When we talk about helping companies obtain ISO 9001:2008 certification, people often ask us, “Why does our company need to be ISO 9001 certified?” Good question. ISO 9001 is the quality management system (QMS) standard and it produces numerous benefits for any company willing to go that route. So, why should your organization obtain ISO 9001 certification?

1. Meet Customer Requirements

Many companies want to get ISO 9001 certified just to satisfy one customer requirement. The customer states that it will only do business with vendors that are certified as ISO 9001 compliant, so to get (or keep) the business they need that certification. The problem with these companies is that they’re looking for a short-term payoff.  They see nothing but that one benefit — we need money– and ignore the long-term benefits, like “if we keep the customer well satisfied, they will want to come back again and again”.

They don’t embrace the concept of quality through continual improvement. They don’t understand that continued customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of a QMS. In other words, these companies haven’t “bought into the program”. See, you may obtain a piece of paper (that ISO certificate) that claims ISO 9001 certification without seeing much actual quality or improvement. Focusing only on that one benefit — your immediate gain — without putting the customer in front will end up costing you much more in the long run. Hopefully, some of the quality management system ideas may rub off and eventually stick…but wouldn’t you rather have a plan than trust to luck?

2. Get More Revenue and Business from New Customers

Once you earn your ISO 9001 certification, you can advertise your quality certification and respond to requests for quotes (RFQ) from companies that make ISO 9001 certification a “must-have”. ISO 9001 certification can open up new markets you were virtually unable to do business with before your certification.

3. Improve Company and Product Quality

A quality management system standard is all about quality (really!) so, of course, one result of adopting a QMS should be an improved level of quality for the entire organization — every process, and every product. There are many definitions of “quality”, but Philip Crosby and Joseph Juran provide two of the best. Crosby defined it as “conformance to requirements”; Juran called it “fitness for use”.  A well-designed, effectively implemented ISO 9001 Quality Management System will put your company on the Road to Quality.

4. Increase Customer Satisfaction with your Products

Quality means whatever you produce will work as your customers expect. You will meet not only their stated requirements — you will meet more of their implied requirements, too.

Quality also means far fewer complaints and doing a better job of resolving those you do.  If your quality management system is working correctly, you should know what your customers expect and you should be providing it, resulting in increased customer satisfaction.

5. Describe, Understand, and Communicate Your Company Processes

The ISO 9001 QMS standard requires that you identify and describe your processes using business metrics, the purpose of which is to better manage and control your business processes.  Quality objectives form the center of your system.  Metrics are used to understand and communicate your system’s performance relative to your quality objectives.  If you make an honest attempt to conform to the requirements of ISO 9001, you’ll learn more about your business.

6. Develop a Professional Culture and Better Employee Morale

Implementing an ISO 9001 Quality Management System can empower employees. Your QMS will provide them with clear expectations (quality objectives and job descriptions), the tools to do their job (procedures and work instructions), and prompt, actionable feedback on their performance (process metrics). The result? An improved company culture and a more professional staff!

7. Improve the Consistency of Your Operations

What is consistency? Well, one way to think of it is “decreased variation”.  Reducing the variation in your processes is the definition of consistency. Is your customer better served by you supplying them with a consistent product — same dimensions, same weight, same tolerances, same output every time — or by your products being unpredictable and “all over the place”? (I hope you’re not thinking too hard on this.)

Of course, they won’t accept variation, and neither should you! And how do you decrease variation?  Increase control of your processes!  Control comes from having a clear target to shoot for (objective), collecting data on the process (metrics), and understanding how to adjust the process (procedures and work instructions) to maintain the target output.  If your ISO 9001 QMS is working, you should be increasing operational…and product…consistency.

8. Focus Management and Employees

We’ve discussed quality objectives, metrics, and procedures used within an ISO 9001 Quality Management System. Having the right objectives, metrics, and procedures, management and employees should be able to focus better on what’s important.  Yet, this isn’t always the case — it’s easy to lose focus over a period of time.

The ISO 9001 QMS has a way to ensure the company stays focused, and that’s quality auditing.  Internal audits, registration (and surveillance) audits, and self-process audits. ISO 9001 requires that the company periodically audit its quality processes. Regular process audits and as-needed audits, when done correctly, provide the objective feedback needed to correct any deviations from the quality path and keep the company focused on its goals.

9. Improve Efficiency, Reduce Waste, and Save Money

An ISO 9001 Quality Management System isn’t perfect; no process and no one is perfect.  (Why else would the standard devote a clause to “continual improvement”?) A well-run QMS does enable your company to approach perfection.  As your processes improve, become more consistent, and you achieve your target objectives with greater regularity, you will see tangible results. Your process waste will decrease, for one.

Waste is money lost forever. Waste results from poor quality and inefficiency.  Inefficiency results from variation and inconsistent processes.  Reduce variation, improve consistency, and you’ll have less waste…and more money.  It’s that simple!

10. Achieve International Quality Recognition

ISO 9001 is a worldwide standard administered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland. ISO 9001 is currently in use by close to one million organizations around the world!  It is truly a world wide standard for quality! Obtaining ISO 9001 certification puts your company in a very select group.

Why Should Your Organization Obtain ISO 9001 Certification?

Recapping the article, your company’s certification to ISO 9001 will help you:

1. Meet customer requirements;
2. Get more revenue and business from new customers;
3. Improve company and product quality;
4. Increase customer satisfaction with your products;
5. Document, understand, and communicate your company processes;
6. Develop a professional culture and better employee morale;
7. Improve the consistency of your operations;
8. Keep management and employees focused on quality;
9. Improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money; and
10. Achieve international quality recognition.

To learn more about improving your processes, attend our How to Create Well-Defined Processes Class, coming this spring to our St. Louis, Missouri, offices.

Here’s a question we’re asked from time to time: “Are your products ISO 9001 (or other standard/guideline/regulation) compliant?”

The short answer to that is “Not exactly.”  ”Well, why not?!”, you might ask.  Well, the long answer is:

First, the ISO standard does not specify what a document must look like but, instead, specifies what must be contained in the document (as in the “results and action” of a review).  Documents themselves do not comply with ISO 9001, though they can conform to the standard.  Bizmanualz documents do conform in that they include the required procedures, records, etc.; however, compliance comes from how you use your documents.

Quality management systems are what must comply to the standard.  To be certified ISO 9001-compliant, your quality management system, or QMS, has to be audited by an independent external body (certification auditor) who verifies that the QMS conforms to the requirements specified in the standard.

Documents and records are evidence of a system’s conformance to requirements.  Your quality policy, quality manual, and other quality documents and records are all forms of evidence — part of the proof the certifying auditor needs to see in order to verify, or confirm, that your company has a quality management system in place.

Furthermore, it’s not just a matter of whether you have documented processes (procedures) or whether you’re keeping records.  The effectiveness of your quality management system is ultimately determined by how — and whether — your organization uses the information it gathers to continually drive improvement in the system.

Having an effective quality management system means your organization is gathering information from (and about) its processes and is using that information to continually improve:

• The quality of its products and services;
• Business process effectiveness;
• Its quality management system; and
• Its customers’ overall experience.

Second, the content Bizmanualz provides in its policies and procedures (PnP) manuals hasn’t been developed with a specific organization or category in mind.  Our policies and procedures are written in a general tone so that any organization may adapt them to its unique circumstances, issues, and needs, as well as shape them to the requirements that all organizations have in common.

This is exactly what ISO has done — and continues to do — with all of its standards, designing them in a general fashion to assist any organization — not just manufacturers, not just service organizations, not just large or small companies, but all of them.  How much benefit you derive from ISO standards or Bizmanualz PnP products is entirely up to you.

Of course, we want to hear from you on your experiences — good and bad — with our products.  Just like you, we’re always looking for ways to improve our products and services and we need your help.  Like the TV pitchmen say, “Call NOW!”

Many metrics exists to focus an organization on important organizational objectives and drive the company forward.  Key organizational metrics are more controversial.  Many organizations will focus on revenue, profit, and growth as “Key” measures of success.  Yet, all three are lagging indicators and will not tell you the whole story about your organizations prospects.

Revenue does not say anything about your foundation.  Revenue can rise due to asset sales, unprofitable discounts, or realizing future revenue today.   Profitable revenue is more important yet profit is an accounting number filled with depreciation, amortization, absorption rules and tax effects.  Growth sounds great but can hide failing products, while horizontal growth can spread the organization too thin.

So what is an organization to do?  Produce a balance of leading and lagging indicators for your success.  leading indicators represent metrics that forecast a high probability of future success.  For example, the relationship you have with your customers can say a lot about your future sales, you competitive advantage, and your prospects for future growth.

Below are Ten Leading Indicators of Organizational Success

1. Communication Effectiveness – Did your employees understand, not just hear, your latest communication message?  Sure you said it in your last meeting, newsletter, memo, or web page, but does anybody understand it.  How would you know?  Did you use a test, quiz, or did someone repeat it back in different words?  Do you have a measure for the effectiveness of your communications?
2. Customer Relationships – We are not talking about customer satisfaction.  Often times a customer may be satisfied but what is your relationship index with them?  Relationships are two-way streets.  How do you feel about them?  Do they pay on time, generate enough revenue, and are they easy to work with?  Focusing on customer satisfaction alone could lead to unprofitable customers.  Sure the customer is always right but are they the right customer for you?  Do you have a measure for customer relationships?
3. Employee Satisfaction - Happier employees will lead to happier customers.  Do you have an employee satisfaction index that measures: absenteeism, complaints, turnover, and surveys?
4. Brand Image - This is about more than recognition, brand image is a leading indicator of success regarding how people feel about your organization.  Use market research and survey your market to determine if your brand image is rising or falling.
5. Distraction- Everybody has a job within your organization but how much time do they spend on what they were hired to do?  Do you have a measure for administrative tasks, quality improvement, and other management assignments?  In lean we try to eliminate this waste.  How much time is spent on those tasks management asked you to do but are not part of your job description?
6. Trust- Do people believe in your organization/leaders?  You could call this the “foot-dragging” index.  If people do not believe in their management then they will erect barriers that will slowdown the implementation of any management program or initiative and customers will stall and stop buying.  Do you have a measure for determining your organizations level of honesty and integrity both inside and outside of your organization?
7. Customer Frustration – Don’t you want your customers to have a consistent and beneficial experience with your organization?  So how do you seek out, count and measure the aggravations, frustrations and negative surprises that your customers experience as they do business with you? I know that most companies do not measure this because every major corporation has a phone tree you must navigate to talk to them, and then you are put on hold, only to talk to the person that cannot help you.  Frustrated customers will eventually abandon your organization in search of a more pleasant vendor experience.  Are you measuring customer frustrations?
8. Supplier Relationships - Just like customer relationships, supplier relationships must be measured too.  How easy is the supplier to do business with? Are they responsive to your needs? Is their quality more than sufficient?  Suppliers provide inputs that are, in some way, passed on to your customers.  Garbage in equals garbage out so how do you measure your supplier relationships?
9. Project Management - Every organization has projects, either for clients or for internal customers.  The better your organization is as delivering on project objectives, the more effective and efficient it will be.  How do you measure a project’s budget and cost performance, schedule completion, quality and even innovation?
10. Employee Competence - This is more than just training hours, it is about actually learning something useful to your job.  To do this right is difficult.  You might develop a competency matrix defining the required skills versus the required skill level.  Then measure everyone’s current skill as a percentage.  The gaps indicate the training required to move the organization toward higher competence.  Are you measuring competence?

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

No matter how much you want to please your customers, you will not please every one.  That’s not news to anyone out there (I hope).  But, pleasing customers is especially difficult when there is no dialogue.

Again, not a breathtaking revelation.  It’s just that when I was recently given a rare opportunity by a customer, I wondered, among many things:

• Why is it that only dissatisfied customers get in touch?
• Why are their expectations often far outside the norm?
• What about the “silent majority”?  Why don’t they dialogue with us?

This particular customer — who I’ll call “Hans” (not his/her real name) — did not like that our policies and procedures manual did not contain a complete, up-to-date listing of every national law affecting or related to the subject matter of the manual.  He asked when our product had last been updated.  I replied that it was less than two years ago.

To Hans, this was unacceptable.  For what he paid, he should have received much more than he got, in his estimation.  If new laws were enacted in the last year and a half or so that could impact the way he does business, he needs to know about this.

While I agree in principle with his last statement, I pointed out several things working against us in that regard.  We have an international audience; the number of laws on any given subject must be in the thousands, if not millions, and countries are adding new laws all the time.

(NOTE: This is one reason why we feel international standards — like ISO 9001 — are critically important.  Every market you can think of (but especially food and health care) is heavily regulated in most countries.  ISO standards do a very good job of harmonizing laws around the world: that is, if a company complies with international standards like ISO 9001, it will very likely comply with relevant regulations, too.)

It is not possible for us to keep up with all the regulatory changes that go on around the world, so we defer to established authority.  And, we’re continually getting better with regard to international coverage.  For instance, in the Finance Policies and Procedures manual, we don’t just mention GAAP and leave it at that.  We also include reference to IFSB and explain its importance.  Rather than restate the applicable rules, regulations, guidelines, etc., we include links to some web sites.  (I invite you to check out a few legislative web sites.  If we tried to be all-inclusive, we might never get a product to market and if we did…imagine the shipping charges!)

We can’t possibly include everything on every subject covered in our manuals.  In fact, we caution purchasers in our manuals against assuming that our P&P manuals have everything they could possibly need.  That, and we caution them to have qualified legal counsel check their work prior to implementing and distributing it.

Finally, I told Hans we design our products to provide the greatest good for the greatest number.  It might be prohibitively expensive for many of our customers if we were to tailor the P&P manuals to their unique circumstances.  We can do that — and have done it — for companies on a for-hire basis.  Still, many companies, I suspect, purchase our products because they are a low-cost alternative and provide a solid framework for their unique circumstances and documentation requirements.  I closed by apologizing to Hans that our product could not meet all of his needs.

Now, it’s your turn.  What do you expect of our products?  Surely, there’s something you feel like we could be doing better…but what?

There are few people in the U.S. — and not a lot more around the world — who are unaware of the health care insurance crisis in this country.  The answer, for whatever reason, is as it always has been: let’s make a law!

But what kind of law?  ”Too many people are without health care insurance!”, cries one side.  ”We can’t have ‘socialized medicine’!”, cries the other side.

“We must seek compromise!”, cries a voice from the middle.  Politics is the art of compromise, right?  If compromise is “the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he or she has the biggest piece” (bonus points if you can guess who said that)…yes, I suppose politics could be an answer.

In reality, we know it is not.  We know that whoever writes the laws stands to gain the most if those laws are passed.  This is true not just of the USA, but of every country on the planet.

There is an effective solution out there that we seem to be conveniently overlooking.  That solution is ISO 9001, “Quality Management Systems-Requirements”.  According to the standard, key to an effective quality management system is meeting — or exceeding — customer requirements.  The product — in this case, health care insurance — must satisfy customer requirements above all.  The customer is so important that three clauses are devoted exclusively to the customer: clauses 5.2 (Customer Focus), 7.2 (Customer-Related Processes), and 8.2.1 (Customer Satisfaction).

And just who is the customer of health care insurance?  Well, who’s supposed to be reaping the benefits of the product?  There are two customers, actually…

• The people being insured, and
• The health care providers.

Who aren’t customers?  Pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, lawmakers, lobbyists, ad nauseam.  My advice to President Obama — and to any other world leader, for that matter — is to develop a health care system that complies with the requirements of ISO 9001, and ignore anyone and everyone who calls for legislation.  Don’t forget — the ones insisting that legislation is the answer are often the ones who stand to profit the most from it.

Whether you agree or not, let me know what you think.

In my checkered past are many years misspent in the fragile ecosystem known as “IT”.  I’ve been a programmer, systems analyst, and data analyst.  I found the work itself to be largely satisfying.  Many of the people I worked for and with were (still are, I hope) outstanding — talented, dedicated, and personable.  It was the politics and the lack of meaningful communication that I could do without.

Issues, edicts, proposals, RFPs, ad nauseam had to go up one side of the “ladder” and down the other.  My clients and I had to pretend we didn’t notice each other as we stood on the ground, across from one another as we steadied the ladder.

In theory, my clients passed requests up the ladder.  Up they went to a project leader or department head, who passed them off to an IT project leader.  Then, they were passed down the other side of the ladder, and they might come down to me…or they might not.

In fact, we did our best work when we ignored the protocol and worked directly with one another.  I read their request, we discussed it, and we arrived at a mutually agreeable statement of work.  Then I worked on the request, keeping in touch with them as I did so.  Typically they got exactly what they wanted within a week instead of waiting two weeks for something that may or may not work to their satisfaction.

One of the things that has always struck me about the Wide, Wide World of IT and users is the way everyone adheres to communication methods and protocols that don’t work (and never have).  Users and techies often have an unhealthy disdain for one another.  Each is secure in the “knowledge” that it knows what it’s talking about and the other one doesn’t.  One party knows better than the other and “…if only they’d shut up and listen.  We have the answers.”  (Sound familiar?)  Instead of working together for the common good (i.e., the financial health of the organization), they wage meaningless turf battles and accomplish nothing of value.

In the last decade, a lot of IT departments have been significantly reduced or killed off altogher and the work outsourced so that expenses and waste (at least, in the short term) could be cut.  (“After all, we can get the same ‘work’ for 20% of the cost.”)

Yet, a number of companies have elected to discontinue their outsourcing relationships and have brought work back in-house because (Anyone?  Anyone?  That’s right, because…) they fail to recognize that poor communication isn’t incidental, that it isn’t just one of many causes of failed projects.  It’s typically the root cause.

Communication isn’t “I give you a set of requirements and you meet them”, any more than it’s “Here’s your program — over time and over budget, minus some of the functionality you wanted — but it’s yours, so pay me.”  Communication is “Let’s talk.”  It’s a two-way street.  I share an idea with you, and you share your thoughts with me.  Communication is an ongoing process, one that requires not just open minds but a common language.

The July, 2009, issue of Quality Progress Magazine has an excellent take on the concept of improving results by improving the communication process.  In the article (“All Ears“, by Sherman & Vono), the parties in need of more effective communication are the Quality department and top management.  The authors are telling Quality, “You have to speak the language of management — money! — if you expect to accomplish anything.”

The moral of the story for IT and its users — its clients — is a similar one.   IT, you’re trying to sell a concept to your clients, internal or external.  Learn to speak their language.  Learn how to talk in terms of the bottom line.  Show how you arrived at your conclusions.  Use plenty of pictures — charts, graphs, diagrams — to further the communication process.

Effective communication improves quality and produces more satisfying results, guaranteed.

Seen hanging on an office wall:

Rule 1: Customer is always right.
Rule 2: If you think the customer is wrong, refer to rule 1.

In essence, this is not that different from what McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc said – “if you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.”

Some might argue that not all customers have high integrity and they will take advantage of your customer-centric attitudes. That may be true in rare instances, but if you have a product that the customer needs or wants, and if you have a business culture that focuses on maximizing customer satisfaction, the benefits far surpass the any small disadvantages.

I moved into a new house this past weekend. To help me move, I chose a local mover who was referred by one of my wife’s colleague. The mover came over to my previous dwelling, looked at what we had and gave us an estimate – a very competitive estimate. It seemed like he said “we’ll make you happy” after every sentence.

He meant every letter of what he said. He and his crew indeed made us very happy. They took very good care of our stuff, placed the furniture exactly where they belonged and stacked the boxes such that the lighter ones were always on top. They were thoroughly professional, yet took the time to share some jokes and stories with us.

I am sure lots of movers do the same things my mover did. That’s not the point. From the day we first talked about moving, my mover made it clear, not by his words but by his actions that we were all that mattered to him that day. It’s no surprise then, that he was very enthusiastically referred to us by my wife’s colleague. And, when I have to refer a mover to someone, I have a name clearly etched on my mind. As the advertising mastermind Bill Bernbach put it, “word of mouth is the best medium of all.”

Taking care of your customer, listening to them and acting on their best interest pays off. After all, the primary goal of any business is to provide goods or services to its customers. So why not treat such an important component with utmost priority?

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On June 1, 2009, GM officially declared what many of us had known for decades: it is unable to compete in the global marketplace.  The fact that it can’t even compete in the US market, where it got its start a century ago, shows how far the mighty can fall when they’re not paying attention.

There are many reasons for GM’s failure, including:

• Its sheer size and the attendant inefficiencies
• Corporate hubris (perhaps reflected in the famous statement, “What’s good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa.”)
• An outmoded business model

But perhaps most importantly:

• Lack of customer satisfaction.

ISO/TS 16949, the automotive quality standard similar to ISO 9001 and based in part on QS 9000 — a standard developed in part by GM — places a great emphasis on satisfying customer requirements.

Customer requirements are often fact-based (e.g., safety standards, legislation) but just as often, they’re based on perceptions.  A company can compile the most lengthy, detailed checklist of customer requirements yet miss a lot of important information when that checklist is not reexamined on an ongoing basis.  If that checklist becomes the “Commandments of Manufacturing”,  the company using it runs the greatest risk of all.  Ask GM.

This is a lesson every remaining business must take to heart.  So, ask yourself: When did you last have an open, honest discussion with your customers (maybe not all, but certainly your best ones) to see how they feel about your goods and services?  Do your customers consider your product – your company – useful and relevant?

When did you last reevaluate your definition of your target customer?  Do you use the “best” tools for getting and evaluating your customers’ perceptions?  Are you doing all you can to cultivate customer relationships?  To maintain them?  Are you making an effort to anticipate customers’ needs?  Are you listening?