ISO 9001 registrar Bureau Veritas has launched a new website at www.revision2015.com that promises it’s not there to sell BV services, even as it does just that.
Introduced on a “Why This Site?” page written by Veritas’ Dr. Laurent Dahmani, the page is so filled with self-contradicting marketing spin, it may well cause the entire internet to develop its own magnetic field. Here’s one example, where Dr. Dahmani tries to make the argument that the BV site is different from others:
… We quickly realized that there was no definitive source of objective, accessible information about the 2015 Revisions. So we decided to build one. The goal is to separate the signal from the noise, avoiding hyperbole and jargon along the way.
Sounds great, right? Except that Dahmani opened the piece by claiming “the upcoming 2015 revisions to the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards are more than just a mere update.”
They can open the door to a step change for management systems. One that moves beyond control and assurance towards anticipating risks and uses the management systems to lead business transformation. One example is the focus that ISO 9001:2015 places on managing and preventing risks that can directly or indirectly impact quality.
Elsewhere, the site repeats the meme:
The changes being made in ISO9001:2015 are considerably more substantial than those produced during the 2008 revision.
That could be because the 2008 wasn’t a revision, it was an amendment, and featured no changes at all. So technically any change is “more substantial” than no change.
Not only does Dahmani rely on the hyperbolic — and false — claim that the new 2015 standard is something more than an update, he then utterly mischaracterizes “risk based thinking” as risk management. I’m not sure how many times ISO and its various TC 176 leaders are going to have to tell people that RBT is not risk management, but apparently they are going to have to shout it many more times, directly in Dahmani’s ears.
Dahmani then tries to boast that his site is different because it “is open to everyone: our clients and their consultants, our own auditors, and any company or organization interested in ISO 9001.” I hadn’t realized there was a flood of CB websites that were locked down for private viewing among invited guests, but maybe there’s some secret club out there that I don’t know about. Seems all of BV’s websites are open to the public, at least, so I’m not sure what he’s on about.
But most galling of all is Dahmani’s brazen attempt to claim the site isn’t a marketing stunt. He says:
While we firmly believe that certification is good for business, the goal of the site is not to sell you our services.
And then he literally follows that sentence with one promoting his services!
However, if after using the site, you are interested in learning more about what have to offer, we invite you to click on “Bureau Veritas near you”. With offices in more than 82 countries, you can count on us to provide local support adapted to your needs.
In case you don’t believe me, here’s the screenshot:
The one good note regarding the site is that it doesn’t dip into consulting territory at all, and in fact includes a disclaimer — printed in italics — declaring their goal of objectivity:
Please note that Bureau Veritas Certification is a trustworthy Certification Body and we must at all times maintain our impartiality when granting certification. Therefore, we cannot implement a transition for you, nor elaborate for you a bespoke transition plan as a consultant would do.
So, they get kudos for that, at least. The rest of the site is no different than any of the other hundreds of sites popping up which talk about the “high level structure” and transition milestones, so I’m not sure why they would think their site is original.
It may not be the definitive source for information on ISO 9001:2015, but it’s a pretty definitive source of irony.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
