As a small business owner, if you plan to bid on projects, particularly tenders released by larger corporations and government bodies, there is a good chance you will come across a requirement for ISO certification. While there are many types of ISO certifications, they are all designed to ensure that the products, services and process a company uses conform to acceptable international standards.

 

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ISO certification ensures that an organization runs its business using international standards for products, services and processes. These can include business management, environmental policies, or they can be standards that were developed by the ISO for specific business sectors.

 

Understanding ISO Standards

The ISO has published over 22,000 different standards for goods, services and processes. Most common among these are the ISO 9000 family of standards, which are standards for ensuring that products and services are of high quality and are always being improved.

In 2018, the current version is ISO 9001:2015, which can be used by any business. It deals with eight primary business principles:

 

1.Customer focus

2.Leadership

3.Involvement of people

4.Process approach

5.System approach to management

6.Continual improvement

7.Factual approach to decision making

8.Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

 

The ISO 14000 family is for environmental management, which is used for example by waste management companies. Other standards are designed for specific industries or sectors, which include:

 

1.ISO 13485 for medical devices  

2.ISO/TS 29001 for the oil and gas industry

3.ISO/IEC 90003 for software engineering

4.ISO 17582 for government electoral organizations

5.ISO 18091 for local governments

 

The documentation for any of these standards, which specifies what is required to be compliant, can be purchased from the ISO or from an authorized vendor.