EXPERT ISO CONSULTANTS

The strategic decision by any business to implement a quality management system, or any other kind of ISO management system and achieve ISO Certification is one that will have a profound effect on the organisation. Often, an organisation will decide to implement a management system without full understanding of the changes that it can bring.

Spedan Ltd have built a strong reputation for acting as ISO Consultants, so we are very sensitive to that situation and look to build close relationships with the management team and staff so they begin to fully understand the benefits and changes that will occur.

The decision to implement an ISO management system is often taken when the company is seeking to expand or trying to enter new markets, so is already under a point of stress. Those markets may be demanding that the organisation is ISO certified. The initial view may be that ISO certification is a ‘tick in the box’.

Although the end result of the audit process is indeed a Certificate, Spedan Ltd take the achievement of reaching the internationally recognised standards seriously, so that the organisation is well placed to provide evidence of their good practices to their auditors, and also regulators (in case of incident), or the organisation’s customers when they visit to complete customer audits. The strength of our ISO Consultancy is in the results that you achieve.

Organisations and their leaders will rightly want to take ownership of the process and may allocate the task to an existing person who has shown the right level of interest, experience or sits logically in the structure. We often find however, that the implementation of a management system may get bogged down in the detail, or day-to-day pressures take over and the people selected to implement the system simply need help and expertise.

The organisation should take a broad view of this situation; the ISO Standards themselves highlight that if the organisation needs additional resources or skills, they should look to acquire them:

• Clause 7.1 (Resources) that the ‘organisation determines and provides the resources needed...’ to implement the management system
• Clause 7.2 (Competency), that an organisation should ‘take action to acquire competence’

Spedan Ltd has been acting as trusted ISO consultants with organisations of all sizes since 2012. Our ISO consultants have over 60 years of ISO experience between them. Our growing reputation and experience will provide you with the knowledge of the relevant ISO standards you are trying to achieve. We have worked in a broad range of industry sectors, so will help you to effectively implement your ISO management system and ensure that people understand how to achieve continual improvement.

Our value is our independence; we are trusted by senior manager team for our insights to business challenges and we are able to secure buy-in from employees to promote effective change.

Here’s what our clients have said:

1. “Spedan has brought knowledge and expertise on the ISO management system standards quickly and efficiently to our organisation.”
2. “Spedan has brought ‘fresh eyes’ to our organisation’s processes and insights to how ‘best practice’ can be used. They highlight if legal minimums are being missed.”
3. “Spedan has brought useful and practical information. They have additional services such as training, legal updating or supply chain support.”
4. “Spedan has investigated, understood, communicated and worked with us to develop and implement sustainable solutions to problems.”
5. “Spedan has applied its experience to ensure we develop bespoke solutions that deliver within the time frame set.”

When you are looking for an ISO Consultant, we believe it is important that you apply the same criteria as you would with any employee before you employ them. The majority of ISO Consultants will work with integrity, be trustworthy and have relevant industry experience, but like all employees, you should ask us questions that satisfy you and your management team that you will have the right support.

We are always happy to visit you and talk through our ISO Consultants’ qualifications and experience, our approach to the work and our success rate, and the other benefits of our ISO training and information services.

We want you to be clear in your own mind about what we can provide, and also what to do if you don’t think that things are going to plan. Developing systems and implementing changes can be tricky, so we’re happy to talk (anonymously) about experiences where that can occur and what we did to overcome them.

We seek to provide an open and flexible service; one that you can turn on when you need it. Often, we will start with a ‘gap analysis’. This can be useful, as it will help us develop our relationship; the organisation learns about the requirements of the ISO standards and how to use them, and we learn about your objectives and processes. A short gap analysis of your existing management system will reveal the good practice and the areas of development that are needed. You can then present these to your management team, along with a more refined and costed action plan.

We provide a flexible approach to our ISO Consultancy. The most important element of which is ensuring that you achieve the ISO certification that you need. All organisations work differently, and because of that, we can adopt different roles accordingly:

Project Managers and Co-ordinators

We can take the lead on the project you need to achieve; we will focus on working with your teams to achieve the desired outcome. We can develop project plans, and work with people in-house to ensure they are task-focused and the project stays on track.

Mentors and Subject Matter Experts

We can provide your team with the clarity and purpose of what they are trying to achieve. ISO management systems can be seen as complex, and we don’t believe in the early stages that implementing complex systems is useful. We believe that using the ‘Plan-Do-Check-Act’ process will result in continual improvements, so will work with people in-house to ensure they implement systems that are necessary and then look to improve them over time.

We will provide intelligence and information to the project team on the ISO management systems in order that decisions are made that are appropriate for the organisation. All the ISO management systems are open to interpretation and there is no single method that is appropriate to every organisation. A strong management system will take the requirements into account and apply them in an appropriate manner.

Process reviewers and writers

We will work hard and get involved in the detail if you need us to. We can write your processes and procedures for your system. We will work closely with the people that do the work to ensure they are correct, and with the management team to get them signed off and adopted by the organisation.

Whatever support you are looking to find in an ISO Consultant, we believe that we can support you.