Last month, DevelopmentAid took an important step towards demonstrating compliance to international standards, by obtaining an ISO certification. More specifically, our company has established a Quality Management System that is compliant to the requirements of EN ISO 9001:2015. An ISO 9001 Quality Management System is a consistent way of doing things which ensures that our service consistently meets our customers’ needs. We have improved our Quality Management System (QMS) to the level required by the ISO in order to strengthen our business performance and help to protect it from whatever challenges lie ahead.
Having an ISO certification shows your key stakeholders that you have a well-run business that has structure, is stable and ready for growth. There are several certifications depending on the business scope, which are distinguished by the number prefix of the ISO certificate. In DevelopmentAid’s case, 9001 signifies a customer-focused business, and the certification helps reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction. Since ISO certifications are valid for 3 years, they need to be renewed in due time, by undergoing compliance checks, auditing, and verifications. Thus, by maintaining an ISO certification we are proving our organisation’s commitment to achieving its objectives and increasing the credibility and customer confidence in our products and services.
We have asked DevelopmentAid’s CEO Luc Vocks to describe what the ISO certification means for our company, and he told us:
“ISO shows that we have our management and administration systems in order. It shows that how we operate is well thought through but also that we have the ability to self-improve.”
Next up, we have asked Luc to share some details on the process of obtaining the ISO certification. He told us:
“As part of the ISO process, we redesigned a large number of processes. The way that strategic priorities were set in the company has changed. The way performance of departments is measured was updated. Department directors were finally included in the evaluation system of our company. We updated job definitions and added an internal job board. And many many things more!”
“Quality services, new customers including public sector companies which may insist that their suppliers achieve accreditation with quality standards, new markets entered by giving prospects independent confirmation of our company’s ability to provide quality services, as well as increased employee engagement and performance.”
“Obtaining the ISO certificate was an extremely challenging experience. During 3 months we have been assisted by an external consultant who helped us understand better our company as a whole and thus reorganise and optimize our existing working processes.”
“It’s a great step forward for us, and we’ll try to keep up all the documentation and processes on a high level!”
“Now that we are ISO certified, I would say that the hardest part is yet to come because the changes that we have made require commitment to them. The certificate is valid for a period of 3 years from the date of issue and during this period, the auditors will check annually if we are still compliant with the requirements of the Standard.”
