we are eager to learn new ways of adapting ISO recommendations or best practices to our internal procedures and policies.
Little piece of advice for those who want to get certified?
Obtaining the certification should be a means to an end goal, and the end goal is to keep improving. Don’t rush to get over with the paperwork so you would get certified. Consider doing everything in a manner that would help you and your organization grow.
What are ISO Certifications?
ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, and their story began in 1946 at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London.
An ISO certification certifies that a management system, manufacturing process, service or documentation procedure has all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance. ISO is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems.
Our company decided to get certified on three systems, which cover our field of work in and out. If you want to go more in depth with these standards, check the links below.
We are currently for the following standards:
ISO 9001:2015 – Quality management system
ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental management system
ISO/IEC 27001:2013 – Information security management system
