In short
Outsourced system maintenance hands the ongoing running of your certified management system to Equas. We deliver the internal audits, management reviews, document updates, legal compliance checks and surveillance audit support that keep certification valid, so your team can concentrate on running the business.
What a outsourced system maintenance involves
Getting certified is a project. Staying certified is a job, and in most organisations it is a job nobody was hired to do.
It usually lands on a quality manager who also runs something else, or on an operations director who genuinely intends to get to it. Then a busy quarter passes, the audit programme slips, the management review does not happen, documents drift out of date, and the surveillance visit turns into a fortnight of preparation and a set of findings.
Outsourced maintenance removes that pattern. We take responsibility for the recurring work: internal audits on a planned schedule, management reviews held at the right intervals with proper records, documentation kept current as your business changes, legal compliance updates and checks, and support at surveillance and recertification audits.
We also handle the work that arrives without warning. Customer pre-qualification questionnaires and supplier assessments tend to be urgent, tedious, and full of questions about your management system. We answer them.
The proposition is straightforward: your certificate stays valid, your surveillance audits stop being an event, and nobody in your business has to become an ISO specialist to make that happen. We have been doing this for more than twenty years, for over 1,000 organisations.
For clients maintaining several standards, this pairs naturally with an integrated management system, since one combined programme is considerably less work than three parallel ones.
Who it is for
Working towards certification
Worth deciding early. Knowing who will run the system after certification changes how it should be built, and how much internal training you need.
Already certified
The core service for this group. It suits organisations with no dedicated quality or compliance role, and those where the person doing it has too much else on.
What is included
A planned annual programme covering every process and clause, delivered on schedule.
Held at the interval that suits your organisation, with certification-ready records.
Preparation, attendance and findings response at every certification body visit.
Documentation kept current as processes, people and sites change.
Your legal register maintained and compliance re-evaluated as legislation changes.
We answer the management system sections of pre-qualification questionnaires and customer assessments.
The same person each time, who knows your system rather than reading the file before each visit.
How it works
- 1
System handover
We review your existing system in detail so we can run it, and flag anything that needs attention before we take it on.
- 2
Annual programme
An agreed calendar of audits, reviews, document updates and certification body visits for the year ahead.
- 3
Scheduled delivery
The programme runs to the calendar, on site and remotely, without you having to chase it.
- 4
Reactive support
Questionnaires, customer audits, incidents and changes handled as they arise.
- 5
Annual review
A look at how the system performed over the year and what should change for the next one.
The most popular standards we support
Equas helps clients achieve UKAS-accredited certification across every ISO standard we cover.
The international standard for quality management systems
The international standard for environmental management systems
The international standard for IT service management
The international standard for business continuity management
The international standard for information security management
The international standard for AI management systems
The international standard for occupational health and safety
The international standard for energy management systems
Quality management for the built environment, built on ISO 9001
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
Frequently asked questions
Related services
Integrated Management Systems
One system, multiple standards, a fraction of the duplication
Internal Auditing
Independent assurance that your system is working
Surveillance and Recertification Audit Support
Pass every certification body visit with ease
