By David Drinkwater, Project Manager for Androgogic's ISO Certification

In October this year, Androgogic was successfully accredited against two important ISO standards, ISO27001:2013 and ISO9001:2015.

But if you’ve never heard of ISO before, this might mean nothing to you at all. So, what is the purpose of ISO certification? And what does it mean if your learning technologies vendor becomes ISO certified?

Keep reading to explore the world of ISO.

What is ISO?

ISO stands for the International Standards Organisation. They develop internationally recognised standards created by experts in their fields. ISO standards provide an established formula, created by experts, that document the best way to do this. 

There are different types of standards developed by ISO, such as ISO9001, the Quality Management Standard (or QMS) which helps organisations work more efficiently and reduce failures in providing quality service. Information security standards (ISO27001) reduce risk and increase controls around keeping confidential and sensitive information secure and private.

Any organisation can implement ISO standards, but not every organisation gets certified. Certification is a complex and rigorous process that requires organisations to prove that they have implemented all the components of the standard, as well as a commitment to ongoing maintenance. 

Being ISO-certified is a commitment that requires a lot of time and resources. If your supplier has gone through this process, they are committed to maintaining the highest possible standards and delivering exceptional products and services to customers. To retain ISO certification, certified organisations are audited annually to ensure compliance with the standard and guarantee a high quality, premium service.

Better security for your data

Every organisation, regardless of size, is a target for cybercrime, and supply chain attacks are an increasingly popular medium for breaches. ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management is a standard that increases an organisation's ability to manage confidential information, including risks associated with supplier relationships. 

Organisations like Androgogic, who are certified against this standard, provide information security related to the development, hosting, and support of learning solutions that are up to the standard of experts in the field.

We’ve demonstrated our continued commitment to information security and by becoming certified so you can rest assured that we’re doing our best to keep your information safe.

Quality customer-focused service

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a learning professional whose bread and butter is continuous improvement and development. 

ISO’s Quality Management Standard is underpinned by strong customer focus, creating consistent and replicable outcomes, and continual improvement. This helps ISO-certified organisations to be more efficient and effective, and to create organisational excellence.

Organisations who are ISO certified in Quality Management have:

• Consistently superior quality products and services
• Reliable production scheduling and delivery
• Co-operative and flexible client relationships 
• Well defined management structures
• Informative and reliable reporting and communications

But what does this mean in an L&D context? 

This means we’re focused on improving and effectively serving our client-partners who engage with all aspects of Androgogic: from our Professional Services Team, to Learning Design and Development, to training and support.

In order to get certified, we had to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to customer focus and improvement as an organisation, so you can trust that we have your best interests at heart.

Ongoing commitment to best practice

ISO certification isn’t permanent. A company that is ISO certified is subject to continuous review and obliged to perform ongoing internal and external audits to ensure that guidelines, processes and procedures are implemented effectively and continue to meet the standard. Every year, an external audit of all our documentation and practices is done by a certified ISO accreditation agency to make sure we’re doing everything we said we would when we were first certified. 

When looking for suppliers, choose organisations which demonstrate clearly that they will do their very best to meet your needs in the best way possible. Their support can help with your own accreditations and give your customers the confidence in your ability to meet their requirements too.

Want to get in touch with an ISO-certified strategic learning technologies vendor? Contact us.