Wow! Havent blogged here since the great freeze of 2010! We have been been playing catch-up and more! We have been out on the road auditing pretty much solidly for the last 2 months. Both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 seem to be keeping up their demand. Clients often ask how demand is during a post-recession. Well, there are 2 types of companies. Firstly, those who cut all costs, staff, quality functions, marketing etc., and see ISO as an extravagance. These do not want ISO 9001 or 14001, and to be honest we dont really want them. The second type of company ensures it is lean and fit for purpose, but utlises highly effective marketing, and looks for competitive advantage, systems and process efficiency, and enhanced client focus. These companies often see ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001 as being of great strategic importance for the organisation, and a cost-effective way of meeting these objectives. For example, I was with a Landscape surveying company in North Wales last week, who said almost exactly the above, and who had decided that implementing both ISO 9001 and 14001 was cost effective and would bring net benefits. These companies usually work according to well understood systems, procedures and work instructions, so certification is generally fairly straightforward for them.
