International Standards Organization (ISO) is an independent organization that sets the standards for businesses in terms of quality, safety, and efficiency of products. An ISO registration enhances the reputation of your service or product.There are different types of ISO certification like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 5001, etc.

 ISO 9000 series is the most popular among the all. ISO 9000 is a set of international standards for quality management and quality assurance. The ISO 9000 family of standards like ISO 9001:2015, ISO 19011:2018, ISO 9000:2015 help organizations meet customer satisfaction and regulatory requirements and achieve continual improvement. ISO 9000 lays the fundamentals for Quality Management System (QMS).

QMS is structured framework of policies, processes and procedures for planning and execution in the core business areas of an organization. ISO 9001:2015 is the international standard for QMS. It is globally recognized and accepted and can be implemented by all small, medium and large enterprises to enhance efficiency, quality and profits. It also helps in reducing waste, and lowering costs.
ISO 9001:2015
ISO 14001:2015
ISO 45001:2018
ISO 22000:2005
ISO 50001:2011
ISO 28000:2007
IATF 16949:2016

Will I get a certificate in the pre-audit stage?
No, at the pre-audit stage you will not get a certificate. The auditor will only assess your business system and procedures to make suggestions so that you can work towards making your company ISO complaint.

Can I Choose any ISO accreditation?
No, not all ISO accreditations are genuine and valid. It is important for you to pick the right ones. To know which are the right ones, contact Realtax today and our agents will help you decide.

Does an ISO certification work as a permit or a license?
An ISO certification only certifies standards, it has got nothing to do with permits and licenses. Even though you might have an ISO certification, you still need government and authority permission, permits and licenses to work your business.

Why does my company need an ISO standard?
One of the main reasons is credibility. ISO offers great credibility in the market and enhances the reputation of your business. The government has now made it mandatory for all companies filing tenders for government work to haver an ISO certification.

Do I have to renew my ISO certificate?
Not really, but auditors do conduct surprise checks from time to time to see if your business standards and procedures meet the required ISO mark.

What is ISO 27001 Certification?

Coming across the text “ISO Certified” is all too common when it comes to businesses, organizations and non-governmental associations, but not many of us would know what it is certifying. Although there exist different nomenclatures (such as ISO 9000, 14000) that correspond to quality in specific areas such as risk management, quality, customer satisfaction etc, ISO which stands for International Organization for Standardization is aimed at providing a family of standardization norms. It is important to understand which standard suits your company the best before going for an ISO certification.

What is the ISO 27001?
In every organization, regardless of its location, size or business area, there are always some risks. These could be financial risks, such as fraud, legal risks such as non-compliance, tax penalties, etc., Technical risks such as failure of technologies employed by the business, alongside a host of general business risks. While some risks can hardly be controlled, most internal risks can be managed by using controls within the organization. In this context, it is important to understand two key terms ISMS and ISO 27001.
The ISMS, which stands Information Security Management System (ISMS) is a specified framework of policies and procedures that includes all legal, physical and technical controls involved in an organisation’s information risk management processes.
The ISO 27001 was developed to “provide a model for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an information security management system.”

Why should your business get the ISO 27001 certification?
At a time when the world is moving towards increasingly pervasive digitalization, security of data assumes greater importance. Data theft and privacy issues have recently been playing the greatest roles in corporate frauds worldwide. The ISO 27001 certification issued in 2013 is aimed at improving how a company manages its information systems and to make them more secure, trustworthy and reliable.

The certification involves responsibilities of management, audit committees for review, internal management and documentation systems and also necessitates designing of a corrective and preventive action plan. Through a checklist of good compliances, the ISO 27001 has a six-pointer plan that includes:

Defining a security policy for the organization
Define the scope of the Information Security Management System
Conducting a targeted risk assessment
Managing identified risks
Selecting control objectives and controls to be implemented
Prepare a statement of applicability

Is it mandatory to get the ISO 27001 certification?
The ISO 27001 certification is considered to be ideal but is not mandatory. Some businesses use the certification results to improve their internal practices for risk management, while others gain from the confidence it imparts to the business processes in the eyes of several stakeholders like banks, customers, investors and the government.

While there is no statute in India making it compulsory, the Information Technology Act 2008 uses the word “reasonable security practice” for protecting sensitive personal information, and ISO 27001 promises that. Thus, companies that involve personal information recording – such as banking, finance, credit-rating, social media, marketing etc should ideally get the ISO 27001 certification.

Who does the ISO 27001 certification?
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the International Organization for Standardization that does the quality check for certification and is only involved with formulating standards against which performance can be measured. The task of weighing actual controls against the ISO standards is performed by external certification bodies, thus a company or organization cannot be certified by ISO. In India, there exist accredited bodies that undertake the certification. There are legal agencies and lead auditors that possess the qualification and necessary accreditation that provides the ISO 27001 certification. An ideal agency to choose would be one that does a gap analysis to highlight deviations from the standards and assists with suggesting appropriate controls to meet the standards.

What is the validity period of the certificate?
The ISO 27001 certificate is valid for a period of three years. However, in the interim, the certifying agency would pay regular visits and advise on improvement in systems. It may also suspend the certification before its expiry if any deviation is found.

What are the benefits of ISO certification in India?

Benefits of ISO Certification in India
Every trader or a businessman always has a dream to expand the business and gain the trust of his/her customers. Business is mainly based on the trust of the customers which can be directly related to its Quality Management System (QMS). ISO is defined as the International Organization for Standardization is an International non-government body which consists of 162 member countries. It has evolved ISO 9001 certification which looks after the Quality Management System of an organization. It is a general standard which is applicable to all the organizations irrespective of its size. ISO certification is necessary if the company wishes to tender for a public sector work.

ISO 9001 - A Quick Background
ISO 9001 is mainly recognized and known for Quality management system (QMS) in the world. Majorly it belongs to the ISO 9000 family which deals with different aspects and angles of the quality management. ISO 9001 sets out criteria which help a company meeting the necessary requirements and expectations of its customers. Therefore, ISO 9001 Certification helps in improving customer satisfaction which leads to an increase in the business with continual improvement in the performance. ISO 9001 gives important features for Quality Management for all kinds of companies and organizations regardless of their sizes, working activities, goods and services. The certification is applied to all the sectors of activities such as public administration, business enterprise etc.

The process of ISO Certification in India
1. Application Or Contract Needs To Be Created
A contract should be made by both the applicant and the registrar. This contract basically defines the rights and obligations of both the parties which include the liability issues, access rights and confidentiality.
2. Review Of Documents
The ISO auditor will view all the company quality documents & manuals related to the various procedures & policies which are followed in the organization. Review of the present work will help the ISO auditor to identify the loopholes against the requirements specified in the ISO standards.
3. Action Plan
After the ISO auditor communicates the loopholes in the company, they need to create an action plan to eliminate these loopholes and prepare the list of the necessary tasks to be performed to bring the required changes in the company.

All the employees should be aware of the ISO standards in terms of quality standards and work efficiency.
4. Initial Certification Audit

The initial certification audit is divided into two classifications- Stage 1 and Stage 2

Stage 1: The ISO auditor will audit the required changes made by the company. Auditor will then try to detect the necessary non-conformities in the organization procedures and systems to the preferred quality management system. They will divide these non-conformities into major and minor non-conformities. The applicant must prudently assess all these non-conformities and get it done as per the preferred quality standards through modification in the techniques and processes used by the company.

Stage 2: After all the necessary changes are done in the company, the final auditing is done by the auditor. The auditor will check if all the non-conformities have been disregarded or not as per ISO quality standards. If the ISO auditor is contented, final ISO audit report is prepared and forward to the registrar.
5 .Completion Of The ISO Certification
After addressing all the non-conformities final conclusions are put in the ISO audit report, ISO certification is granted by the registrar.
6. Surveillance Audits
Surveillance audit is generally conducted to make sure that ISO quality standards are being maintained by the company. It is conducted from time to time.

Main Benefits of Implementing ISO Standards:
1. Provides a prospect to escalate the value to the activities of the Company.
2. The progress of the performance in the activities continually.
3. Contentment of the customers.
4. Devotion to resource management.
5. Execution of statuary and regulatory requirements related to goods and services.
6. Enhanced management control.
7. Cuts costs.
8. Entree to the new market.
9. Consumer feels secured and safeguards that they are getting quality products.
10.Growth in the market share of the company.

Benefits of Implementing ISO 9001:
For A Company:
1. Affords senior management with an effective management process.
2. Sets out areas of obligation across the company.
3. It is also necessary if you want to tender for some public sector workers.
4. Helps to Converse a positive message to employees and customers.
5. Classifies and also emboldens more effective and time-saving processes.
6. Highlights the deficiencies.
7. Helps to reduce company costs.
8. Affords for continuous assessment and for enhancement.
9. Affords marketing opportunities.

For The Customers:
1. Benefits in delivery on time.
2. Affords right first time attitude.
3. There are less returned products and complaints.
4. Independent audit determines the commitment to quality.