Every company’s goal is to always strive for the best in making quality products for consumers. This means each company has its standard way of making products. To ensure that the process of creating products is safe, international standards are established. One organization responsible for such is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
In the business world, becoming ISO certified signifies that the company met the international standards, since gaining a professional certification means that its product services meet the customers’ expectations. Hence, garnering such certification is already a huge step towards improvement and international recognition.
However, to consumers who do not know how the business world functions, ISO certification might not even matter at all to them. So for the benefit of both striving companies and curious consumers, here is everything you need to know about the International Organization for Standardization.
What is the International Organization for Standardization?
It is an independent and nongovernmental organization founded in 1947 in Geneva, Switzerland, developing and establishing industrial and commercial standards. In addition, the organization plays an important role in enabling global trade by providing common standards among various countries.
The standards that the ISO publishes are intended to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems. With this, the organization has been known to establish more than 20,000 standards ranging from technology and product manufacture to food safety, agriculture, and even healthcare.
What is ISO Certification?
ISO certification is a verification that a management system, manufacturing processes, or documentation process meets all of the standards and requirements for quality assurance.
This certification exists in many areas of the industry, and each has its unique sets of standards and criteria, which are all numerically classified.
For instance, any company can apply for iso 14001 accreditation or an environmental management system certification as long as they meet the internationally agreed standards in controlling environmental issues. There are different kinds of ISO certifications available, and all companies can apply for any such depending on what’s required for the business.
Why is ISO Certification Important?
To be ‘ISO Certified’ means that an organization has already established and continually aims to improve and maintain its business process. Companies appreciated how ISO standards have significantly improved their business processes and ensured the products and services’ quality, consistency, and safety.
Moreover, manufacturing companies have also adopted the ISO standards. It provides sales and marketing advantages, offers authentic value through material and resource savings, and said standards represent a commitment to meet the company’s requirements and the customer.
As ISO publishes international standards, the organization itself is not directly issuing certifications to other organizations. Instead, a company must use third-party assessors or certification bodies, known as registrars, to perform the task of auditing and ensuring that the organization has met the requirements.
Benefits of ISO Certification
Apart from further improving the standardization in systems of organizations, there are other more benefits when an organization is ISO certified. Such benefits include:
• International Credibility: ISO certification can be essential in helping the organization build credibility in international business. This can be a huge improvement for organizations to be recognized internationally.
• Customer Satisfaction: The standards that ISO publishes make companies offer better quality services that will simultaneously increase consumer satisfaction.
• Product Quality: Once an organization is ISO certified, the quality of products is enhanced to match up with international standards, thus reducing the chances of product order rejections due to flaws in the products.
• Business Efficiency: There is an improvement in the aspect of functional efficiency of organizations when obtaining an ISO certification as companies are required to have a system in place for detecting how and why problems occurred, how they can be operationally resolved, and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
• Marketability: An ISO-certified company will improve business efficiency, which will directly benefit the business’ marketing. The more a company is internationally recognized, the more its products can be marketable.
• Trustworthiness: A company with ISO certification brings unity to employees and its department through a collaborative effort as everyone understands and works according to the same family of standards. With this, companies provide quality services that consumers can trust.
How popular is ISO certification
The International Organization for Standardization(ISO) initially targeted manufacturing companies in the late 1940s. Since then, ISO certification has become so popular that it has found its way to reach over 100 million companies across the world. Big or small companies adopt the ISO standards to ensure quality management service.
Takeaway
Almost every organization has similar goals, which aim to deliver the best service it can provide. Through ISO certification, the benefits that a company acquires greatly outweigh the expenses. When adhering to the standards of ISO, the quality of service and product it offers matches international standards.
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