Login 
Maintaining high–quality standards is crucial for overall success, and businesses should prioritise and demonstrate continuous improvement of the services they offer.
But how can your business look to improve quality and achieve these increasing customer and stakeholder expectations? That’s where ISO 9001 can help. The world’s most recognised Quality Management System (QMS) Standard supports your business by driving efficiency and fostering a customer-first approach.
In this blog, we’ll answer questions like ‘how does ISO 9001 improve quality?’, by looking at 6 ways the standard does this and how you can get started with becoming a certified business.
What is ISO 9001?
Introduced in 1987, ISO 9001 is the International Standard for Quality Management and has, so far, been adopted by over 1 million organisations worldwide to monitor, manage, and improve the quality of their products and services.
ISO 9001 is designed for organisations of all sizes and sectors – the Standard ensures they’re meeting the needs of their customers and key stakeholders, by implementing a framework that drives improvement whilst maintaining consistency regarding the quality of their goods and services.
By emphasising customer needs and expectations, ISO 9001 encourages organisations to put their clients at the centre of everything they do. Becoming ISO 9001-certified will ultimately help you demonstrate that your business is customer-focused and committed to delivering high–quality services.
For more information, visit our ‘What is ISO 9001?.
How does ISO 9001 improve quality?
ISO 9001 can improve quality by focusing on a set of key quality principles, including your customers, leadership, workforce, process methodology, improvement opportunities, decision–making, and relationship management.
Let’s take a look at 6 ways ISO 9001 specifically improves quality throughout your organisation:
1. Improves your process standardisation
ISO 9001 ensures your business documents its processes from start to finish, helping you improve their efficiency. By encouraging process standardisation, you can maintain consistency in your operations, reduce errors, and follow industry best practices.
2. Allows you to identify risks and areas for improvement
ISO 9001 enables businesses to adopt a risk-based approach to their quality management system. By identifying potential issues and opportunities, this can prevent things from going wrong, minimise disruptions, and discover methods of improvement.
3. Boosts engagement amongst your workforce
With clear guidelines in place, you can ensure your people are working towards the same standard, leading to consistency in product quality and service delivery. Following enhanced, established procedures will support your business by reducing errors, increasing productivity amongst your workforce, and delivering excellent results.
4. Increases your customer satisfaction and retention
ISO 9001 ensures you have a feedback system in place, allowing you to better understand your clients’ needs, identify areas for improvement, and reduce wasted resources. Becoming certified demonstrates your commitment to providing consistent, reliable, and fit-for-purpose solutions, helping you stand out against competitors and increase customer retention.
5. Enhances your performance monitoring
By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), you can assess the effectiveness of your processes. Through regular performance monitoring, you can make informed decisions and focus on improvements – ensuring quality remains the top priority.
6. Builds better relationships with your suppliers
Boost your reputation and market position with ISO 9001, providing your existing, and future, suppliers with greater confidence in what you do.
Become an ISO 9001-certified business with us!
ISO 9001 is a powerful business improvement tool, providing the framework and guidance you need to help you consistently meet your customers’ expectations and regulatory requirements.
With Citation ISO Certification by your side, we can help get your business certified in as little as 45 days. Our ISO consultants will help create a QMS that works for your business, improving quality and efficiency in areas across your organisation. We’ll conduct an ISO 9001 audit to assess your current processes and see how we can get your business to reach the ISO 9001 requirements. See our ISO Certification services for more information.
Ready to get certified? Get your free quote today or contact us on 0330 127 5121 to chat to our team.
