Organizations need to show key stakeholders – including customers, employees, investors, the media, and influencers – that they’re operating safely, sustainably, responsibly, and ethically. An effective way for brands to spotlight their commitment to these important business practices – and show that they meet gold standards for these efforts – is to become ISO certified.

• Food and beverage brand Nestlé implemented a global quality management system powered by SAP to help them achieve ISO compliance and ensure consistent product quality.

• Logistics company DHL used a cloud-based quality management system to ensure global compliance with ISO standards, including tracking and managing corrective actions, and ensuring timely certification renewals.

• Givaudan, a Swiss fragrance and flavor manufacturer, implemented a digital quality management system to automate quality data collection and analysis, helping them achieve compliance with ISO standards and improve product quality.

Each of these organizations has wisely used technology to achieve and maintain ISO compliance. It’s far faster, easier, and more accurate to use tech tools – like SaaS-based quality and audit software – for this effort. 

Conversely, it’s challenging to identify noncompliance issues, track certification paperwork, or get real-time visibility across an enterprise manually, using paper files or Excel spreadsheets. Manual systems are costly, time-consuming, error-prone, frustrating to manage, and are not ideal for achieving or maintaining ISO compliance.

The good news? Tech tools are good today, but exciting tech trends are elevating the ISO compliance process, making it even more transparent, efficient, and accurate. Moving forward, organizations can use pioneering technologies (like augmented reality) to improve training and help employees fully grasp important procedures and regulations to drive safety, quality, and compliance. Some of the most promising tech tools on the horizon include:

• Blockchain technology is being explored as a way to ensure supply chain transparency and compliance with ISO standards, particularly in the food and beverage industry.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are automating many tasks associated with ISO compliance, such as reporting.
• Data analytics is becoming more prevalent in ISO compliance, as companies look for ways to improve the accuracy and efficiency of their compliance efforts.
• Augmented reality tools are improving compliance training and helping employees better understand ISO standards and procedures.
• Automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) are driving increased adoption of technology solutions for ISO compliance and quality management.

Today’s tech tools offer many significant benefits, helping organizations manage the ISO compliance process. Top benefits include the ability to:

• Meet stakeholders’ demands. Increasingly, key stakeholders are gravitating towards businesses that are doing the right thing, being more responsible, sustainable, ethical, diverse, and humane, as well as being committed to strict safety and quality practices. ISO compliance shows your commitment to these business practices – and provides transparency about how your values align with your stakeholders’.

• Reduce risk. One safety or quality breach can ruin your organization. Period. Even if the mistake was unintentional, any error can cause major, irrevocably damaging fallout to your brand’s reputation. Therefore, it’s critical to increase your safety processes, which includes identifying and mitigating potential risks. Tech tools are instrumental to this effort. It’s nearly impossible to spot every potential infraction using manual systems. However, tech tools can be highly effective at finding and reducing risks, allowing your organization to maximize safety and compliance – and protect your assets.

• Automate tasks. Organizations’ employees are typically busy every minute of every day, so why not simplify where you can? Using tech tools to automate tasks can save organizations substantial time, money, and stress as compared to manual methods. Plus, tech tools are much more accurate, efficient, integrated, and streamlined. Let’s all work smarter, not harder!

• Boost visibility. Face it: it’s impossible to achieve real-time, enterprise-wide visibility with manual methods. Tech tools allow you to get a more comprehensive view across your organization, whether you have one location or many. With access to real-time data, your brand can see what’s going on at any point in time, at any location. Tech solutions like RizePoint’s allow you to gather, see, and act so you can immediately identify (and fix) any problems before they become huge, costly, damaging liabilities.

• Use tech to train employees. Your organization can’t follow proper safety and quality protocols – or achieve and maintain ISO certification – without properly trained employees. Training should be a top priority and an ongoing endeavor, and tech tools are essential to this effort. Use tech tools to provide training in “digestible” chunks, and to send updates right to employees’ smartphones. Push out reminders and refreshers via texts, emails, and short videos. And know that training will become increasingly interactive, with augmented reality and other tech tools reinforcing key lessons and making information more memorable and sticky.

• Get recertified. Remember: ISO certification is only valid for three years at a time, and then your organization will need to pass recertification audits to maintain it. Use technology to manage the necessary documentation, keep your staff properly trained, track important deadlines, and be aware of any issues so you can stay compliant.

• Centralize data. Organizations – especially large brands – have a ton of information and certifications to manage. Stop trying to find important paper files in overflowing file cabinets – the proverbial needle in a haystack. Tech solutions help you centralize, organize, and manage your data and reports, so you’ll always have quick, easy access to this critical information. Whenever you need to access certification documents, audit information, and operational records, you’ll easily find what you need, saving you time (and hassle).

• Boost ROI. You may be hesitant to buy tech tools during this time of economic uncertainty, but a tech investment is one of the smartest purchases you can make! Tech solutions have become much more affordable and accessible for brands of all sizes and budgets. These solutions will provide a tremendous ROI and will save your organization money in the long run by improving key performance indicators (KPIs), like sales and profits, and preventing expensive fallout from safety breaches. Becoming ISO certified can result in other lucrative benefits, too, like attracting new investors, recruiting and retaining employees, and securing positive word of mouth referrals and reviews. Think of this as an important investment in your future!

• Spotlight your priorities. ISO is considered the global gold standard, so by becoming ISO certified, your company is demonstrating that you’re investing the time, money, and energy into running as safely, effectively, sustainably, responsibly, humanely, and ethically as possible. This will help you attract like-minded individuals that will want to support you by visiting your business, working there, investing, and recommending your organization to others.

Think of ISO compliance as a way of spotlighting your values (safety, quality, sustainability, responsibility, etc.) to key stakeholders (customers, prospects, investors, employees, media, influencers.) And think about the path of least resistance to get here: using tech tools to achieve ISO compliance more easily, quickly, efficiently, and accurately. It’s a no-brainer, right? Now imagine the possibilities as we embrace the future of technology and all that it holds for ISO compliance and beyond. Tech is changing the game for safety, quality, and compliance, and it’s exciting to be part of the innovation. For more information about how RizePoint’s solutions can help your organization strengthen your food safety, quality, and compliance programs, let’s talk.