The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was founded in 1928 as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA). ISO is a non-governmental independently functioning organization, of which nearly 164 nation-states are its members. ISO is known to be the world’s largest developer of “voluntary” international standards, facilities and guidelines.

ISO certificate is one of the ways that provide standards to the organizations and thus lead way to innovation and development of trade. These standards also ensure that the products and services of the organization meet the customer and regulatory requirements. In addition to this, it also demonstrates continuous improvement. ISO is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that creates standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of the products, services, and systems. It also certifies that the management system, manufacturing process, service or the documentation process has fulfilled all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance.

ISO certificate is provided in many areas of industry that is from energy management and social responsibility to medical devices and risk management.

Before getting an ISO certification, the following aspects have to be considered:

• The first thing is to get the right ISO certification that benefits a business. There are various types of ISO certification available such as : 

• ISO 9001 2008 –    Quality Management 
• ISO 14001        –     Environmental Management 
• ISO 27001       –      Information security Management 
• ISO  22008      –      Food Safety Management and so on.  

• The second step is to find the best ISO registrar who is certified by ISO and follows the CASCO standards to them. The ISO body can be IAF certified and non-IAF certified. IAF stands for the International Accreditation Forum. An IAF accreditation only adds more credibility to the certificate and the absence of an IAF accreditation does not impact the legality of the certification. It is these third-party agencies who will test the company on behalf of ISO and judge its worth.

The ISO certification process is comprised of a few main steps involving the filling of the application form, review of documents and detailed auditing procedures. Below, we will look at the general outline of how to apply for and register an ISO for  business or product:

1. Applying: After having selected an appropriate ISO certification for a product or business, applicant needs to fill in an application form towards the registrar that can be submitted in form of letter or email. The application will need to contain essential details, such as the scope of the certification, general details of the organization including its features and general information and sought certification standards.
2. Review of Documents: After the submission of the application form, the auditor will review the various documents regarding quality control and various policies and procedures of the organization.
3. Pre-assessment: The pre-assessment stage is where entrepreneur needs to or have a review conducted of the pre-existing quality control standards in his/her organization to identify any omissions or faults in the policies related to quality management.
4. Action Plan: After the initial review by the auditor and identification of the faults in existing quality control standards of organization, he/she will need to review these comments and eliminate the existing deficiencies. This accounts for the action plan.
5. First Audit: The first or initial audit stage involves a thorough inspection by the auditor regarding existing and revised quality controls and the findings of the non-conformities are categorized either as minor non-conformances or major non-conformances. Minor non-conformances constitute minor procedural faults or gaps in the system in compliance with ISO standards. Major non-conformances include the faults in the existing quality standards system that can lead to potential collapse of the system.
6. Final Audit: By the final audit stage, all major non-conformities will need to be removed and if all the quality gaps have been addressed and rectified, the ISO auditor will prepare the final audit report and forward ISO certification application to ISO registrar.
7. Get ISO Certificate: After all the non-conformities are addressed, the registrar will provide the ISO Certificate.
8. Surveillance Audit: These are the periodic audits that will be conducted to ensure that the organisation is maintaining ISO quality standards or not.

After the successful submission of the application form and auditing processes, ISO certification will be given to the applicant. On time to time basis, surveillance audits will be conducted to ensure that the organization is maintaining the quality standards which are declared through ISO certification. For new organizations, ISO certifications are one of the important foundations towards a successful enterprise.

International credibility: As this is an internationally recognized mark, it can ultimately help your business to establish an overseas business.

Customer satisfaction: The ways and methods of production would improve. Thus, it would eventually result in better service to the customers.

Government tenders: In the case of any government tenders, the ISO mark would give your business an edge over your competitors.

Business efficiency: The ISO certification agency would help you improve your SOP and work instruction and thus it will ultimately make your business more efficient.

Product quality: ISO mark products are of international standards. There would be lower probability of rejection that could’ve occurred due to flawed products.

Marketability: ISO (International Standards Organization) agency improves the credibility of the business and thus helps in developing business marketing directly.

Cost for getting ISO certification is not fixed and it depends from organization to organization. The ISO certification agency calculates the cost of ISO certification separately for each organization after considering them on different parameters such as:

• Number of employees
• Number of Processes
• Level of risk associated with the scope of services of the organisation
• Complexity of the management system
• The number of working shifts etc.

Time taken in completing the whole process of ISO certification depends from organization to organization. The fair idea can be given by the ISO certification agency after assessing the size of the company. Generally, the time required to complete the process of ISO certification is approximately:

• Small organisations: 6-8 months
• Medium organisations: 8-12 months
• Large organisation: 12-15 months