Small Service Company - Seeking certification solo

Kelly! Welcome!

Let's give you some things to consider:

Why do you say this?

What about Six Sigma is common with a quality management system?

Which road? Doing it alone? Becoming ISO 9001 certified?

There are 1,001 books out there, including mine - about the myths people put in their books about ISO 9001. Many of them are based on single digit experiences or what they did to pass an audit. NOT the same thing. Beware. Some people only know how to pass audits, because that was their goal.

 

That's a bit like saying "how long is a piece of string..." For a small company, based on my 30+ years of doing this, they were ripped off. Buying a "kit" is another way to be ripped off. You'll get a cheap up front cost, become certified and then pay on the back end because someone sold you a cute little critter, which turned out to be a a freakin' monster... #AskMeHowIKnow.

Of course you'd have to pay to be certified. I can tell you approximately how much that will cost:

• Go to www.iaf.nu and look for mandatory docs, MD-5 here: https://iaf.nu/iaf_system/uploads/documents/IAF_MD5_Issue_4_Version_3_14062023.pdf
• Find page 21.
• Look for your company's "effective number of personnel" and read across to the Audit time.
• Stage 1 Audit is 1 day (typically), so the remainder is for the Stage 2 Audit days #AskMeHowIKnow
• Figure an approximate audit day cost of $1350-$1550 depending on the Certification Body you choose (and you'll need help with that from a consultant who knows them, not one being paid for CB referrals or "guaranteeing" certification) #AskMeHowIKnow
• Add in travel and accommodation, plus meals. If you are in a reasonable town/city size and not Alaska etc, this might come in under $1K
• Add fees, many different fees. Some obvious, some not so obvious #AskmehowIknow
• Do you know what to look for in selecting a Certification Body? Did you know you can request a specific auditor, ask to see resumes, interview them? #AskMeHowIKnow

I just saved you as much as $10K - and you can't afford a consultant? You can't afford a bad consultant...

Please, feel free to message me if you'd like more details and some free guidance in addition to the above.

Or, try it yourself based on someone here who has done it once or twice. Or someone, like me, who knows where the $$$ traps are...

 

Kelly - it occurs to me that the vast amount of books written are about product quality organizations, not services such as yours. Hence, you can get a skewed understanding - and this is why a live person to help is beneficial. Also, unlike others your IT business is rare as a candidate for help from places such as community colleges and so on. You really should seek out some specialist. Also, be aware that if you seek the services of someone in the IT industry, they ae most likely to understand ISO/IEC 27001 (InfoSec) or even ISO 20000 (IT Services). I've found these folks make the same types of errors that the ISO 9001 community made in the early days (and are still making them). With 35+ years in the QMS implementation and Certification industries, I can vouch for the fact that it's a mine field out there.