ISO Quality Services Ltd – December 2017 Newsletter

7 Dec, 2017

Welcome to the December 2017 edition of the ISO Quality Services Ltd Newsletter. This month’s edition is focused on Quality!

What’s in this issue?

Rewarding Innovation & Development

Building Customer Satisfaction with ISO 9001

Quality Management Training

Offsite Servers Video Case Study

Be a part of our online community

Refer a friend

Rewarding Innovation & Development

(Guest Article by Haines Watts)

Companies in the West Midlands are failing to benefit from research and development tax credits (a.k.a R&D tax credits), according to analysis by accountants and business advisors Haines Watts.

The analysis shows that less than one company in 100 in the West Midlands is benefiting from R&D tax credits.

Only 0.88 per cent of VAT-registered businesses in the West Midlands are benefiting from R&D tax credits, compared to 1.13 per cent of businesses in the North East. Companies in the West Midlands claimed £180m, compared to £725m in London. IN short 97% of eligible companies have not made a claim.

Tim Pearce, managing partner at the Worcester and Evesham offices of Haines Watts said “R&D tax credits are not just for niche operators; they can be applied to many businesses”

We recently explored the availability of R&D tax credits with a local HR Consultancy client and they received £20,000 worth of tax credits, and in their words, ‘ Thank you very much Haines Watt!! It’s a complete no-brainer for any business to, at the very least, explore!’

The truth is, to qualify for R&D tax relief, activity simply must seek to attain appreciable improvement to products, services or processes and it can apply to any sector”

The common misconception about the type of activity that qualifies for R&D tax relief exists largely because the term R&D suggests noteworthy scientific or technological advancement.

If you’re unsure about whether your business qualifies for R&D tax relief then a brief call to us will clarify matters.  There is no fee for this initial advice and there is no obligation to pursue a claim with us, but here are some reasons why you should.

  • Haines Watts offer a success-based fee so you pay us according to the level of additional tax saving we achieve for you.
  • Claims can go back two tax years so the quicker you act, the more benefit you can achieve.
  • The business structure and remuneration of key directors can have a significant bearing on the level of qualifying expenditure so you need an advisor who can look at the wider picture.  As accountants and business advisors, award-winning Haines Watts are expertly positioned to provide holistic advice.

Haines Watts Worcester

Tel: 01905 612 347

Email: worcester@hwca.com

www.hwca.com/accountants-worcester

Haines Watts Evesham

Tel: 01386 579 999

Email: evesham@hwca.com

www.hwca.com/accountants-evesham

 

Building Customer Satisfaction with ISO 9001

Are all of your customers satisfied?

How are you able to determine this and what do you do if the answer is negative?

Well, this is where having the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard can help you.

The key focus for ISO 9001 is customer satisfaction.  Clause 8.2.1 of ISO 9001 requires as part of the standard that you monitor information that relates to customer perception to determine if customer requirements have been met.  This puts a huge emphasis on making sure your clients are indeed satisfied.

ISO 9001 does not specify how you assess or measure whether your clients are satisfied.

Here is how we believe you can develop your processes with ISO 9001 to build customer satisfaction within your business.

  • Conducting customer satisfaction surveys.
  • Implementing a robust and workable complaints handling process.
  • Implementing a process to monitor trends in customer data.
  • Implementing a process for reviewing customer data.

The above however would be ineffectual and do nothing towards building satisfied customers without a further layer in the process.  It is vital that within your procedures you define responsibilities for the following:

  • Actually undertaking the customer satisfaction survey (who is going to send it out and how?)
  • Dealing with the customer feedback when it comes in.
  • Reviewing and analysing the customer data that comes in.
  • Dealing with returns and warranty claims (one of things that will lower your customer satisfaction dramatically is if this is not dealt with efficiently).

A key point regarding the above is that if negative data is revealed, you should act on it swiftly as part of your overall management of your standard (of course you’ll have a process in place for this as part of your standard so it will be easy to implement.

With the above in place and the other key elements of the ISO 9001 standard, you will be well on your way to building customer satisfaction levels so high that you should see repeat orders increase, the number of complaints decrease and the number of claims decrease – key signs of customer satisfaction if ever there were!

Interested in using ISO 9001 to increase your customer satisfaction? Find out more about the ISO 9001 Quality Management standard here.

Alternatively, get in touch with our team on 01905 670303 or info@isoqsltd.com.

Quality Management Training

Tuesday 16th January 2018

9.30am – 4.30pm

Worcester

Our Quality Management Training Course is an excellent introduction for anyone involved in the development, implementation and management of ISO 9001.

This training course will help you to understand the main principles and structure of ISO 9001 and impart all of the skills required to successfully run a quality management department as a part of your business.

Course Content

Quality Management training will cover the following topics, as well as allowing for question & answer sessions on the day:

  • Principles and elements of ISO 9001
  • How to integrate ISO into the daily activities of the business
  • Risk Based Thinking
  • Importance of Leadership
  • Effective objective setting
  • How to run a Management Review Meeting effectively
  • Guide to internal auditing
  • Focus on bench marking and its importance to quality management
  • Continuous improvement

Find out more information about the course and book your place here.

Offsite Servers – ISO 9001 & ISO 27001

Video Case Study

Hear from our client, Offsite Servers, about their experience obtaining the ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 27001 Information Security Management Standards.

Be a part of our Online Community

If you haven’t joined already – what are you waiting for?

ISO news, training updates and offers, meet the ISO QSL team and connect with other like-minded individuals.

Visit our LinkedIn Page: ISO QSL LinkedIn Company page

Visit our Twitter Page: @ISOQSL

Are you a client of ours? Would you recommend our services to your clients/suppliers… why not refer a friend?

Take your pick of a £50 donation to Midlands Air Ambulance, a case of wine or a £50 Marks & Spencer’s Voucher!

(To qualify for this you must refer a successful lead.)

To offer your referrals please contact – info@isoqsltd.com or 01905 670303.

ISO Quality Services Ltd are proud to specialise in the implementation and certification of the Internationally recognised ISO and BS EN Management Standards.

Do you want to get ahead of your competition? Win more tenders or save time and money on reoccurring issues? Contact us today on 0330 058 5551 or email info@isoqsltd.com.

Alternatively, you can request a quote by filling out our enquiry form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly.

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