In recognition of World Standards Day, we celebrate how standards help businesses maximise their growth and sustainability through adopting effective processes.
In today’s world, businesses operate in a VUCA landscape:
- Volatile
- Uncertain
- Complex
- Ambiguous
Against this backdrop, it’s the responsibility of all businesses to ensure they operate in the most effective way possible, maximising their growth potential whilst ensuring the wellbeing of staff, customers, and the environment.
Standards: what are they? How can they help businesses?
International standards provide a framework for businesses on “the best way of doing something”.
There is a standard for most core business practices, including (but not limited to):
- Quality Management: how to drive continuous improvement in your business
- Information Security: how to protect information from being inappropriately accessed or lost
- Health and Safety: how to protect employees and reduce accidents in the workplace
- Environmental Management: how to reduce your business’ impact on the environment
If you decide to certify to a standard, you are telling potential customers, supply chains, and their own workforce that you are committed to implementing processes that make yourself:
- more effective
- more sustainable, and – crucially –
- more competitive.
Helping businesses embed standards more effectively
Our team has been helping businesses embed international standards for over 30 years.
For many businesses, trying to implement and be certified to standards themselves is no mean feat, and can yield many questions.
- What standards do I need to operate successfully?
- Am I legally compliant?
- When should they be updated?
- How much work will it take?
This is where Ellenbrooke’s consultants come in.
They identify which standards a client requires, provides them with a process to implement them, and will act as a ‘critical friend’ to ensure the business is on track.
They can also notify clients when certain standards are due a major update, as well as recommend new standards that complement the client’s direction of travel.
Our consultants are known for their personable approach, with many clients maintaining a 1-2-1 relationship with the same consultant for many years.
Not only does this ensure a smooth implementation of standards for a client, but using an external consultant minimises the need for using extra internal staffing and resource.
Benefits of implementing standards
By making it easier to implement standards, you can enjoy the benefits of being certified to specific standards. You can:
- Demonstrate more efficient use of your resources (such as time, money, raw materials)
- Enter new supply chains that demand a specific standard as the price of admission
- Ensure appropriate safety and risk management of staff, customers, and environment
- Communicate a mutual understanding of product/service quality between supplier and buyer
- Deliver improved services and products consistently in the long-term.
What our clients have said
Learning & Development provider OnTrack International has been a client of Ellenbrooke for 15 years. They have enjoyed many advantages of maintaining the ISO9001 Quality Management standard.
“My clients increasingly wanted us to achieve the ISO9001 Quality Management Standard in order to keep working with us,” explains Angela Andrews, Head of Client Success, OnTrack International.
“We’ve also used the standard to strengthen our relationships with existing clients, demonstrating that we can take care of their data and provide the best possible service in our area.
“Ellenbrooke has been our partner in ensuring we provide the best experience to our clients. They have ensured our processes remain consistent but also are adaptable to the bespoke nature of our work.”
Conclusion
Each year, World Standards Day offers the opportunity to increase understanding of the importance of standardisation.
We are proud help businesses across the UK meet their business objectives through standards.
