Evaluating ISO 9001 Consultants doesn’t have to be an arduous process provided you know what to look for. If you determine that it would make sense for your organization to hire a third party to help you facilitate your ISO 9001 registration, then following these tips will help you identify the right person or group to help you not only complete the paperwork but also to implement a successful quality management system that benefits your organization from soup to nuts.
First, be sure to pick someone with an excellent track record. You want someone that is proven and that can deliver a binder full of references, or better yet if you can have a peer of yours refer you to someone that they worked with, then all the better.
Second, make sure that whomever you investigate can prove that they possess the necessary background and set of resources to deliver according to your unique needs. Oftentimes, consultants are notorious for showing up with premade spreadsheets that they try to apply to every scenario. Do they take the time to understand what makes your organization unique?
You also want to make sure that personalities match. There is a human factor at play in every instance so be sure that you can get along on a personal level with this person. Your organization has a culture and it’s important that this consultant realize this so that they can enact a quality management system that your people will embrace. If they are perceived as an outsider, it can undermine the whole entire system. So make sure that this person fits in with your company and commands the respect of your employees.
Selecting the best ISO consultant as your quality management partner can be the difference between having a successful system or one that utterly fails. A consultant who extensively understands the your business, has thorough expertise of registration requirements and process, and who has solid relationships with registrars can help you avoid expensive mistakes and circumvent barriers on your roadway to ISO certification and registration.
