What benefits will ISO 9001:2015 bring to organisations?

One of the questions that many organisations understandably ask is "what are the benefits for my organisation and our stakeholders?" Looking at the currently available version of the standard, some of the anticipated overarching benefits are listed below. However, what we do know is that this revision to ISO 9001 is bringing the requirements up-to-date with good management practice; a lot has changed in 15 years since the last significant revision to ISO 9001.

Leadership

By placing more emphasis on Leadership, ISO 9001:2015 will drive greater involvement in your organisation’s QMS by Top Management. This will help to ensure that employees are motivated towards the stated goals and strategic objectives.

Managing risk

ISO 9001:2015 also introduces ‘risk-based approach’. This focuses the organisational resources, on the areas which are most likely to cause concern.

A risk-based compliance program will assist in identifying, managing, monitoring, and reducing the compliance risks key to your business, making board and regulatory reporting easier to conduct and maintain with less work.

Through the use of your QMS as a governance tool, you can identify business opportunities that contribute to bottom line improvements and effectively manage your risks.

Performance measurement

Self-governance and organisational behaviour have a direct influence on performance and the capacity to create value for customers and employees.

Effective performance measurement and self-governance can result in higher levels of innovation, employee loyalty, and customer satisfaction; as well as superior financial performance.

Integration

At first glance, the new high-level structure common to all new and revised management system standards, Annex SL appears to make the standard writers lives 'much easier' but in reality, as organisations begin to understand and appreciate the value of different management systems all speaking a common language, it will be organisations - and in turn the consumer - who stand to be the true beneficiaries.