ISO a Go-Go More companies comply with ISO than ever before-not necessarily because they want to. What will pleasing your clients cost your business?

It was July 2000 when John Fris' biggest customer droppedthe bomb: By the end of 2001, Holland, Michigan-based Fris OfficeOutfitters Inc. would have to comply with the international qualitydocumentation standard, ISO 9000. Otherwise, the customer wouldstart looking for another office products supplier.

"The first thing we thought was the terror of possiblylosing them," says Fris, 46. But after researching therequest, he decided his company would make efforts to becomecompliant with ISO 9000 but stop short of certification. "Ihad originally thought we'd just get certified and there wouldbe nothing to it," Fris says. "But after asking around, Idecided that the costs associated with certification aren'tnecessary at this point."

Fris isn't alone. Figures from the InternationalOrganization for Standardization (ISO), based in Geneva, show408,631 companies worldwide were certified in December 2000.That's up 64,988 from 1999, but the annual growth rate was downmore than 10 percent.

The main reason small firms consider ISO 9000 certification isbecause customers demand it. However, many decide it isn'tworth the cost, paperwork, time and bureaucracy.

It costs a company with 26 to 29 employees $9,600 to register,says Edward Baclawski, president of Quality Systems InnovationsInc., an Effort, Pennsylvania, ISO consulting company. Becomingcompliant can cost anywhere from $3,000 to more than $100,000, hesays.

Time is another issue. In small firms, where the work ofdesigning processes and drafting manuals and other documentsgenerally falls to the CEO, it takes six to 18 months to becomecompliant. "I'm basically doing the bulk of it now,"Fris says. "It would be nice to turn it over to somebodyelse."

Because the standard is designed for large companies, thepaperwork is a reasonable fear. Says Baclawski, "Most of ourpotential clients are deathly afraid of the paperwork when theyfirst make contact with us."

Decision Time

If ISO does make it onto your agenda, consider seekingcompliance rather than full-fledged certification. Fris spent just$2,400 on his company's compliance effort. He hopes it will beenough to satisfy big customers without having to lay out severaltimes that for a certificate.

However, many large automotive industry firms are in Fris'home market, and they require that all their suppliers be ISOcertified. Fris may eventually go for a certificate so his companycan sell to them. Be aware that if you decide not to seekcertification, you may be in the same boat-shutting yourself out ofsome promising opportunities.

The good news is, even if you decide not to get ISOcertification today, you can start the process anytime. And mostcustomers will be satisfied in the short term with a promise tobecome compliant or certified at some future date.

Whatever you do about ISO, do it with your eyes open and alloptions on the table. "If you just want the certificate on thewall, chances are, you will create a paper system that doesn'thave much to do with the way you actually run your business,"says ISO's Roger Frost. "And, in that case, you aredefinitely heading for disappointment."

Austin, Texas, writer Mark Henricks has covered business andtechnology for leading publications since 1981.

Contact Sources

• Fris Office Outfitters Inc.
  (616) 396-2341, www.frisinc.com
• Quality Systems Innovations Inc.
  (570) 629-7094, www.qsinnovations.com