1. Gather Information & Make Plans
The first step in taking positive action is to gather information about the business.
You could look at the number of credit notes issued, cost of outsourced labour, amount of energy used, number of customer complaints or general customer satisfaction.
Once measured, realistic projects and targets can then be set to improve.
A Quality Management system to ISO 9001 can help coordinate management information and set targets for improvement. Find our more about ISO 9001 or the automotive equivalent TS 16949.
2. Save Money & The Environment
Often improvement comes in the form of a financial benefit but more and more businesses are realising that being environmentally friendly helps them reduce costs.
Energy prices are a heavy burden on business, so finding ways of working more efficiently can have a direct impact on profit.
Having a strong and communicated environmental policy is also good for business, with some public sector contracts requiring it of their suppliers.
Find out about ISO 14001 for Environmental Management and ISO 50001 for Energy Management.
3. Invest in your Staff
People make a business and they usually hold a great deal of intangible knowledge that is highly valuable.
Developing employees and maintaining their wellbeing through well designed programmes can pay dividends in the long term.
4. Be Prepared for the Worst
The past few years in the UK has shown that anything can happen on your door step. Some of the unexpected event that have effected businesses include the London Riots, several occurrences of flooding, fire and the financial crisis.
It seems it’s never been more important to have a well prepared and tested business continuity plan, which identifies potential disruptions to the business as well as collating information, resources and plans for an actual disruptive event.
ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System provides a framework for business continuity management, following the ISO plan, do, check, act cycle. Formerly BS 25999. See also ISO 27001 Information Security Management.
5. Shout About It
Achieving certification from a UKAS accredited body provides an independent assurance of your management systems, and is an excellent way of informing stakeholders of the prudent work being done in the business.
Find out more about ISO Certification.
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