As an independent International Organisation for Certification (IIOC) member, we are delighted to have partnered with the IIOC and its members on a new paper exploring certification for business improvement.
How Certification Drives Business Improvement
Certification provides organizations with multiple advantages – a ticket to trade, a license to operate, and the ability to demonstrate compliance, to name just three. An often-overlooked benefit is the business improvement delivered by the certification process.
Three key elements of the audit and certification process lie at the heart of driving business improvement:
- The core document that starts the process: an international standard, such as those provided by ISO, is offered through sector schemes dealing with a specific focus on internal company documents
- Preparation: to prepare for the audit and certification process, businesses take the standard and implement it within their organizations. Given the depth of expertise, knowledge and understanding that goes into standards, such as those produced by ISO, implementation will see the business upping its game
- Audit and certification: carried out by organizations, such as IIOC members like SGS. This is an impartial, third-party process, whereby the business is examined against the standard. Issues like noncompliance and observations are raised, enabling a business to better understand how it can improve
Many of the standards also include continuous improvement as a vital element of the audit and certification process. This means that the audit must include not only a historical check of what the business has achieved, but also a check that the business has systems that enable continuous improvement.
Simply put, these core elements together provide businesses with an effective system for improving. By using the standard, implementing it and being checked against it, business improvement becomes embedded within the organization.
About the Publication
The IIOC Certification for Business Improvement paper explains business improvement through certification in even greater depth. Each IIOC member explains how they see the audit and certification process leading to business improvement. The paper also provides illustrations of how businesses have improved from the process.
The publication fits nicely with the recently celebrated World Accreditation Day: Sustainability in Economic Growth and the Environment. By enabling business improvement, accreditation, through independent assurance by IIOC members, leads to increased confidence in the conformity assessment system, which helps to encourage sustainable growth.
SGS offers a range of business improvement services, from quality and environmental performance to health and safety and many others.
Complementing Certification for Business Improvement, earlier this year, IIOC produced its Transformative technology techniques paper, highlighting how the next steps in delivering auditing, certification and assurance services by IIOC members will embrace new technology, data use and methods to drive enhanced value for businesses.
For further information, please contact:
Jason Hulbert
Associate Marketing Manager
Knowledge
t: +44 7912 426 878
About SGS
We are SGS – the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company. We are recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. Our 96,000 employees operate a network of 2,600 offices and laboratories, working together to enable a better, safer and more interconnected world.
