We are delighted that our client, Universal Networks, has become certified in meeting the new international Quality Management Standard ISO 9001:2015, and is leading the way within the sector to achieve the new standard.

Our MD, Rebecca Russell, who supported Universal Networks in achieving their certification, commented: “A significant amount of work was required to transition to the new standard, and to have achieved it without any non-conformities or observations at the audit is an outstanding result for Universal Networks. Our congratulations to Eddie and the Universal Networks team”.

The independent assessment was conducted by Alcumus ISOQAR, a UKAS Accredited Certification body, and firmly establishes Universal Networks as a leading player in its field for customer service and quality in delivery.

Managing Director at Universal Networks, Eddie Hing, commented: Adopting this international standard is a strategic decision for Universal Networks and will secure our future as a premium provider. This certification confirms to our customers that we continue to be fully committed to quality improvement and providing reliable and consistent solutions and services to support their growth and success.”

The ISO 9001 standard requires organisations to demonstrate that they have risk based quality management systems in place that ensure consistency and improvement, assuring customer of high levels of performance and satisfaction. Certified organisations are committed to continuous improvement and are independently assessed annually to ensure that progress is being maintained.

The new 2015 standard, introduced only in September last year, has evolved to meet the needs of a more technology driven world with increasingly complex global supply chains, and focuses more on addressing business risk and process improvement, and less on documentation. With just a three-year transition period from September 2015, companies now have less two years to move to the new standard. This means that, after September 2018, certification to the ISO 9001:2008 will no longer be valid.

Does your business need support in achieving the new certification? Please get in touch to see how we can help your business take the next step. Call us on 0333 3210131 or email us

 

We were very happy when two of our clients, Universal Networks Ltd, based in Hungerford, and Link CCTV Systems in Stevenage passed their ISO9001:2008 assessments with flying colours – no non-conformities or observations, but complementary reports from their 3rd party assessors and a clean bill of health.

Now they are both preparing for ISO9001:2015, and we are delighted to be helping them achieve that, making it as painless as possible, and ensuring that the changes will benefit the companies, not only by helping them to get ahead of their competitors, but by ensuring that any changes benefit the business and not just meeting the standard.

Q Associates, the IT Services and Solutions specialists in Newbury, have passed their Stage 1 assessment towards ISO27001:2013. It’s a big step towards their goal of achieving certification to the IT security standard by May 2016. Watch this space!

In September the Quality Management Standard, ISO9001:2015 and Environmental Management Standard, ISO14001:2015  were published. This followed the publication of ISO27001:2013, the IT Security Management Standard in 2013. The management standards are all being restructured to align with a model called Annex SL, which will ultimately make it easier to integrate the management systems in practice.

In November 2015, Rebecca successfully passed the ISO9001:2015 Lead Assessors course and ISO27001:2013 IT Security Lead Assessor course. We’re already helping companies transition to the new standards and integrate these standards.

We are delighted to announce that Steve Rogers has joined us as an Associate Consultant, offering safety, quality and environmental management systems support.

Steve has a wealth of experience in the rail and telecoms industries. Working with other consultants using the same SSFB principles, we are able to offer a seamless, integrated approach to assisting with and implementing a wide range of management systems.

Stepping Stones for Business has been sponsoring swimmer, Harry James, for over five years. In October 2014, Harry went to Plymouth University to study photography, but also to follow his dream – to train with the Olympic swimming squad.

More recently, Harry has been training at the Olympic training camp in Lanzarote doing some fantastic mirroring drills with Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Ruta Meilutyte.  View the training clip here (featured on the Jon Rudd Swimming Consultancy facebook page).

We are very proud of Harry and all his wonderful achievements to date.

Stepping Stones for Business has been sponsoring swimmer, Harry James, for over five years. In October 2014, Harry went to Plymouth University to study photography, but also to follow his dream – to train with the Olympic swimming squad.

Last weekend, Harry competed in Lisbon, Portugal, and set personal bests in all of his breaststroke events, winning silver in the 100m breaststroke with a 1.05.3 time; bronze in the 200m breaststroke with a 2.20.8 time and gold in the men’s 4 x 100m individual medley relay, in which the team set a competition record.

Last month, Harry won the Devon County Championships 200m breaststroke in January 2015, with a 10 second lead!

Harry has also been invited to an Olympic training camp in Tenerife in September.

What a brilliant start to the year for Harry, and we continue to support him and are so very proud of all his achievements.

 

FB_IMG_14222084613734107 copyStepping Stones for Business has been sponsoring swimmer, Harry James, for over five years. In October 2014, Harry went to Plymouth University to study photography, but also to follow his dream – to train with the Olympic swimming squad.

After just four months he is breaking his own personal best results, winning the Devon County Championships 200m breaststroke in January 2015, with a 10 second lead!  View Harry’s win at the Devon County Championships here.

In February Harry is off to to Lisbon, Portugal to compete, and he’s also been invited to an Olympic training camp in Tenerife in September.

What a great start to the year and we continue to support Harry and are very proud of his achievements.

 

Stepping Stones for Business is delighted to announce that we have been selected as the Health & Safety exhibitor at the upcoming Clear Books Community Exhibition (CBCE), which takes place on 6th February 2015.

The CBCE (organised by cloud accounting software provider, Clear Books) is a not-for-profit event designed to help British small businesses learn more about what it takes to be successful has been announced today

The Clear Books Community Exhibition (CBCE), is supported by Microsoft and aims to provide an inspiring and informative day of presentations, exhibits and networking opportunities to help small companies learn, overcome challenges and succeed with their ambitions.

Clear Books has designed CBCE based on the feedback from its community of more than 8,000 small business customers to ensure that content is highly relevant, topical and engaging for small business owners and managers across a wide range of sectors.

On the day, delegates will have the opportunity to:
• Hear presentations from leading industry speakers across a range of topics, including finance, legal, health and safety, marketing, PR and branding
• 1-2-1 advice from experience Clear Books accountants
• Attend the exhibition and network with other attendees
• Showcase their products and services by exhibiting

“We know from our own experiences that starting and growing a business is incredibly rewarding, but equally it’s not without its challenges,” says Lizzie Fouracre, Chief Operating Officer of Clear Books. “Our aim with CBCE is to provide the opportunity for many of our existing customers, as well as other small businesses, to get information and advice which they will find really useful, including tips, techniques and strategies from small business specialists. CBCE is very much part of our ongoing strategy to support our community of small business customers.”

“Clear Books has developed a strong reputation for helping small businesses to flourish and we are very keen to support this initiative,” said Chris Rothwell, SMB Customer Channel Manager, Microsoft. “The exhibition also offers a great one off opportunity for small business owners and managers to experience how their businesses can flourish with the Microsoft mobile first, cloud first world.”

CBCE is taking place on the 6th of February 2015 at Microsoft’s London office at Cardinal Place, 80-100 Victoria Street, SW1E 5JL.

goring-streatley-festival (c) Bernard NovellRebecca Russell from Stepping Stones for Business was delighted to be on the organising committee for the Goring and Streatley Festival.
The 10-day inaugural festival, which ran from the 27th June to 6th July held 52 events included art exhibitions, open-air theatre, performing arts, concerts, workshops, dance classes, bell ringing, circus skills and fringe events. The Grand Finale was a family day in Streatley Meadow, with over 2000 people enjoyed picnics in the Meadow with the Wimbledon Men’s Finals on the Big Screen, followed by the Last Night of  the Proms lead Dawn Roberts, the Goring and Streatley Concert Band and the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir.
Stepping Stones for Business carried out a total of 56 risk assessments for the festival, provided First Aid Cover for most events and organised the Last Night Concert, along with a number of other events.Overall the festival was extremely well attended and plans are already afoot for 2015.