ISO 9001:2008

How Did We Achieve ISO9001 For Our Business?

Establishing quality standards is crucial for the success of any business and this is the reason why the team at Shergroup decided to embark on the challenge of achieving this for its processes.

ISO 9001 certification is a series of globally recognised rules and standards defining an effective Quality Management System (QMS). ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for the quality management of businesses. It applies to the processes that create and control the services an organisation supplies. It prescribes systematic control of activities to ensure that the needs and expectations of customers are met.

The Challenge

When we started the project ISO 9001:2008 looking at all its positive aspects, implementing it had potential challenges as well. Following are the key ones which we came across:

• Top management long term commitment is essential as the implementation is continuous and constantly changing with the needs and expectations of the customers



• It is also a style of working to try to solve problems as quickly as possible and this can bring to short-term solutions



• Continuous evaluation and assessment of the processes may make professional staff resistant to changing their practices.



• On going data collection and analysis to measure achievement of the quality objectives, definitely increases staff workload and may require efficient implementation of information technologies



• Continuous training of staff to meet changing needs and staff commitment and motivation has to be management’s concern and priority



• Once accreditation is achieved, user expectations and demand for ‘perfect service’ seems almost a given and there seems to be no room for errors or anything less than promised!

The Solution

With these challenges clearly in mind, dedication and guidance were the two most important things required to meet them head on. We took the necessary steps to reach our goals including:

• Setting up a core implementation team



• Defining and understanding why we wanted to implement ISO 9001



• Clarifying and updating our policy on Quality



• Streamlining all our internal processes



• Identifying key processes



• Creating interaction between trams to meet the quality objectives we had defined



• Documenting our quality management systems in line with the requirements of our service standards



• Finally, implementing the system, by training our team

The Outcome

In December 2008, Shergroup achieved its ISO 9001:2008 certification from The British Standards Institute (BSI) with a certificate valid for 3 years. The efforts of the whole Shergroup team were appreciated by BSI for implementing the Quality Management System so efficiently.

The Ongoing Benefits

• We now have well defined and documented procedures to improve the consistency of our output



• The quality is constantly measured for improved accuracy



• We now have procedures which ensure that corrective action is taken whenever a defect occurs



• We have defined procedures which identify current practices that are obsolete or inefficient



• Our documented procedures are easier to follow and have improved our training capability



• We have better management control and reporting which means that we consistently know how the business is doing

In addition to all this we now have the opportunity to offer ISO9001 Consultancy Services to our clients. If you would like to find out more about how we can offer you a cost effective route to ISO9001 certification please use the Contact Us area of this website by telling us what you would like to achieve.

Our Quality Standards