Key Benefits of Implementing a Quality Management System for your Organisation

As seasoned business leaders know, organisational improvements can have ripple effects. Without performance monitoring, a deployed improvement could end up having unintended impacts elsewhere within your organisation. This is what makes the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems Standard such a vital framework for organisations worldwide.

Certification to the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems Standard yields many benefits, including maintaining high-quality processes for your organisation, meeting and exceeding client needs and expectations, and qualifying for bids and tenders. Today, our team at ISO Certification Experts will be unpacking all the interrelated benefits of Quality Management System (QMS) implementation, and how organisational improvements that follow the ISO 9001:2015 framework deliver results.

What is a Quality Management System (QMS)?

A Quality Management System (or QMS) is a structured framework of policies, processes, procedures and planning documentation that are developed and implemented to maintain a high standard for the effective delivery of products and/or services for an organisation. 

In the context of Certification, a Quality Management System must meet the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 standard in order to achieve Certification. Standards across the wider ISO 9000 Family of Standards provide additional context, terminology, and methodologies for supporting successful QMS implementation and conformance to ISO 9001:2015 requirements.

Benefits of a Quality Management System

Now let’s take a closer look at the many benefits of a Quality Management System.

Supporting operational consistency

The primary benefit of a Quality Management System is that it supports your organisation in maintaining the quality of your products and/or services as well as your processes. By standardising your operational processes, policies, and procedures, your QMS outlines optimal workflows and approaches for your staff to follow consistently. 

This ensures that all components of your core processes, supply chain, production line, customer service, and all other departments and processes are working across a shared gameplan and towards a common goal.

Improved customer satisfaction, acquisition and retention

A QMS is designed to play a vital role in keeping your organisation customer-led by maintaining the quality of your customer service and your company offerings (i.e. products and services). Happier customers means that your services or products are meeting their expectations, resulting in better reputation and ultimately more recommendations and referrals as well.

With the costs of customer acquisition on the rise, investing in a QMS can help bolster your customer acquisition and retention rates via process improvements This means your QMS processes may not only help you retain customers and build stronger customer relationships, but can also help reduce your customer acquisition and retention costs.

Encouraging innovation and continual improvement

Change is a constant for any team. This is why robust change management helps organisations stand the test of time. As the ISO 9001:2015 Standard requires change management processes in place and provides a structure for continual improvement, Certification to this ISO Standard helps ensure your organisation is always ready to evolve when needed.

A QMS that meets all the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 Standard incorporates tools for facilitating business process improvements, helping organisations maintain a more proactive approach to change management. Through internal audit processes, management reviews, and performance monitoring and reporting, organisations can encourage innovation that ultimately improves their QMS processes over time. This proactive approach to innovation and process improvements helps organisations stay forward-thinking, develop a more positive and empowering workplace culture, and aids in maintaining a competitive edge within their market.

Reducing operational waste and improving financial performance

By monitoring processes and measuring their performance, organisations position themselves to better identify and respond to improvement opportunities. This can be anything from reducing company spending to optimising resource consumption (i.e. materials, energy, labour). 

Reducing operational waste also improves financial performance, as organisations can retain costs that were previously allocated to securing those resources. With these financial optimisation opportunities, organisations can typically enjoy a fast return on their initial investment into their QMS implementation and Certification project.

Smoother employee onboarding and reduced staff turnover

A well-developed QMS ensures that your staff have a strong understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This clarity translates into staff taking more ownership over their own work, effectively empowering them to make their own contributions and stay actively engaged in organisational initiatives.

Effective Quality Management Systems also include training and competency verification to ensure that all staff and stakeholders are aware of their role in upholding all processes, policies, and procedures. As your QMS documentation must also include training and onboarding processes, organisations with a Quality Management System are also more likely to develop and maintain organised employee onboarding procedures. This helps ensure staff are empowered from the get-go, improving job satisfaction and performance across the board, and potentially even reducing your staff turnover rate.

Supporting organisational leaders

Leadership and commitment is essential for maintaining Certification to ISO Management System Standards. Your top leaders, department heads, and other decision makers must provide guidance on their vision and directions when developing and implementing a QMS. On top of supporting staff in integrating quality processes into their existing workflows, business leaders must also participate in management reviews to drive continual improvement.

The QMS documentation takes into account the responsibilities of top management, ensuring that leaders have the support and resources they need to maintain their involvement whilst still encouraging delegation and empowering their teams. With the support of internal auditors and managers facilitating internal audits and collating performance reports, top leaders can do what they do best: represent the experiences and insights of their teams and ensure all parties are being considered during management decisions. 

Evidence-based decision-making

Performance monitoring and reporting are foundational to maintaining a QMS that meets the requirements outlined in the ISO 9001:2015 Standard. Organisations need access to performance data that offers insights related to their organisational and operational goals.

This access to real-time organisational data supports top leaders in making better-informed evidence-based decisions. Making developmental decisions using the most relevant, up-to-date organisation and industry-specific data helps ensure your process improvements are poised to deliver optimal results.

Improved risk management 

Performance and process monitoring naturally supports effective risk management within organisations. Your QMS provides a framework for not only detecting these risks, but developing appropriate measures to correct, prevent, or minimise them sustainably. This helps reduce additional risks like business interruptions caused by accident or injury, machine breakdowns, and other common events that may be outlined in your risk mitigation strategies and workplace contingency planning.

In much the same way that a Quality Management System can strengthen workplace training by standardising training processes and schedules, your QMS can also help improve risk communication. This is achieved by ensuring that all staff and other stakeholders maintain an understanding of risks and are aware of their responsibilities when it comes to managing them effectively.

Maximising growth opportunities

Certification to ISO Standards is regarded as a strong trust signal for high profile organisations, like government bodies and larger organisations. As a result, these bodies typically consider Certification as a prerequisite for key organisations they partner with. 

If your organisation wants to apply for contracts and integrate Bid/No Bid decision processes as part of this, a tailored QMS can help ensure you’re seriously considered when submitting tenders. After all, tender submissions are all about quality over quantity. Your QMS can provide the framework you need to maintain an optimal approach to tender submissions.

Similarly, if your organisational goals include ambitious strategies like expanding into other markets, maintaining a focused, goal-oriented approach can help keep your team on track over consecutive years. As your QMS will be designed with your organisational and operational goals in mind, an investment in Certification to ISO 9001:2015 is an investment in your own longevity and future planning.

Supporting your triple bottom line

Ultimately, a QMS is designed to keep your organisation thinking about and planning for the future. This means that the business growth benefits of your QMS are actually holistic and interconnected, mirroring the values of swapping your bottom line for a triple bottom line approach.

By curbing operational waste, improving resource efficiency, and considering the overall financial, social (relating to staff and customers), and environmental impact of your operations, your QMS improves general operational sustainability over the long term.

You can bolster your triple bottom line even further by planning for an Integrated Business Management System (IBMS), and getting ready for Certification to more than just the ISO 9001:2015 Standard. A few of the main ISO Standards you can integrate with a QMS are: 14001:2015 for Environmental Management, ISO 45001:2018 for Occupational Health & Safety Management, and ISO 27001:2022 for Information Security Management. Our consultants at ISO Certification Experts can aid in developing an Integrated BMS that aligns with multiple ISO Management System Standards as well as your organisational goals.

Develop a tailored QMS for your organisation

With these benefits of QMS implementation and Certification to ISO 9001:2015, it’s clear to see why more Australian organisations are choosing to invest in a tailored Quality Management System.

If your organisation is looking to reap the benefits of QMS implementation, securing expert assistance can help you reach Certification Readiness with greater efficiency and long term effectiveness. Our consultants will work with you to develop a Certification strategy and QMS that aligns with your operational and developmental goals. We can also offer ongoing support post-Certification to help you maintain conformance as well as ensure your QMS and continuous improvements stay aligned with your evolving organisational goals.

Want to get started on your QMS development and implementation project? Then book a free strategy session with our team at ISO Certification Experts today. You can also use our expertly developed ISO 9001 Quick Check to further understand the requirements of the Quality Management System Standard and gauge the scope of your Certification project.