On-going commitment to best practice - successfully maintaining seven ISO standards

Here’s a summary from Blakemore’s…

[00:30] Episode summary – We welcome Damian Edwards back onto the podcast to discuss how he maintains Wavenet’s seven ISO certifications, and the explore the benefits gained from an integrated ISO Management System.

[03:05] Who is Damian Edwards? Damian is the Head of Standards at Wavenet, and has featured on the ISO Show before!

One lesser known fact about Damian, is that he a ‘Dance dad’, supporting his daughter through all of her lessons and competitions. He’s very proud of her latest achievement of qualifying for the World Championship for Irish dancing in her age group.

[05:05] Who is Wavenet? Wavenet is an IT provider, providing IT network communications, security and resilience services. They are UK based with 1,600 employees based in their Solihull head office.

Wavenet was formed in 2000, but has grown through acquisition, one of which was Damian’s previous company, Daisy Corporate Services. When Daisy was acquired, both businesses were of a similar size, so the process looked more like a merger in practice.

A large part of that was uniting the ISO standards managed by both businesses, so Damian had his hands full with ISO integration, amending audit schedules and managing extension to scope audits.

[06:30] How did Damian manage integrating management systems during Wavenet’s acquisition of Daisy Corporate Services? One of the biggest challenges was the extension to scope that needed to happen due to the increase in sites.

Thankfully, as Wavenet was used to acquisitions, it had dedicated acquisition project managers that assist with managing the integration.

At the start, there are some teething problems as both businesses will still be using their respective processes for a while. However, once system that helped was a system called ‘ServiceNow’, which is where issue tickets could be logged, monitored and actioned in one centralised system.

[08:15] What is Damian’s role at Wavenet? Damian is the Head of Standards, which includes both ISO standards and ESG related regulatory compliance.

ISO certifications are more often than not a prerequisite or a condition of a bid over a contract, without them, Wavenet wouldn’t win any business. They also create a foundation of trust for Wavenet’s clients in the realms of Information Security, quality and environmental management. Wavenet is currently certified to the following standards:

• ISO 9001 Quality Management
• ISO 20000-1 Service Management
• ISO 27001 Information Security Management
• ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management
• ISO 45001 Health & Safety Management
• ISO 14001 Environmental Management
• ISO 50001 Energy Management
• Context
• Audit Programme
• Corrective Actions

In addition to maintaining all of these certifications, Damian also strives to utilise them to drive continual improvement within the business.

[10:30] How does Wavenet manage its ISO certifications? Damian is directly responsible for five of those ISO standards, however there are some where he doesn’t have the expertise to fully manage the requirements.

ISO 27001 and ISO 45001 for example require skilled people at the helm, so Wavenet have dedicated managers to handle those areas.

One of Damians key responsibilities is juggling all of the audits to make sure each element is covered, and he’s put a lot of work into integrating those audits where possible to get the most out of their time and resources.

Though, it’s important to note that you can’t integrate everything, as each standard will have some unique requirements. Areas that you can integrate however include elements such as:

When you do have a lot of standards, some elements can get watered down if you try to integrate everything. Policy for example, if you have five standards and decide to integrate all related policies into a single document, it will become long and unruly, which will lead to people unwilling to read it. So, you have to take care to ensure focus on certain elements to make those more accessible for the staff that need it.

Another aspect that needed additional consideration was Wavenet’s risk profile, with their amount of sites and services, it’s very varied. Too much for a single person to be aware of all the risks, which is where Damian’s subject area experts can provide additional insight to fill the gaps.

Damian is also keen to combine external audits where possible to both reduce cost and possible duplication of effort, as many standards do share common subject areas, this can be done across multiple standards. Certification bodies are usually quite happy to work with you on this!

Damians key take away is, that there isn’t one solution that fits every business when managing this many standards. It was a very trial and error process, especially with the ever changing landscape of a business, but standards are also designed with flexibility in mind, so with the right people in place it’s certainly manageable.

[16:05] How has Blackmores’ ISO support helped? Blackmores has assisted Wavenet with its ISO 45001, ISO 50001 and ISO 41001 (Facilities Management) implementation. ISO 41001 was later dropped as it was no longer applicable for the business.

Standards can be quite hard to apply to your own business when looking at them at face value, the requirements sound generic because they’re designed to apply to every type of business. This is where Blackmores experience as a consultancy can help with interpretation and practicalities of how a standard will apply to your way of working.

Blackmores will also assist with internal audits, which help identify non-conformities that may have been missed if it were not for a fresh pair of eyes. As Damian states: “I would rather have them identified before an external audit” as this gives you a chance to resolve issues or put an action plan in place before it gets to that stage.

Damain also reminds everyone to not be afraid of your auditor, internal or external. They are not maliciously looking for problems, they simply help to highlight issues which can be resolved sp you can improve as a business.

No management system is perfect, the important thing is that you can recognise when something needs addressing, and how you go about doing so.

[19:30] What has Damian learned while managing ISO standards? Damian has learned to not think of ISO as a tick box exercise, it’s a tool to help businesses improve.

He has also learned that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when Implementing a Management System. You likely already have much of what’s required in place, but not monitored or organised regularly.

For example, aspects such as ‘management review’ may already be happening in existing meetings with top management, you simply need to ensure these are minuted, cover what needs to be discussed in regards to the management system, and make note of any gaps that need to be addressed.

Businesses like Wavenet that have been in operation for 26 years know what they’re doing, and are likely already following best practice. You don’t need to restructure your business to meet an ISO standard, but rather integrate the standard requirements with how you already operate. If done correctly, it should become a simple part of your day-today tasks.

Damian jokingly states: “What’s my role? I sometimes say it’s to do as little as possible”, as the more a business is aligned with a standard, the less you will have to do to upkeep that.

[22:55] What benefits has Wavenet experienced as a result of its ISO certifications? As mentioned earlier, a lot of won business is due to ISO certification. Certain certifications are simply a tender or client requirement.

Standards such as ISO 50001 tackle their energy consumption. It’s focused on reducing that will inevitably lead to reduced business costs. Since implementing the standard, Wavenet now has monthly meetings to monitor energy use, which gives them a good basis to make informed decisions on where energy use is concerned.

Damian has found that over time, good practice has been so embedded that people are using it in their everyday behaviors without even realising it. He’s heard people in their resolutions team use terminology like ‘root cause’ without knowing where it came from.

He’s seen team making use of skill matrix’s when evaluating the competence of certain teams such as engineering for client visits. So, people within the business are using ISO terminology and techniques to ensure best practice without being explicitly asked to. It simply works as a method to drive the business effectively when implemented correctly.

[26:15] Damian’s top tip for aspiring ISO implementors: Apart from approaching a consultancy like Blackmores to help if it’s your first time going through the process, it’s got to be leadership commitment.

Top management need to be actively promoting ISO within the business, and they should be involved with the process. You need everyone’s buy-in to make a system work, and that is made much easier if it’s driven from the top down.

Another tip is that a Management System should be a team effort. It shouldn’t just be the responsibility of one person, you need input from everyone in the business to ensure you’ve covered all angles and risks that could affect your business.

Lastly, look at what you already have in place and try and integrate the standard into that. Don’t make more work for yourself if you don’t have to, you likely already have the bones in place.

[28:20] Damian’s book recommendation: The Thursday Murder Book Club – by Richard Osmond

[29:10] Damian’s favourite quote? “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't beat work hard.”

And:

“You miss 100% of the shots you don't take”