ISO certificate an effective marketing tool
An ISO certification is in effect a marketing tool, apart from being an indicator of quality management, a top official of the International Organisation for Standards – the ISO certifying body – has conveyed.
Alan Bryden, secretary-general of the organisation, said: "Implementing ISO standards is a way to improve quality management and to communicate this improvement to customers." Therefore, informing the world about winning ISO certification can be a legitimate marketing tactic.
Another expert, Ayman Ktaily, head of marketing and sales at Lloyds Register, a major consultancy, said companies have the right to use ISO as a marketing tool. It is originally an international system to facilitate communication and build trust among business partners from different parts of the world, he added, but companies that have been certified are free to milk it for all its worth as a means to market themselves.
"There is no reason why companies shouldn't publicise their certification. Let them use it to the fullest and advertise excessively about being certified as long as they follow the system properly. More important than merely advertising it is the serious pursuit of the standards, which ensures continuous improvement, customer satisfaction and proper management," Ktaily said.
However, from concerns raised by industry experts the question that arises is: how serious are local companies in applying the standards. Last year in the UAE, the number of companies that had already acquired ISO 9001 certification increased to 2,422, according to the ISO 2007 survey. Another 235 companies had received the ISO 14001 certification.
Driving such considerable growth, said Ktaily, is the country's rapid development. "Companies are no longer able to keep up with the fast track changes without having a system in place. This system provided by the ISO standards helps preserve data and devise preventive actions to avoid previous mistakes."
Business tenders now require bidders to present an ISO certification, explained Ktaily. "Most companies rush to acquire the certification to be eligible for those tenders and they are not responsible for defective certification. That is the responsibility of the certification bodies – to control and monitor proper implementation and make sure they are not risking the integrity of the standardisation. Many such bodies still provide certification without proper checking," he said.
The UAE has around 16 certification bodies. Their role is to conduct a half-yearly inspection to ascertain the proper implementation of the system. However, not all of them are properly accredited themselves. They fail to monitor effectively and eventually companies with ISO certification end up not conforming to the standards required of them.
For many local companies, though, conformity with ISO standards remains of secondary importance. Most think of the ISO certification as an influential marketing tool. However, some do take the requirements of the certification seriously and genuinely believe them to be performance enhancers, rather than mere tools to gain market leverage.
Karim F Merchant, CEO and Managing Director of Pure Gold, is one such who said that marketing should not be the sole purpose of getting certified. "There must be a genuine intention to improve our systems and provide only the best for our stakeholders," he said.
Masafi, which is ISO 9001:2000 certified, is not keen on advertising its certification, although it is mentioned on its website. Natascha Edelmann, Masafi's head of marketing, said: "At Masafi, ISO certifications are not used as marketing ploys. We obtained ISO certifications only after we reached the required international standards, thus forming an assurance for our consumers and ourselves."
She said having that assurance is a source of quiet confidence and professional pride and there is no need to advertise it to increase sales.
CERTIFICATION 'NOT BEING DONE SERIOUSLY'
Alan Bryden, secretary-general of ISO, visited Dubai last week to attend the ISO Dubai 2008 conference.
"We do have a concern that certification is not being done seriously. It definitely compromises the reputation of the organisation," he said.
The ISO organisation does not provide certification or accreditation. Being only responsible for issuing the standards, the organisation has realised the necessity to collaborate with accreditation bodies through international accreditation forums to ensure proper monitoring is being carried out.
"We tell companies that content is important for implementing ISO 9001. Those entitled to it should implement the standards rather than being cosmetically certified to it. Otherwise, customers will soon notice that they are not complying," said Bryden.
The organisation has also formed a special awareness committee – Copolco – that encourages consumer organisations to take part in standardisation at the international level.
"We have extensive activities to promote consumer interaction in standardisation. More than 100 countries are members of Copolco. We also organise "train the trainer" programmes to train people who advocate, promote and assist in the implementation of standardisation at the consumer level, and raise awareness," Bryden said.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
According to the ISO survey 2007, most certifications in the UAE have been acquired by construction, retail and metal industries.
Certified companies currently include 141 in the construction sector, 142 in basic and fabricated metal industries, and 114 in
the retail sector.