Freelancing as an ISO Consultant: What You Need to Know

Introduction:

The demand for ISO Consultants in today’s business world is growing impressively as more businesses aim for global compliance standards, and operational excellence. For professionals aspiring for freelancing opportunities, becoming a freelance ISO consultant offers flexibility, diverse work, and a lucrative career path - provided you know how to navigate it. 

This blog offers insights on building a successful freelance ISO professional career. This also includes key areas like required skillsets, business exposure/opportunities, pricing factors and potential challenges in the career path. 

ISO Consultant - Explore The Role:

ISO consultants are the expert professionals involved in mentoring and guiding the companies looking to upgrade themselves to the global standards in terms of their operational efficiency, production/manufacturing, service delivery etc. The fundamental responsibilities of an ISO consultant is to get to the core of the objectives associated with the specific ISO standard the organization is aiming to achieve.
Ex: ISO 27001 provides the global reach and recognition in the Information Security Management System. ISO 9001 revolves around enhancing the Quality Management System and is primarily considered more by the manufacturing sector. 

To begin with, freelancers usually work with Small and Medium Enterprises that lack the in-house team and technical expertise. This gives the exposure and a career start to the freelancers and also a structured, consulting and mentoring approach during the certification process to the organizations as well. 

Essential Skills And Technical Expertise For ISO Consultants:

1) Technical Exposure:

Sound knowledge of ISO standards is expected in the consultants because they are the ones involved in mentoring and guiding through the complete journey of certification. As we know each client is different, with subject matter knowledge and expertise, a freelancer/ consultant would be in a better position to understand their clients’ business processes, requirements and objectives of achieving the certification. Ex: Certified ISO 27001 Lead Auditor/lead implementor. 

2) Proficiency In Auditing: 

Internal Audit is a prime phase in the ISO certification process. Hence, ISO consultants should be proficient enough in handling the auditing activities efficiently. This includes, gap analysis, sampling tests, questionnaires with the employees and core team to understand how well they are well versed with the standards. So, the tools like risk assessment, process mapping, risk treatment methodologies etc play a vital role during and after the audits. Hence, the ISO consultant should be technically sound enough to execute and deliver the audit smoothly and efficiently. 

3) Documentation Skills:

Creating the policies, documenting the processes, maintaining the database of policies, work instruction, and records that align with specific ISO standards is one of the key skillset of the ISO consultant. These documents lay a foundation for the standard implementation and act as evidence, proof of concepts during the auditing phase. 

4) Project Management:

Implementation of the ISO management system is often considered as a project as this involves multiple activities or tasks that act as a key element for designing and implementing the entire ISO standard. Similar to any other project, ISO standard is also broken down into multiple stages like - Planning, Documentation, Execution, Internal Audit and Certification.

Hence an ISO consultant is expected to have project management expertise and should be well versed with resource management, task allocation and management, ensuring timely completion of the project etc. 

5) Communication: 

Making the complex standards easy to understand to the non-technical stakeholders and clients builds trust and confidence. As this gives clarity on how the entire ISO project is designed and will be executed.
Ex: ISO 27001 speaks about implementing controls for the risks identified and assessed during the risk assessment phase. Controls sound technical for a layman but risk mitigation techniques or risk treatment methods might sound easy for everyone who isn’t from the same background. 

6) Networking: 

ISO consultants should also be well versed with the platforms that help him achieve the greater visibility of his profession / consultation. Platforms like Upwork, LinkedIn, Kolabtree etc connect with global clients, and increase the business opportunities. Also, referrals from the existing clients is one of the best and sustainable ways of getting new clients.

7) Managing Workload:
As ISO freelance consultation is fundamentally dependent on individual’s caliber, accuracy, speed and expertise, it is often observed that ISO consultants end up with either multiple projects where they find it difficult to manage the clients and on the other hand they may not get any project for some time.

Both the scenarios will affect the business and the income earning capabilities of an individual ISO freelancer. Hence, tools like Toggl or any other project management software comes handy for task and time management. Invoicing software like Quickbooks and similar tools would be of a great help for creating and sending the invoices, tracking the finances and budget. In fact, many freelancers retain 2-3 retainer clients for sustainability and economic consistency. 

Conclusion:

ISO freelancing offers unmatched opportunities to impact organizational efficiency while demanding premium rates. However, success demands continuous learning, strategic marketing, customer relationship management, and adaptability. By specializing in high demand ISO standards like ISO 27001, ISO 14001 etc can provide a strong portfolio, and utilizing digital platforms for showcasing the consultation expertise and project management would help establish a thriving consultancy.

Aspirants can start obtaining the certifications, offer gap analysis services and slowly focus on expanding to full-scale implementation. As the global market for ISO consultation is projected to exceed $30 billion dollars by 2030 - the need for skilled freelancers will be intensified.