An Overview of ISO Certification

ISO stands for Indian Standard Organization. ISO certification is a voluntary certification scheme that vouches for the product and service quality of a given company. It provides for the optimization of the entire supply chain of the product, internal processes, testing requirements, so and so forth.

There are varieties of standards under ISO covering thousands of products, allowing manufacturers to ensure the utmost quality.

ISO is a globally-recognized institution that formulates and publishes new and updated standards for a variety of products. It does not grant any certification that vouches for product quality. Rather, there are some notified bodies that provide ISO certificates and audit facilities.

An Overview of Some Popular ISO Standards

The section below sheds light on the most widely-used ISO standards in detail. Let’s take a closer look.

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is the widely-used standard for perfecting the internal processes of the company.  It aims to formulate, deploy, and administer a Quality Management System of any given organization, irrespective of its operation, scope, or size.

ISO 14001

This ISO standard facilitates a framework that systematically implements an environmental management system (EMS). It entails plans, policies, processes, and best practices that create rules concerning how your organization impacts the environment.

ISO 27001

This ISO standard deals with entities practicing information security.  Upon meeting the conditions and audit requirements of this standard, the entity can secure an ISO certificate. The accredited certification body will be the one who performs the audit and grant the certificate.

ISO 22000

This standard pens down the requirements concerning food safety management, aka FSMS. It entails the best practices and guidelines for food processors and packagers so they can ensure the utmost hygiene and safety.

ISO 50001

ISO 50001 provides requirements and a clear framework that helps improve the energy performance of a given company.

The standard basically deals with the aspects like measurement, paperwork, and reporting concerning energy consumption.

In addition to that, ISO 50001 best practices around the design and procurement of energy-consuming equipment and other aspects impacting energy performance that companies can track and improve.

ISO 31000

ISO 31000 refers to a risk management standard that entails guidelines to administer risk safety. Deploying this standard enables safe business operations and helps companies to reach their goals, track pain points, and allot resources for risk mitigation.

ISO 26000

ISO 26000 is a new member of the ISO family. It focuses on social accountabilities and provides directions to companies on how to operate without compromising the social aspects in any scenario. It also enables companies to underpin an explicit system to undertake errands pinpointed with the corporate social responsibility goals.

ISO 20121

Introduced in 2012, ISO 20121 deals with event sustainability. It is a global-acknowledged standard that underpins requirements that help companies improve the sustainability of their event-related activities.

Benefits of Having ISO Certification

Having ISO certification in place can translate to endless benefits, with the prominent ones being as follow:

• Increased efficiency
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Reduced costs
• Reduced risks
• More engaged employees
• Reduced insurance premiums
• Helps with tendering

Some Basic Documents Required for ISO Certification

First, you need to choose the type of ISO Certification required for the business. The essential documents required for ISO Certification are:

• Identity &address proof of the applicant along with a copy of PAN Card &Aadhar card.
• LatetsPassport Size Photographs of the applicant
• Latest Utility Bill
• Copy of Sale deed in case of owned property.
• If the place of business is a rented property, a Rent Agreement is required.
• In the case of a company, a Certificate of Incorporation (CoI), the MOA & AOA.

Process to Secure ISO Certification

Before you secure the ISO certificate, you will have to document your internal processes and deploy the apt procedure for higher quality and efficacy. The steps below will help you become an ISO-certificate company.

Step 1. Underpin the management system

• Jot down your main operations and internal processes.
• Team up with the in-house staff to document the processes
• Track, authenticate, and dispense the document among staff member who needs information.

Step 2. Incorporate your system

• Ensure procedures have been undertaken as per their documented version.
• Ensure staff members have undergone apt training so that they can perform their tasks with utmost quality and transparency.
• Commence a transparent reporting system that covers inspection, testing, measures, management review, statistical techniques, and so on.
• Track the processes’ effectiveness via the use of measurable data.
• Track and deploy apt measures to improve in the areas that are underperformers.

Step 3. Check if your system is optimized or not

• Perform an in-depth audit and review the processes for quality and compliance. Conduct interviews with people and go through the sample records.
• Identify the plus points and pitfalls of the management system.
• Leverage preventive or corrective measures as required.

Step 4. Register your system

• Get access to an apt auditing agency for external registration
• Submit your documents for vetting to ensure it meets all the conditions of the applicable standard.
• Prepare for review to be performed by the third-party auditor. The auditor will check whether the system requirements have been met and a tuned system has been incorporated.

Validity of ISO certificate

Every provider adheres to different operations and internal processes. Here at Swarit Advisor, we help secure certificate that stays valid for one year. Once this timeline is over, the applicant can’t apply for re-certification to keep their processes compliant.

Why Choose Swarit Advisors as your ISO partner?

Our main focus is to keep the process of securing an ISO certificate as simple as possible. We perform a preliminary assessment of the company to find out the current status of the company with respect to the ISO certificate.

From this, we jot down some recommendations relating to imminent actions to become compliant. If necessary, we will advise the clients to make relevant changes to the internal processes.

We will then devise an explicit plan for deploying the recommendations. Following this, we will commence writing your mandatory SOPs, which will help you secure the ISO certificate.

We excel in the clear and meaningful approach when it comes to meeting the conditions of a certain ISO standard. 

Frequently Asked Questions