SURVIVING THE COVID-19 ECONOMIC FALLOUT: SHOULD YOU BE OUTSOURCING YOUR ISO COMPLIANCE?

By Russell Lawson, The Ideas Distillery

Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs amid the current Covid-19 crisis — it is a crisis within a crisis. The long-term economic impact is yet unknown but will surely be deep.

What is not in doubt is that the economic strain on companies of all sizes across the UK and the rest of the world will be here for the foreseeable future. Manufacturers have closed plants, stores are shut, and consumer demand has collapsed in many sectors.

Research by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex has found that more than 6.5 million jobs could be lost due to the economic fallout from the UK’s coronavirus lockdown, about a quarter of the UK’s total jobs.

A simply staggering number of companies have plunged into administration, from stalwart high street brands to major travel agents, as well as a whole raft of businesses in sectors such as construction. The true toll is only just beginning to be understood.

So it’s no surprise that companies which are still managing to keep their heads above water will be starting to look at deep cost-cutting measures in the short- and medium-term. With profit centres being hit like never before, cost centres such as ISO compliance will undoubtedly have fewer resources until the economy turns around.

What does this mean for the ISO compliance functions of companies that are struggling?

In practical terms, they will have to make risk-based decisions about how to allocate the limited resources that they have. And one important thing to think about is how you can use the expertise of companies such as The Ideas Distillery to outsource your compliance tasks cost-effectively with little overhead.

Certification Bodies have recognised, for the moment at least, that the world has changed significantly. Just about all have turned to ‘remote auditing’ as a way to still service clients while still respecting the lockdown. There has also been the option of postponing for up to six months in many circumstances, although this option is now starting to wind down.

Any company’s priority will simply be to put themselves in a position to survive the crisis. So when dealing with budget constraints and limited compliance resources, flexibility and creativity will be key.

For our part, when we are helping businesses in these scenarios, we always assess risk and conduct a review with the aim of identifying core ISO compliance requirements. This often entails a historic review of internal procedures and controls to identify past activities or other problems to determine where the biggest risks reside.

​External industry risks such as enforcement actions brought against competitors should be considered as well, along with identifying low-risk areas where there have been few incidents or problems.

But more significantly, we help companies to determine if new, immediate significant risks have arisen due to the pandemic. Another emerging risk may exist in a company’s sales department, for example, perhaps due to the pressures of bringing in new business. This may be an area that leads to an increase in customer complaints as things are missed.

The crisis may have caused companies to find new suppliers that have not been fully vetted due to time pressures. Likewise, the pandemic may have caused substantial risks to employee safety associated with reopening businesses. This emerging risk will likely call for the development of new policies and procedures that will require close oversight by senior management.

For more information — and to see how we can help — just get in touch with us in any number of ways using on our Contact page.