Suppose you want to certify your business to more than one ISO Management System Standard. Or perhaps your business is already certified to one Standard, and you want to get certified to more ISO Management System Standards. So, you may have come across the term Integrated Management System (IMS) during your research. So, even if you haven’t seen the term, you will consider it after reading this article.

What is an IMS (Integrated Management Systems)?

Integrated Management Systems (IMS) integrates multiple ISO management system standards requirements. It is an integrated framework of management systems within an organization to support its business objectives.

This integration can happen because the most common ISO Management System Standards have overlapping requirements. While developing the Enterprise Management System, we can incorporate Many ISO Management System Standards. This strategy can also be applied, even if the business has achieved its first certification.

In other words, an organization already certified according to the ISO 9001:2015 Standard can take an integrated approach to upgrade its management system. Therefore, it will, for example, also be able to meet the requirements of the Information Security Management System Standard (ISMS) ISO 27001:2013.

Why should an Organization approach Quality Management Systems through IMS?

The advantages of an IMS are significant. In particular, an organization will benefit from every advantage that ISO standards offer. It will also result in a more consistent and streamlined system with combined tools and processes that will make it easier to manage.

Implementing individual systems at different times may seem cheaper or less complex. However, working with fragmented systems can often lead to communication problems. Consequently, they can result in time and cost inefficiencies due to duplication of work and information in different departments. Finally, it can even affect team member morale with a lack of aligned goals.

So with the integrated approach of an IMS, an organization can work together towards any unified goal. Therefore they achieve savings of time and money and increase efficiency. Consequently, it eliminates the nuisance of dealing with different processes for each branch in the management system.

For example, following the integrated approach can have a single Risk Management Process. Therefore you will be able to cover the aspects related to all the standards instead of developing individual procedures for each. This single Risk Management Process happens because many standards may have the same or similar approaches to different topics. The same integration benefits apply to Training, Internal Audit, Management Review, Issue Management, and Continuous Improvement processes.

You can continue reading the article on Integrated Management Systems in greek.