Horti-Business Management (2+0)

Transition

• There is an ISO document on Transition Planning Guidance to help the change over. Further authentic information regarding revision can be obtained from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which has played a leading role in the deliberations of the ISO’s Technical Committee. Since the new standards are integration and simplification of the older one, transition should be easy and also there is sufficient time given for the process.
  
• The process model is well suited to really focus on the needs of customers and if genuinely implemented should help the growth of business. In fact this is the real essence of the change over. While the past standard no doubt implied this, there was no explicit requirement to measure customer satisfaction and initiate continuous improvements. On the other hand, in the new standard these are explicit and essential part of the elements. Also they include other interested parties (suppliers, owners, employees and society) under management responsibility.
  
• Over 5,000 firms in India are estimated to have obtained ISO 9000 Certification so far. It is no more a luxury but has been considered commonplace for achieving standards of product or service. There has also been the unfortunate side, namely the creeping in of the “certificate culture”. Once the certification is obtained, organizations tend to be complacent and do not effect continuous improvement. What the customer needs is not a certificate to be shown to him but provision of an improved product and service, which is by itself the best certificate that any organization can get. This has been the secret of the Japanese and Korean success. The new standards will help simplify the procedural part and invigorate the commitments of organizations to continuously provide better products and services to their customers.