Here is a brief list of the 10 most common mistakes consultants can make and how to avoid them:

1)      There’s a steep road ahead – Some consultants can have the tendency to have the clients running scared from the outset. Their first comments can be like “You haven’t done anything!” or “This is going to take a lot of hard work”. Comments like these aren’t going to help at all and a sense of support needs to be given instead. This is the reason why the client has turned to consultancy after all.

2)      Aiming low for Auditor standards – It can become all too easy for consultants to start to become friendly with auditors and in turn start to learn the particular standards of individuals they deal with often. By this I am not suggesting that there is any wrong doing happening but simply concentrating on areas that the consultants know the auditor will be looking at is not good practice. A good consultant should be able to prepare a client and the systems they have in place for any auditor that they may face.

3)      Strike it rich – Many consultants start off with the impression that they are going to make a lot of money in a short amount of time. They expect clients to be queuing up at the door with their deep pockets ready and willing to pay whatever it takes for help to put the right systems in place. This simply isn’t the case. A good consultant will start off with a fixed price and will aim to work efficiently, provide excellent service and to a high standard. Consultants need to build a good reputation and plan for long term success.

4)      Tailored strategies for individual clients – The ISO 9001 certification has changed significantly through the years and certain ‘non’ requirements have become listed as priorities on many consultant’s overall lists of strategies, such as “process maps” and “training matrix”. A good consultant will treat each client individually and will tailor their strategy to suit them in the best possible way. A lot of time and money can be wasted on things that the client simply doesn’t need and this time would be much better spent on creating new ideas.

5)      Putting the registrar first – Some consultants get in to the habit of putting the needs of the registrar before that of the client. This will undoubtedly mean that the client will miss out on vital parts that could have been more beneficial to their individual needs. A client’s needs must always come first.

6)      Using boilerplates and templates – A lot of consultants will tend to use documents that they have previously written for other clients. This can obviously save a lot of time but unfortunately every client’s requirements can vary a great deal from others. These previously written reports could be beneficial when carrying out research for new clients and can be a good reference for methods that have been successful in the past, but every new client needs their own individual documents writing up that is specifically tailored to their needs.

7)      Overload the client with data – Unfortunately it seems to be common for a consultant to dump a load of data on the client that will unsurprisingly make no sense. Giving a client a stack of raw data is no use at all and will simply make them more confused and possibly send them in the wrong direction. A good consultant will spend time ordering the necessary data for each individual client offering clear explanations along the way.

8)      Consultant versus registrar – Every consultant should know the current requirements (ISO 17021) for appealing or complaining against a decision that has resulted in a client failing to become certified. There is no point simply lodging an appeal without sufficient reasons to do so. Knowledge of these requirements will only help a consultant to build a stronger argument to put forward that will have more chance of success.

9)      Trying to teach the client too much – Some consultants try to involve their clients in tasks that they really don’t need to. To be fair, from a consultants point of view they could be simply be trying to help their client understand more about the systems they are trying to implement. However, time would be much better spent if the consultant was to prepare the system with their knowledge and expertise and then the client would simply be able to implement it. It would be a much better time to educate the client once the system is in place and up and running.

10)   Stating “management commitment” as essential – It is becoming increasingly common for lazy consultants to use the term”management commitment” to hide behind or use as a safety net if things go wrong. From the start this can create a bad feeling between client and consultant as the client could see this as a negative comment about current management and their commitment to see it through. In reality a good consultant does not require management commitment to see through the implementation of what is required to achieve ISO 9001 certification,  but will be able to prove the beneficial effects it is having after implementation.

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1. Boost Your Chances of Winning Public Sector Tenders

This is seen in the industry as the most significant reason for getting the ISO 14001 certification. Public sector figures will see the acquisition of this standard as proof of commitment to the environment and sustainability and there for increase your company’s chances of winning their business and/or support.

2. Increase Your Chances of Gaining Private Sector Contracts

Similarly to the first point, ISO 14001 is also equally as likely to impress private sector firms as well. Businesses latched onto the benefits of operating ethically and environmentally friendly some years ago and this certification is a great indicator that you are doing just that. As the government continues its environmental drive, it would be prudent to ensure that you can show you are toeing the line and even excelling in this very important area.

3. Ensure You Are Meeting Regulatory and Legal Requirements

Depending on the sector you are working in, there will now doubt be all sorts of rules and regulations you have to abide by. The ISO 14001 certification ensures that you are adhering to all of these and saves any potential banana skins down the line.

4. Decrease Your Insurance Premiums

When applying all of the requirements of ISO 14001, you are making your business safer and therefore lower risk. For this reason, business insurance premiums can be lowered significantly. Partly due to the extra factor of having third party verification, many companies have saved money down on their insurance premiums due to the acquisition of the ISO 14001 certification.

5. Lower the Consumption of Raw Materials

The ISO certification is concerned with the impact your company has on the environment. So the reduction in consumption of raw materials is obviously a fundamental factor here. This is seen as the first step when it comes to successfully adhering to ISO 14001’s criteria and helps your business to look at how you can consume less power and how materials can be better used.

6. Reduce Your Waste Levels and Unnecessary Work

Due to the fact that ISO 14001 is designed to improve your operations, more efficient processes can be easily adopted when applying its principles. This in turn lowers the amount of mistakes that are made by your business and therefore the amount of waste and unnecessary work that is undertaken.

7. Increase Your Profitability

Another great result of reducing consumption and waste is the obvious effect on costs. Improved management systems and far great efficiency as a company mean that your profit margins will increase noticeably. Although there will be a cost involved at the time of actually achieving the certification, over time you will be able to see your bottom line improve as a result of ISO 14001.

8. Streamlining

Over time, following the successful implementation of ISO 14001, organisations can vastly streamline their business operations. Although you have implemented the steps in order to achieve the certification – these are best practice and will benefit a large proportion of the tasks you complete as an organisation.

9. Boost Staff Morale and Participation

An organised and efficiently run business will result in a happy and motivated workforce. With the ISO 14001 in place, you can ensure that management processes are ideal and you will have a more confident team as a result. As more of the workforce becomes aware of their impact on the environment, participation will undoubtedly increase resulting in better performance for your business as a whole.

10. Promote Continual Improvement

This is a vital part of any certification, not least the ISO 14001. Continual improvement is inevitable once the standard has been successfully obtained. Positive changes will occur every year to help reduce things such as carbon footprint and waste which will result in better and better results for your company.

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1. Reduce costs

By having the certification it means that businesses have lower insurance premiums. This is because insurers trust that the businesses can provide a quality service and have good products.

2. Improve consistency in the business

The certification can offer the type of consistency that benefits everyone including customers. The processes within a business are common and understood which helps employees be clearer on the tasks involved – rather than spending time thinking about what to do or even making things up.

3.  Better management

The reporting process is better, and it makes it easier to understand how your business is doing in general, by having accurately obtained results and better predictions.

4. Problems with product or service will be reduced

Having this ISO certification means that your business will be prepared for any surprising twists in products or services. For instance if something happens such as a product not being up to scratch, there will be processes in place that will help make sure the problem is dealt with efficiently.

5. Increases chances of winning public sector and private sector contracts

An ISO 9001 certification can go a long way to securing partnerships within private and public sectors. With public sector tenders, a certificate will prove to them that tax payer’s money is being put into good use, which will improve trust. It also saves them money on not needing to check too much of the businesses credentials. Private sector organisations have made it a requirement for their suppliers to have an ISO 9001 qualification – this makes sure that quality is consistent on all levels of the business.

6. Customer satisfaction

One of the aspects of the ISO 9001 certification award is the satisfaction of customers including customer service. The award proves that you take customers into a lot of consideration when moving forward with company plans.

7. Employee satisfaction and job security

Staff will feel more secure about their jobs because the processes are very well co-ordinated, they will feel that they can complete tasks more efficiently therefore adding a more secure job environment.

8. Continuous improvement

Having a great system in place can provide a foundation for improvements to be made year on year. All other aspects of the business will improve in this way.

9. Could reduce audits

In an ideal world, we would all like less paper work? With an ISO 9001 certification everything is done very efficiently to the point where less paper work is used. You can’t take paper work away altogether but you can make it easier on your employees to complete it.

10. Overall business improvement

Put all the other 9 benefits together and what do you get? Every business strives towards more efficiency, more profit, better quality service, products and customer satisfaction. By having this certification you are proving that all of the above is in hand therefore improving trust with vendors and other customers.

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The new owners wanted to put in a Quality Management System (QMS) that would enable them to aggregate electronically all of their existing forms and processes, which would then be easily accessible by all members of staff and would ultimately aid in the improvement of the quality of service delivered by the company.

Over a period of 9 months Tina Hall from Equas helped the management of the company to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification using Equas’s ISO in a Box system.

The company’s Managing Director, Simeon Singer, said “I am delighted to say that we achieved our UKAS-accredited ISO certification in January 2013. The Quality Management System is starting to deliver real benefits in the form of time and cost saving in running our business. Tina was extremely helpful in working with our management team to aid in the streamlining of documentation and in identifying and recording key business processes.”

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Although the firm had developed a very effective management system, the partners realised that the firm’s tendering process would be more successful if their management system carried an accreditation by a recognised body – preferably one with international recognition.

Following research by the firm’s Quality Manager, Hazel Paynter, the partners elected to submit their management systems for UKAS-accredited certification to ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and OHSAS 18001(Health and Safety Management).

Because of the stringent requirements of these standards, the partners commissioned Equas to provide guidance in the process of converting the firm’s existing management system into a more process-driven one which would meet both management’s growth expectations and the requirements of the standards.

The project commenced in February 2012 and the firm achieved certification to all three standards in October 2012. The next stage is to achieve certification to ISO 50001, the Energy Management standard, in 2013.

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The company’s unique service offers device collection, refurbishing, data cleansing and selling into new markets. Set up in 1991 as a print cartridge recycler, the company has developed to such an extent that it counts companies such as Telefonica (O2), Sainsbury’s and Tesco Ireland amongst its international client list. It has processed more than 500,000 mobiles for O2 Recycle, paying O2 customers more than £35m for their old devices.

This rapid growth has earned the company a place in the Sunday Times’ 2012 list of Fastest Growing Companies.

As an experienced recycler, Redeem is a fully-certified waste carrier to the ISO 14001 Standard. As they continue their rapid growth, the company has decided to extend their ISO certifications to include ISO 27001:2005, the Information Security Management Standard, to further demonstrate the effectiveness of their data cleansing processes for used devices.

In order to achieve this highly important certification Redeem has selected Equas to help them build an Information Security Management System that will comply with the Standard.

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Its recent achievement of OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 certification shows that it is clearly not in the business of resting on its laurels.

Stephen Turner, Managing Director of Zeta-pdm summarises how achieving OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 fits into the company’s long term strategy.  “We understand the importance our clients place on dealing with suppliers who have the same culture with regards to Health and Safety and similar aggressive ambitions for delivering positive environmental outcomes.  Our aims in achieving certification to OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 were to enhance our existing management system so that we can state with confidence that we clearly meet this criteria.”

Translating these aims into on-the-ground reality can often be challenging, particularly when you operate a very lean organisation.  As Zeta-pdm’s General Manager Nigal Peach described, the support provided by Equas and their consultant Julian Russell in achieving this was key. “At the start of the project, I made it very clear that the changes we made to our systems had to add value and not create reams of unnecessary paperwork.  I also wanted to ensure that we would have on-hand support through the process.  In both of these areas, Equas provided exactly what we needed”.

The investment Zeta-pdm has made in improving its health and safety and environmental performance is also expected to reap further rewards with dramatic reductions in energy costs and raw material waste, and further extend the lead the company has over its competitors in industry-recognised benchmarks such as First Point Assessment Ltd’s database (FPAL) and the Achilles Joint Qualification System (Achilles JQS).

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Some of his returning clients were large corporations, such as Lidl, whose procurement policies specify that suppliers have to be ISO 9001-certified. Charles wasn’t sure that such a small business as his could be certified and he thought that the cost might be prohibitive.

Searching the internet, he found ISO in a Box which seemed to meet his requirements. Having discussed these with ISO in a Box Sales Director, Mike Dowd, Charles was delighted at the quotation he received and agreed to proceed. That was on 10^th July 2012. The project commenced on 23^rd July under the guidance of Equas Director David Morgan and a little less than two months later Charles’ business, ‘Hard Hat Services’, was certified to ISO 9001:2008.

Charles is delighted with the simple process and the successful outcome that has given him the important UKAS ‘tick and crown’ certificate. Equally importantly, he now has a simple management system which will help him run his business effectively, enabling him to satisfy his (growing) list of returning clients!

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From it’s base in Cardiff the company works for customers all over the UK, as well as elsewhere in Europe and in the Middle East.

Building on many years of experience the company recently set about becoming certified to ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001, which it successfully achieved recently, following a successful audit. The company is now building on this by looking towards ISO 14001 as a near term goal and in the meanwhile reaping the benefits by gaining new business as a result of having certification.

Mark Pendleton of Equas worked closely with Richard Kay the MD of Progressive Technical Services to set up the Quality and Health & Safety Management systems rapidly to achieve a successful outcome.

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The contract involves a wide range of detection and surveillance technologies as well as the deployment of security personnel within the terminals, the airside zone and the airfield perimeter. Following a two month pre-deployment transition period, operations commenced in May 2012.

As part the Worldwide CAA requirements Westminster Group needed a Quality Management System, compliant with ISO 9001:2008 to manage and drive the consistency of its West African operation. Having used Equas’s Activ Online Management System to ensure ISO compliance in its UK operation, Westminster has once again employed the services of Equas to build an ISO 9001 Quality Management System for its West African operation. The Activ system will ensure that the processes used in West Africa are able to be viewed managed and maintained from the company’s Head Office in Banbury

The airport, which is seeing a marked increase in traffic due to the growing economic prosperity of the country, is currently utilised by a number of major European airlines. Additional North American and Middle Eastern airlines are expected to commence services in the foreseeable future, further increasing passenger numbers and, in turn, revenues to Westminster.

Chief executive Peter Fowler said: “I am delighted to be able to announce a major new contract award for our aviation security business which will create over 100 new jobs in West Africa and provides good visibility of revenue and earnings for the foreseeable future.

“Westminster has valuable reference sites for security solutions in airports worldwide and our aviation business is currently experiencing record interest, including enquiries from several other similar international airports.

“This latest contract award follows other multi-million contract awards secured in 2011 and is in line with the group’s strategy of building large scale, long term, fully integrated security solutions with recurring revenue streams,” Peter Fowler added.

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