Frequently Asked Questions
Check out the frequently asked questions we hear the most!
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You first need to identify which ISO Standard(s) are required by your organisation. The main ISO Management System Standards you may need are ISO 9001 for Quality, ISO 45001 for Occupational Health and Safety, ISO 14001 for Environmental, and/or ISO 27001 for Information Security.
You then need to develop and implement a Management System that meets the requirements of the chosen ISO Standard(s). As consultants, we can assist you with this step to ensure Certification Readiness.
Once you are ready, you go for the actual Certification with a Certification Body, who will audit your management system, and if successful, Certify your business. Certification is a 3-year cycle starting with your initial certification audits, and then annual surveillance audits. You will then have to undergo a recertification audit at the end of the 3 years, and the cycle will commence again.
You might be wanting to achieve Certification for a number of reasons, such as meeting a contract requirement, to build a better business structure for growth, or to show your stakeholders that you’re serious about providing great services. In addition to these main driving forces, there are other benefits that can be achieved by obtaining Certification. These include:
- Qualify for more tenders, contracts and international trade
- Increase and improve brand reputation to boost stakeholder confidence
- Improve business planning and align with organisational strategy
- Higher profit margins and reduced costs through improved efficiencies
- Improve business structure and standardise systems for sustainable growth
While these are just some of the general benefits across the four main ISO Standards, each standard also has specific benefits. You can check out their benefits by visiting the following pages:
Depending on the size and complexity of your business, it can take at least three to six months, if you are starting from scratch with your Management System development and implementation. We recommend enough time to ensure effective implementation and adoption of the system. Please note that we’ll need involvement from you and your team throughout the service as well, therefore your availability and commitment can also influence the timeframes of your project. If you want a more accurate timeline based on your specific situation, we can help you. To speak with one of our experts, contact us here!
The first thing you will need to consider is the costs for the preparation of your ISO Management System. These preparation costs could include a professional ISO Consultant, like us, possible staff training, as well as the time spent developing, implementing and running the system.
When it comes to the actual Certification, the price will be determined by Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs). They are the organisations that will audit and certify your business. When a CAB provides you with a quote, they will usually quote based on the three-year Certification cycle, which includes your Certification Audit (Stage 1 and 2), and two annual Surveillance Audits. After the three-year cycle ends, you need to renew the Certification for another three years with a Recertification Audit. They will also take into account the size, complexity and nature of your business, which will be different for every organisation.
Our fees can vary, depending on a number of factors such as:
- What you already have in place;
- The size of the business;
- The number of locations;
- Complexities and risks of your industry;
- The level of service you’d like from us; and
- How many ISO Management Standards you’re working towards.
We also take into account what internal resources you have available and your requirements – whether we will guide you through the process with minimal support, or if you’d like us to be more involved in the day-to-day management of bringing your system together. This is where the FREE Strategy Session is useful, so we can identify these factors and provide you with a tailored quote – book in your FREE Strategy Session here.
Note that costs for Certification are provided by a Certification Body (Conformity Assessment Bodies – CABs), and no organisation is allowed to provide both consulting and certification services as this is a conflict of interest in the industry.
Here at ISO Certification Experts, we aim to make the client’s ISO journey as seamless as possible, with a guarantee to achieve Certification the first time. Here are some of the benefits you can expect by working with us:
- Expertise and Experience: ISO consultants are experienced professionals who have extensive knowledge of the ISO standards and can guide you through the Certification process.
- Time-saving: An ISO consultant can help you save time by taking care of the certification process for you, leaving you free to focus on running your business.
- Fresh Perspective: A consultant can catch small process issues that your employees might overlook or dismiss as “just the way we do things.” An outsider’s perspective can bring new value to how your organisation operates.
- Improved Quality: Working with a consultant can help you improve the quality of your operations and services by ensuring that they meet the ISO standards requirements.
- Reduced Risk: By working with an ISO consultant, you can reduce the risk of not successfully meeting the ISO Standards requirements to prevent non-conformances from being raised during your audits, saving money and other issues that may arise.
Yes, if you would like us to, we are set up to run your entire project remotely via online meetings. Since 2019 we’ve been working remotely successfully with many of our clients.
Definitely! The ISO Management System Standards provide requirements, guidelines and best practices for organisations to follow in order to achieve certain objectives such as improving quality, work health and safety, environmental sustainability, or information security. Certification is just a statement to the market and your stakeholders that you have the Management System in place that meets all the chosen Standard requirements. However, Certification is optional if you don’t actually need it for a particular reason (Contract requirements, legal compliance, marketing purposes, etc). You can implement the Management Systems to enjoy all the benefits and improvements it will provide.
The main ISO Management System Standards can be implemented for almost any industry and business type. However, some organisations or industries might benefit more or less from different Standards and Certifications depending on the context and objectives. We can help you identify the best ISO Standards for your business! Book a FREE Strategy Session to speak with one of our experts, or get started by understanding more about the benefits of each individual ISO Management System Standard: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 14001:2015, or ISO/IEC 27001:2022
If you’re attempting to develop the Management System without professional assistance, the most difficult part would be interpreting the requirements of your chosen Standard(s) in relation to your business requirements, and then making the time to implement them properly as this process can be quite time consuming and demanding.
Certification-readiness is a business improvement project, and it can be challenging to work on it by yourself while you’re still running business as usual. Consultants like us can make this process much easier and effective as we know the requirements, and will develop or facilitate development of a customised Management System for your business.
If you have a good knowledge of the ISO Standard, you could. However, keep in mind that developing and effectively implementing a management system within an organisation takes hundreds of dedicated hours and expertise to achieve optimum results. Without dedicated resources and experience, you run the risk of wasting time trying to interpret the requirements of the Standards in relation to your business activities, not being sure of what’s important to document and what can be left out, and unsure of how to effectively implement the management system or get it certified. What we often see is that the project ends up on hold, either abandoning the idea of certification, or having to start all over again, at further expense and with months (sometimes years) of wasted time.
If you need or want to achieve or maintain Certification to the core ISO Management System Standards for your business, and you don’t have in-house resources with experience and/or a great understanding of ISO Management System Standards, then chances are you’ll need some assistance. We offer tailored solutions to suit you and your business needs. Why not take advantage of our Free One Hour Strategy Session to find out?
Absolutely! Free of charge and obligation free as well. We use this time to get to know your business so we can work out where you’re starting from, and determine the best approach to suit you, your timeframes and your budget. We will then provide you with a customised fee proposal as an outcome of this online meeting.
The first step is to book a Free Strategy Session with one of our Experts so we can work out where you’re starting from and provide a few options for you to consider in moving forward with Certification Readiness. We will then send you a tailored fee proposal, and upon acceptance we will coordinate the next steps with you and your team.
In the Asia-Pacific region, it is a JAS-ANZ Accredited Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) who can certify your Business Management System (BMS). There are nearly 140 CABs in the Asia-Pacific region alone.
Note that no organisation is allowed to provide both Certification and Consulting Services, as this is a conflict of interest and an unethical practice, which breaches international ISO governing rules.
Note: JAS-ANZ is the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand. JAS-ANZ provides Accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies (CAB’s), so they are approved to conduct audits in businesses and issue internationally-recognised ISO Certifications. Audits conducted by organisations that are not accredited by JAS-ANZ in the Asia-Pacific region (or an equivalent Accreditation Body in other regions of the world, such as UKAS in the United Kingdom and ANAB in the United States) are not an internationally-recognised ISO Certification. You can find Accredited CAB’s by searching the JAS-ANZ register.
During the 3-year cycle of the Certification, you need to continue using the Management System you’ve developed and implemented as an embedded and live tool in your business. Some activities are required annually by the Standards, and evidence of these will be checked in your annual Surveillance Audit conducted by your chosen Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) in order to successfully maintain your Certification.
The main activities that you might need assistance with are the management of the required Internal Audit program as Internal Audits should be conducted regularly by a competent auditor, as well as Management Reviews, and check ins on open issues, etc. Visit this page to find out more about the required activities and how we can assist.
Yes, absolutely! We’ve had solopreneurs achieve multiple Certifications for their business. We recommend for businesses with few employees to outsource your Management System activities to a consultant like us, because when the business is so small, it’s difficult to have someone focused on the Management System development and maintenance without affecting the day to day business operations. In addition, the other challenge with low staff numbers is to be objective in the internal audit process. For small businesses, usually everyone in the business is involved in most areas in some way, and auditing their own processes is biassed and risky for the business.
A benefit of small businesses getting certified is that the certification fees are much lower than for larger businesses. Certification Bodies calculate audit durations and their fees based on the number of employees, the number of physical business locations, the Standard or Standards your business is being certified to, the complexity of the operations and the risks involved in the industry and the organisation.
Absolutely, we can assist you with closing out NCRs raised throughout your certification process, whether it’s your first audit, or your business has been certified for years. Call us on 1300 614 007 to request a quote.
Yes! If you have multiple “management systems” which have been set up separately, it would make more sense to integrate them into one “Management System” that describes the way you work, rather than the way the Standards are worded. We can help you integrate all your systems into one, and also suggest improvements to help streamline your processes and systems to become less of an administrative burden. If you want to learn more about Integrated Management Systems, and how we can help you, click here.
Education is key. Once the leadership team understands the benefits and outcomes that can be achieved from this process, it’s not difficult to get them on board. You can book a Free Strategy Session with one of our Experts for your key management team, and we can address any concerns or the best approach for your business, customising it to the specific needs of your organisation and industry.
Alternatively, you can check out this page to download one of our brochures which outlines the entire Certification Process, and the benefits of achieving Certification.
The Standards are licensed documents that detail the requirements for the Management System and need to be purchased. There are a few places you can buy them from. In Australia, we usually purchase them from Standards Australia. You can purchase digital/PDF versions as well.
Yes, and you should look for Internationally Certified courses to ensure the best quality and valid certificates. Check here for all our Internationally Certified eLearning courses.
All ISO Standards are reviewed by their respective ISO Committee every 5 years. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re updated every 5 years. They’re only updated and republished when a need for change is identified.
For example, ISO 9001 underwent a review during 2021 by ISO/TC176 and the result was that no revision was needed and the latest version of ISO 9001 still provides as much value to those implementing the standard as it did when it was last updated in 2015 – meaning that the current version is still ISO 9001:2015. However, the committee will continue to evaluate and monitor any possible market or other changes that could impact the standard and propose a revision when required.
