On June 1, 2021, AI-Vets was awarded two ISO certifications: ISO 9001:2015 for quality management and ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 for IT service management. ISO certification is a demanding and time-consuming process. While most businesses obtain certification in approximately six months, AI-Vets was awarded both certifications in under four months.
What is ISO?
There are numerous ISO certifications that are industry-specific, ranging from energy management and social responsibility to risk management and occupational health and safety. Each ISO certification is followed by a number that classifies the standard. The final number in an ISO certification refers to the calendar year the standard was launched.
The ISO 9000 is a universal solution for organizations looking to improve the quality of their products and services and consistently meet their customers’ expectations. It is essentially a formula that describes the best way of doing something.
This standard is based on a number of quality management principles including:
- a strong customer focus
- the motivation and implication of top management
- the process approach and continual improvement
There are over one million organizations in over 170 countries certified to ISO 9001. Some obtain certification to demonstrate their products and services meet customer expectations while others are under a legal or contractual requirement.
Why did AI-Vets pursue certification?
As a federal IT provider, AI-Vets requires ISO certification in order to bid on services contracts. In today’s contracting environment, government customers require the assurance that offerors can provide high quality products and services.
“Obtaining our ISO certification allows us to better identify goals and objectives for the company. This provides our team with the templates, guidelines, policies and procedures necessary to achieve excellence for our federal clients.”
— James Cavin, CEO, AI-Vets
The ISO 20000 standard provides organizations with a set of requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving a service management system. It helps organizations benchmark how they deliver managed services, measure service levels and assess their performance.
What’s next?
The company is also in the process of obtaining a third ISO certification for information security management. ISO/IEC 27001:2013 will help the company manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details and other sensitive information.
Through these certifications, AI-Vets meets best practices for a robust quality management system. Its diligence in obtaining ISO certification demonstrates to government program managers and contracting officers that it can sustain quality processes and methods.
