ISO certification: a badge or a business benefit?

At MRM we are proud of our ISO certifications, which demonstrate our ongoing commitment to quality, environmental management and information security.

But if you’re not familiar with these international standards, you could be forgiven for thinking that they’re just a badge to put at the bottom of our website.

In fact, ISO qualification is a powerful tool for businesses to improve procurement, reinforce marketing activities and improve internal management processes.

ISO accreditation can deliver cost benefits and increased sales, paying for the increase in admin in the long run, while optimising the way your business runs.

This guide looks at the benefits of international standards for companies and their customers alike, and why we work continually to maintain our ISO certificates.

What is ISO?

ISO is the International Organization for Standardization (the acronym is deliberately ‘wrong’ to avoid showing a preference for the English name over the French name).[1]

The organisation was founded in 1947 and published its first standard in 1951. ISO aims to answer a simple question: “What’s the best way of doing this?”[2]

As of 2024, there are now 25,544 international standards with 840 technical committees and subcommittees overseeing their development.

What ISO certificates do MRM have?

MRM hold three important ISO certifications:

These are the ‘transferable skills’ of the ISO world, with far-reaching benefits across many different sectors and niches. It’s no surprise that they’re among the most commonly held ISO qualifications:

That places them 1st, 2nd and 4th on the list of most widely held ISO certificates, with ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems) in 3rd place.[3]

Learning from the process

If you only ever see ISOs mentioned on website footers and ‘About Us’ pages, you might think they’re little more than a tick box for procurement purposes.

At MRM we know that’s not the case. ISO qualification is a learning process – and that does not end once you achieve certification, as there are continual improvements to be made and a regular recertification procedure (three years for most ISO standards).

More than that, there are significant business benefits to be found in ISO certification.[4] These can include:

These benefits are particularly pronounced for SMEs, but only if you continue to learn from the process insights revealed to you by the ISO qualification journey. MRM aim to do that on a constant basis, both for our own benefit and so we can pass on that insight to our clients.

Does ISO certification work?

Yes – we have seen the real benefits unlocked by ISO certification. There’s also plenty of research from all over the world that shows the same findings.

For example, a survey of Chinese businesses[5] carried out by the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) showed the significant impact of ISO 9000 quality management system certification.

It’s not just about money. In the UNIDO survey, 43% said ISO 9000 certification responded to customer pressure, tender requirements, or would give them greater market access.

What are the benefit for clients of ISO certification?

We hope that our ISO certificates give our clients peace of mind when choosing MRM as their multi-channel marketing campaign partner.

As an internationally recognised system, ISO proves to you that we have met – and continue to uphold – the level of quality needed for ongoing qualification.

In particular, the trio of ISO certificates we hold span important areas of compliance such as information security, quality management and environmental management, all of which are high on the agenda for businesses of all sizes

Communicating ISO qualification

It’s important to inform customers (and in some cases, suppliers) about your ISO certification. It shouldn’t just be a badge of honour.

This is especially true for SMEs, as noted in a paper presented at the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Democracy and Social Transformation in 2023.[6]

The paper said: “Large companies have greater importance for ISO 9001 certification, namely for managerial and marketing. Whereas for SMEs, it is more towards achievement badges, not yet being used as a managerial and marketing tool.”

We want that to change, so that businesses big and small alike can gain the full competitive advantage of their hard work towards ISO certification.

Committing to quality

ISO certification isn’t easy. It’s a big commitment in the first instance, and it takes hard work to remain compliant for recertification in the future.

Gaining certification can take substantial investment, but remember that UNIDO found 98% of firms who gained ISO 9000 qualification considered it a good or very good investment.

At MRM we are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality required by our ISO certificates at all times, and not just when it’s time to get recertified.

To ensure that this remains the case, we have dedicated in-house staff tasked with keeping us compliant. This is our commitment to ourselves and to our clients, so you can be sure that no matter when you come to us, you get the full benefits of what we have learned from ISO.

Learn more about our ISO certification

We welcome any questions you might have about MRM’s ISO certificates. You can find out more about our current ISO certification here.

If you have a particular concern about environmental management, information security or quality management, our ISO accreditation means we are in a perfect position to help. Just ask a member of our team during your next consultation.

For any other questions or to arrange a no-obligation initial consultation about your next multi-resource marketing campaign, contact MRM today.

[1] https://www.iso.org/about

[2] https://www.iso.org/benefits-of-standards.html

[3] https://www.iso.org/the-iso-survey.html

[4] https://www.iso.org/iso-and-smes.html

[5] https://business-benefits.org/research/value-iso-9001-businesses/

[6] https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icon-demost-23/125996983

References

https://mrm.co.uk/iso-certification/

https://www.iso.org/about

https://www.iso.org/benefits-of-standards.html

https://www.iso.org/the-iso-survey.html