This multi-part blog post series presents practical answers to frequently asked questions on improving business entities. 

Its objective is to assist business leaders in these trying times, whether they are learning the basics of business process improvement, planning their first business improvement project, or evangelizing process-oriented thinking throughout their organization.
 
So, let’s get started…

Often, CMMI is compared to ISO 9001, and rightly so since they are similar in terms of improving quality systems. However, CMMI aims to create a system that allows business process improvement through measuring and defining the various stages that are ‘to be used’, whereas ISO 9001 quality levels are less specific and easier to obtain.
 
As regards ISO Vs Six Sigma, a comparison is impossible since they perform quite different functions. ISO 9000 family indicates ‘what and how’ an organization will manage the quality of its products and services; while Six Sigma focuses on reducing or eliminating errors, variations, and increasing customer satisfaction’.
 
I shall discuss more FAQs concerning effective & efficient business process improvement in upcoming parts of this blog post series...
 
By the way, if you run a company that is facing a challenge to thrive in these difficult times, I would suggest that you please revisit your business processes in order to accelerate growth and bring a quick turnaround.

Keywords and Tags:

#businessprocessimprovement #ISO #SixSigma #CMMI #qualitymanagement #businessprocessmodification #businessprocessreengineering #processimprovement #continuousimprovement 

ISO and Kaizen are both time-tested continual improvement techniques. Both ISO and Kaizen can be used for continuous as well as continual improvement campaigns across all industry sectors. 

Both ISO and Kaizen bring-on organizational transformation and business growth. Therefore, the choice of selecting ISO or Kaizen or both, will depend upon the organization’s goals.

In this blogpost I shall touch upon the differences between ISO and Kaizen. By the way, when I mention ISO, I am referring to ISO 9000 series.
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Just as there are similarities between ISO and Kaizen, there are several stark differences too. I have enumerated few differences between ISO and Kaizen below. Make sure to take cognizance of them before initiating continuous improvement culture at your workplace.

To bring it all together, ISO certification builds credibility. It gives assurance to customers that the company meets a basic minimum criteria of quality standards. This can also help a company access new markets.
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Kaizen increases value a customer gets for his/her money. This increases sales as well as market share.  Moreover, Kaizen fundamentally improves the way a business operates which increases profit figures and EPS (earnings per share). Kaizen therefore directly increases a company’s top line as well as bottom line.

Further, Kaizen implementation is simple and easy. The small, incremental improvements done regularly via Kaizen bring-on exponential benefits. Kaizen is the method of choice to bring about quick organizational transformation.

Keywords and Tags-
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#continuousimprovement #ISO #Kaizen #businesstransfromation #qualitymanagementsystems #productquality #processcontrol #qualitycompliance #ISOcertification #differencebetweenISOandKaizen

This multi-part blog post series presents practical answers to frequently asked questions on improving business entities. 

Its objective is to assist business leaders in these trying times, whether they are learning the basics of continuous improvement, planning their first business improvement project, or evangelizing process-oriented thinking throughout their organization.

We are in year 2021, yet, for the benefit of professionals who have just recently started out on business process improvement journey, I have included this FAQ on ISO 9001:2015.

Note: ISO 9001 is usually updated every five years. It was last updated in September 2015, hence it's referred to as ISO 9001: 2015. Therefore, until further update is announced, ISO 9001: 2015 is the current ISO 9001 standard.
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So let’s get started…

​The ISO 9001:2015 features two important changes, both in content and structure.
 
Firstly, ISO 9001:2015 describes more about processes (especially ‘non-conforming’ processes), process ownership and accountability. A clear definition of process enables better monitoring; better analysis and improvement actions tend to be more effective.
 
Although, this will require organizations to monitor processes and evaluate when they are non-conformant to specifications or user needs. This will also require (as appropriate) an investigation into the causes and taking action to prevent recurrence of the detected problems. Alternately, ISO 9001:2015 brings forth stringent supplier quality control.
 
Secondly, it puts ‘risk management’ as one of the focal points of organization’s attention. This is blessing to organizations in aerospace - that currently need to be AS9100 compliant and use the CMMI as a model for process improvement. The ISO-based standards are catching up with the ‘process’ focus that has always been integral to CMMI adoption.
 
ISO 9001:2015 is a positive move and smart organizations will be able to better leverage their investments in both ISO and the CMMI. Integration among all standards is one of many reasons for ISO revision.
 
ISO 9001:2015 prescribes risk-based management techniques and emphasizes on preventive actions. It not only works to assess risk to the company and to its customer, it also attempts to be supportive of service industries, office environments, virtual offices that have found ISO standard difficult to implement in the past.

You can read more about ISO methodology, advantages of ISO and limitations of ISO here.
 
I shall discuss more FAQs concerning effective & efficient business process improvement in upcoming parts of this blog post series. If you have any such questions about business process design or continuous improvement, please feel free to drop it in the comment section below.
 
By the way, if you run a company that is facing a challenge to thrive in these difficult times, I would suggest that you please revisit your business processes in order to accelerate growth and bring a quick turnaround.

This multi-part blog article presents practical answers to frequently asked questions on improving business entities. 

Its objective is to assist business leaders in these trying times, whether they are learning the basics of continuous improvement, planning their first business improvement project, or evangelizing process-oriented thinking throughout their organization.
​
So let’s get started…

The ISO approach is vital for businesses and organizations to strive and develop a good reputation, as well as, to excel in future aspirations of the company. However, there are some limitations, which can make it difficult to use ISO approach for quality management and continuous improvement.
 
One of the limitations with the ISO for quality is that it does not have much weight when it comes to an individual’s performance in a company. Individuals are not required to be responsible for their unique contributions since, the company’s effectiveness is viewed as a whole. It can often be quite motivating and more effective for a company to allow individuals to take responsibility for their contributions.
 
This also helps increase employee self-esteem and integrity, which can make them work harder for the company and produce effective results. Another way in which individual assessment is beneficial is that it encourages interest and concern within the company. Therefore, one needs to take appropriate steps in order to maintain employee morale during and after implementation of ISO.
 
Since individual contributions are not monitored closely, ISO can also take a lot of time to find the root cause, should a problem occur.
 
Secondly, ISO approach can waste a lot of money. ISO often encourages companies to scrap any defaults or defective produce altogether. This is fine if all produce is perfect, but it is quite common to have few of products that are defective and not the whole lot.
 
In addition, this is very subjective as ‘defects’ can also be classified as- critical, major, minor etc.
 
Moreover, it is industry based. For e.g. in pharmaceutical industry, even a minor product defect is not acceptable since it would potentially compromise safety and/or efficacy to the patient. While, in a packaged food industry, dented cans (containing quality product) is many a times classified as ‘minor’ defect, not scrapped, and instead sold at a discounted price.
 
If the goal of the company is to be ‘defect-free’ or supplying only ‘high quality’ products, then ISO can end up costing the company quite a big chunk of money, in case of product/service defects. Strategic financial planning, considering this ‘all or none’ aspect, becomes vital before selecting ISO methodology for your organization.
 
ISO approach relies almost completely on presenting documentation that depict the system’s various procedures, which can be very time consuming and cause a company to loose focus of their business goals in the meantime.
 
Since those running/ managing/ leading the company, are in charge of arranging the documentation, the time spent gathering this information can take away their contributions to their routine job during that time. Companies therefore need to be up to date with their human resource planning prior to embarking on ISO journey.

You can read more about ISO methodology, advantages of ISO and limitations of ISO here.

I shall discuss more FAQs concerning effective & efficient business process improvement in upcoming parts of this blog post series. If you have any such questions about business process design or continuous improvement, please feel free to drop it in the comment section below.
 
By the way, if you run a company that is facing a challenge to thrive in these difficult times, I would suggest that you please revisit your business processes in order to accelerate growth and bring a quick turnaround.

Keywords and Tags:

#businessprocessimprovement #continuousimprovement #ISO #qualitymanagement #businessprocessmodification #businessprocessreengineering  #processimprovement  

The ISO approach is vital for businesses and organizations to strive and develop a good reputation, as well as to excel in future aspects of the company. However, there are some limitations, or disadvantages, that can make it difficult to use the ISO approach when it comes to quality management and business process improvement. 

One of the limitations that is present with the ISO approach to quality control is that, it does not have much weight when it comes to the individual’s performances in a company. Individuals are not required to be responsible for their unique contributions since the company’s effectiveness is viewed as a whole. It can often be quite motivating and more effective for a company to allow individual’s to take responsibility for their  contributions. This also  helps increase worker’s self-esteem and integrity, which can make them work harder for the company and produce more effective results. Another way in which individual assessment is beneficial is that it encourages interest and concern within the company. 
 
Another limitation of ISO approach is that, it can waste a lot of money. If the goal of the company is to be   defect  free or only supplying high quality products, and solely that, then there is very little requirement for quality control. It can end up costing the company quite a big chunk of money if any product is rejected and is unusable. It is more effective for a company to have methods of quality control and to fix any errors in a  product as they occur, such as thorough fixing or improving. 
 
However, ISO approach often encourages company’s to scrap any defaults altogether. This is fine if all produce is perfect, but it is quite common to have a number of products that are defective. It can also take a lot of time to find the root of the problem, since individual contributions or stages are not as closely monitored, as they would be if ISO paid more attention to the stages as well as the overall effectiveness of a system. 
 
Sometimes ISO only requires a second or third party to help produce the appropriate documentation, which can mean that, the company that is being represented by the ISO approach is actually ineffective and unsafe, besides its documentation representing otherwise. ISO approach relies almost completely on presenting  documentation that depict the system’s various procedures, which can be very time consuming and cause a company to lose focus of their business goals in the meantime. 
 
Since  those running the company are in charge of arranging the documentation, the time  spent gathering this information can take away from the effectiveness of the company during that time. 


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ISO is one of the most reputable standards throughout the world. It shows that the company has a high level of management and has followed the necessary guidelines in order to make their company the most efficient and customer satisfactory. 
  
It is the aim of ISO to incorporate a system of quality management and business process improvement by applying specific guidelines, as well as an increase in efficiency, eliminating or lowering costs that are deemed unnecessary and promoting quality of product, services and processes. It can be used for a variety of companies, businesses and organizations, regardless of their focus or niche. It is a rather flexible application and encompasses all types of organizations. 
  
One of the best factors about ISO approach is its flexibility. While there are certain guidelines, they are not enforced in a rigid way and are open to adjustment and interpretation. The goal of the guidelines is to make the company well established, well maintained and improved in terms of being a system of quality management. It can be used with businesses of all sizes. 
 
ISO encourages its companies to step back and inspect the entire process instead of individual elements. This helps the company to succeed and grow later on because it has paid attention to the way it can work with others, how its processes can be developed and other vital factors of its services. After looking at the whole picture, it is much easier and more effective for company’s to undergo continuous auditing in order to watch how the efficiency is being managed. 
 
Another reason that ISO is advantageous is that it strives on the significance of quality. While any company can offer their products or services, only those that have the best of their kind will really excel. ISO can help the company to figure out where and what their problems are and bring about a solution. This increases effectiveness and maximizes profit at the same time. 
 
Customers have great respect and trust for those companies integrated with ISO and other businesses do as well. This is because it is a genuine reflection of quality and standard, especially towards customer relations.


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The process approach to ISO permits the standard of Quality Management Systems. It can be used for all sizes of  organizations and helps guide you with the application process. Initiating a system of high quality, as with ISO, is a vital process in any organization and is an important structure that the organization will continue to use for years to come. It is necessary to regulate the activities of the organization instead of leaving it up to the organization’s individuals, as this can cause conflict and undesirable results. 
 
Another key factor in initiating an operative system is to apply for registration through a variety of options. The approaches for ISO include the standard approach and the Band-Aid approach. Most organizations opt for the Band-Aid approach, as this is more ideal for those who are rushed into execution and have an urgent date for completion. The standard approach refers to a unique and customized system that is created from the influence of one of its 20 essential elements. 
  
Many types of suppliers choose the Band-Aid  approach primarily because the organization has to deal with a huge amount of audits whilst producing desirable results for all types of clientele. Its main goal is to appeal to the customer and offer quick and helpful results. 
  
The standard approach is used by  organization’s that require registration. Quality management is not a determining factor in this type of approach and is viewed as another form of documentation that will please clientele. Organizations either use a quality management manual to help with the procedure or hire outside help, such as a consultant, to deal with the registration process. It is used to fulfill the required standards of ISO but without much concern for quality. While it does help the organization to receive registration, it typically does not help the organization in terms of structure or organization. 
  
It should be in the organization’s best interest to come up with a superior system that allows it to run at its full potential and handle situations in the best and timeliest way possible. ISO encourages organizations to look at registration as a second step, after figuring out the way the organization will run their system effectively. 
  
The best way to decide whether or not an organization is worthy of the ISO is to make comparisons against the  requirements of ISO. This can be done by assessing the company either individually or by hiring a second or third party. The next step should be to come up with a plan that outlines important details such as dates, goals and responsibilities.


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