The IRCA interview
In the second of INform's series of interviews with IRCA's director, Simon Feary looks back with nostalgia at the changes that have occurred within IRCA and the certification industry in the last ten years
You
have been managing IRCA for ten years now. Can you reflect on the
changes you have seen during that time?
I was appointed to manage IRCA in 1994 - this in itself marked a change in approach, but we shouldn't forget that the organization had already been running for ten years. IRCA was there at the very beginning; the whole accredited certification structure only got off the ground in the early 1980s. Only a handful of organizations worldwide can make that claim, so we are very proud of our heritage.
Of course, there has been a fantastic amount of change over the time I have been director of IRCA, and the first was significant: we changed our name. We had been the Registration Board for Assessors (RBA) for the first ten years and soon after I joined we became IRCA, partly because the abbreviation RBA was easily confused with another, less well known auditor certification body, and partly because the 'board' part of the title was no longer applicable.
Principally, however, we changed it to reflect our growing international influence. I recall at the time we were criticized by some who regarded our inclusion of the 'international' as opportunist and arrogant, but ten years later, with 80 per cent of our register coming from outside the UK from 105 different countries, we are most certainly international!
Why
has there been so much change in the last ten years?
I can point out three principal causes:
1) Auditors now have a greater choice if they want to have their
competence certified. IRCA started life as the auditor certification
body and our initial challenges were in processing the applications
faster than they were coming in. Auditors had few alternatives and
I have to admit in the early days our quality of service could have
been better. In the absence of competitive pressure it was easy to
become complacent, but that is certainly not the case now.
One of the biggest changes has been the increase in auditor certification
bodies. Now it seems that almost every country has one, many of which
are named as variants on our own name, MRCA, BRCA, JRCA etc which
we take as a compliment. Interestingly, the increase in numbers of
auditor certification bodies has had only marginal effect on the numbers
registering with us. Through our surveys we know that many auditors
register twice, once with their national body and once with us, which
demonstrates how much our certification is valued.
2) The second catalyst for recent change is the internet. Having
competitors has caused us to focus very closely on providing value
for money and, particularly during the last three years, we have invested
heavily in this aspect. The internet has allowed us to increase our
efficiency and effectiveness and has enabled us to interact with our
certified auditors in a way that was unimaginable a decade ago.
The recent launch of our multi-language websites allows us to provide
auditors and those interested in becoming certified with all the information,
news and updates they require to become certified and to conduct their
professional activities. It also provides a platform for interactive
features such as paying fees online, finding an auditor, checking
on certification status etc.
The IRCA website will play a fundamental role in how IRCA and other
stakeholders, such as auditors and training organizations, interact
with each other. It is difficult to over-emphasize the positive effects
that the internet and web technology have had, and are having, on
our ability to communicate and interact with our auditors and other
customers.
Ten years ago auditors in many overseas regions could hope for a response
by post in three weeks. Now we routinely have real-time email conversations
with auditors in those countries. Expectations have increased hugely
as a result, but so too has our ability to meet them.
3) The third major reason for change has to be the increase in the
globalization of standards. The accredited certification industry
itself now turns over many hundreds of millions of pounds each year
and operates in every part of the world. And if you then consider
the influence certification and standards have on world trade, the
amount could actually be many billions of pounds.
When you recall that BS 5750, which started it all, only became an
international standard in 1987, it indicates the speed and enthusiasm
with which the world has embraced accreditation and third party certification.
IRCA certified its first non-UK auditor in 1985. Now 80 per cent of
our register is from countries outside the UK. ISO 9000 is only one
of the range of management system standards which are contributing
internationally across a range of industry contexts.
What
do you think IRCA will look like after the next ten years?
Crystal ball gazing is an art that all chief executives are required to exercise, but looking ten years into the future is perhaps too difficult. One prediction I can make with some confidence is that IRCA will have a new director!
As an organization we will face many challenges, some from competitors and some generated by changes in the environment in which we operate. But I am confident we will continue to play a dominant role in accredited certification and, indeed, in standards development.
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