Running small businesses involves putting on many hats at the same time including taking care of governmental regulations & laws, the work force, production and sales, supply chains, financial issues, quality issues, managing the competition and many others. To be able to maintain a competitive advantage and sustainable growth, SMEs needs to consistent provide high quality products and/or services. Providing quality products and/or services all starts from consistency in the workflows, quality, and processes. They need to think in terms of continuous improvement of their business processes.

The best way to solve a problem is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. This can be done by identifying potential risks to your business and systematically controlling them. This approach is promoted by ISO 9001 quality management system standard. It employs an approach called ‘risk-based thinking’ which when adopted leads to fewer surprises, improved planning, more effective decision-making and better relationships with relevant stakeholder (suppliers, customers and employees).

A certification can also be necessary if you intend to enter foreign markets. Being an internationally recognized management standard, achieving ISO certification will definitely boost your marketing efforts and help increase your sales. This you can ensure by promoting your ISO certification in advertisement, on your website and even on your banners outside your building.

When employees know that you are committed to eliminating waste and producing the highest quality products and services, their morale tend to increase. ISO requires that you define tasks and responsible persons by defining organizational structures, roles, and responsibilities; eliminate skills gaps in your business through regular training thereby ensuring competence of your workforce, provide a suitable work environment for operations and communicate your quality policies to employees.