If you have been considering obtaining ISO certification for your organisation, you might be usure whether or not it is necessary to engage an ISO certification consultancy to assist you with this laborious process.

What you should really be asking yourself is whether your organisation possesses sufficient human resources with adequate experience and relevant expertise to develop, implement and internally audit a best practice management system that meets the requirements of the ISO standard you are seeking in alignment with your organisational processes?

If the answer is yes, all you have to do is engage a fully accredited Certification Body (CB), once your systems are audit-ready, to conduct Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits. When choosing a CB, it is of great importance to always ensure that the CB engaged, and its auditors have experience working with construction industry organisations.

If, on the hand, your organisation cannot afford to have one or more employees put their regular work duties on the backburner for an extended period of time, is not confident enough in their capabilities to get the job done, or just needs more assurance in terms of outcome, you should definitely consider engaging a reputable and competent ISO certification consultancy.  

Which ISO certification is better for your company?

ISO certification consultancies come in many different shapes and sizes and finding one that is a good fit for your organisation’s needs is not always easy, considering all the available options. Needless to say, it is crucial to be objective and pragmatic in your selection, especially considering the significant financial investment this endeavour represents for your organisation. To help with that, we have conducted focus groups to identify key selection criteria and led extensive market research assessing several dozen service providers with the aim of uncovering the top 3 ISO certification consultancies in Australia. We’ve done all the legwork, so you won’t have to! So, without further ado, we bring you, the cream of the crop, Australia’s top 3 ISO Certification consultancies, in descending order:

 Third place: Compliance Council

Based in Sydney, Compliance Council are management system consultants for businesses and providers of goods and services operating in various areas of the business landscape across multiple high-risk industries, including aviation, manufacturing, healthcare, construction etc.

• Industry expertise: Matthew Allport is Compliance Council’s Director and consultant and holds a diploma in Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) from HBA Learning Centres. Matthew has over 10 years of experience working in OH&S, eight of which were spent at Compliance Council.  
• Speed: average 2-6 months (with Letter of Commencement, upon request.)
• Guarantee: There is no mention of a money back or any other form of guarantee on their website or social media.
• Client Referrals: Although some high-profile organisations from various industries are listed on their website, we were not able to find their testimonials anywhere. However, we did find 6 reviews on google (Five 5 Star and one 1 Star) most of which are over 3 years old.

 Second place: QMS Certification Services

Based in Newcastle, NSW, QMS Certification Services are experienced certification consultants, with a reputation built on first-class service and competitive pricing, who have guided thousands of successful enterprises through the complexities of certification. Their clients fall under various industries, including manufacturing, defence, transport and logistics, construction and engineering etc.    

Industry expertise: QMS Certification Services’ Director, Adam McDean, is a business management specialist with over 25 years’ experience across a diverse range of industries including Hardware and industrial supply, Building products, Retail etc. He works with organisations throughout Australia assisting them to achieve compliance and certification, as well as improve their business through training and strategic planning. Adam studied Business and commerce at Monash University.

• Guarantee: There is no mention of a money back or any other form of guarantee on their website or social media.
• Client Referrals: We were only able to find one 5 Star google review (from 2 years ago) and one positive review statement from a case study published on QMS’ website.
• Speed: 3-6 months (for a small to medium-sized organisation that is relatively low in complexity and has a good level of existing quality control.)

 First place: Edara Systems

Based in Sydney, Edara Systems is an end-to-end consultancy that specialises in turn-key solutions for industry certifications and accreditations, tender and bid-writing, outsourced OHS and QA management, and state-of-the-art apps and software. They are the only ISO Certification consultants in the nation that exclusively service the civil construction industry and have helped thousands of Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 contractors achieve ISO and other industry certifications.

Industry expertise: With over 20 years of experience in the civil engineering and construction industries, Dr. Zain Jafar is the Founder, Managing Director and Safety Expert of Edara Systems. He is viewed today as one of the leading experts in safety and compliance regulation. Zain holds a BBA from The University of Wollongong in Dubai, a Master of Health, Safety and Environment, from QUT, as well as a Doctorate of Philosophy in OHS Policy, Safety and Governance from The University of Sydney. He is also the brain behind Edara Systems’ Award-winning compliance software.

1. Speed: 7-15 days from the day of initial engagement (5 times faster than the national average). Also, with (with Letter of Commencement, upon request.)
2. Guarantee: The Edara Guarantee “Get your certification on the first attempt, or your money back”
3. Client Referrals: We were able to find hundreds of positive comments from satisfied clients on their LinkedIn company page, as well as on Dr. Zain Jafar’s personal page.

We hope that this article will help guide you in your quest for excellence and bring more clarity to what can prove to be a complicated process.