You are at the helm of DNV GL, one of the world’s leading certification organisations for Southern Europe and Africa. Can you tell us what the real value of certification is?

International standards are the backbone of our organisation. They ensure the safety and quality of products and services and aid international trade while improving the environment we live in. In a nutshell, the value of certification, meant as an appraisal of compliance with the requirements of international standards, is the creation of a bond of trust between stakeholders, i.e. either end consumers or businesses, thus ensuring that products, systems and organisations are safe, reliable and eco-friendly.

Businesses’ perception of certification has changed a lot over the last few years. It used to be perceived as a process of meeting obligations either on a voluntary basis or as a legal requirement. But now certification is more viewed as a useful means to control production processes and an instrument to guide management culture. Businesses are more and more incorporating their management system into their business model, with derived advantages in terms of process integration and efficiency.

Indeed, for a business, certification is a token of the work done and an important ‘passport’ to market acceptance, in addition to offering a number of specific advantages, depending on the adopted type of reference standard.

In addition, certification contributes to strengthen the business’s reputation, as it confirms its ability to keep risks under control and manage them consistently, which shows commitment for ongoing improvement. This is a key element today, when focus on sustainability is higher and higher, so that product and system standards now specifically include sustainability aspects, as happened in the recent version of the world’s most renowned and used quality management standard, ISO 9001.

How has ISO 9001 changed in its 2015 version? Is it still the reference standard for quality management?

Some people considered ISO 9001 ‘on the decline’ as early as 10 years ago, but today it is as alive as it ever was. Introduced 30 years ago – this year is its thirtieth anniversary. This standard was massively disseminated worldwide, including Italy, a country that now ranks second by number of issued certificates. Worldwide, more than one million certificates have been issued so fare and it is still highly appreciated and used as a basic reference for all quality management standards.

Its 2015 revision introduced changes putting more emphasis on the context in which companies operate and the risk that may threaten the sustainability of their business.

The focus on context has a twofold purpose, i.e. to identify potential risks as well as grasp the opportunities created by specific situations, while bearing in mind the expectations and needs of all stakeholders.

So the concept of quality has evolved. Customers and customer satisfaction are always pivotal, but there has been a shift from quality meant as conformity with a number of requirements to quality associated with the concept of sustainability. Quality has therefore become the ability to combine performance, in terms of business results, with the need to respect the world, the creation of shared value for the context in which a business operates and, ultimately, for society.

It is generally said that a standard evolves when it is outdated. What do you think about it?

Processes to define international standards also involve their revision on a regular basis, typically every five years, to keep them up to date and incorporate the world’s best practices – while bearing in mind market requirements and the changed world situation. For this very reason, a standard update process normally starts from a survey among all users, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the version currently in force. A board of international experts will then define the necessary changes; this is a required aspect to ensure that standards continue to be effective.

What should ENAV do to cope with its transition towards the new ISO 9001: 2015?

The revision of this standard has renewed and enhanced the value of corporate leadership as a key element involving all organisational levels for each one to be accountable for the future of an organisation. It also introduced the concept of ‘context’, i.e. the environment where an organisation operates, and put the emphasis on what we call “risk based thinking” – namely the ability to identify risks and opportunities for businesses.

From this point of view, ENAV has an advantage since its core business already incorporates – by nature – a risk management system that is highly integrated in production processes. Concurrently, as regards compliance with the new requirements for support processes, ENAV will be able to use the existing synergies with the risk management system introduced by the Self-Regulatory Code of Listed Companies.

The steps to be made are optimally summed up in document ID9, published by the IAF (International Accreditation Forum), which recommends the following actions to any organisation wishing to apply the new ISO 9001:2015 in order to upgrade their existing system (structured in accordance with the old version): to identify organisational gaps, to develop an implementation plan, to provide appropriate training and awareness, to update the existing management system and liaise with their Certification Body, DNV GL in case of ENAV, for transition arrangements.

What is DNV GL’s overall evaluation in respect of the ENAV Group’s management systems?

ENAV’s experience since the introduction of a Quality Management System in 2007 is particularly worthy of note. The reason behind its introduction was to meet the requirements of EU Regulation (EC) no. 2096/05 (in force at that time), but then ENAV was able to exploit the potentials offered by it to integrate all processes within the Group and its individual companies. What is more, since the beginning ENAV has combined its Safety Management System with its Quality Management System; their characteristics were consequently improved and harmonised for the sake of efficiency and to avoid useless overlaps and duplications. In addition, I think, the choice of certifying a Management System for the Security of Information in the context of the existing Security Management System was a strategic one, as the digital transition is one of the megatrends that will shape the world of business in the near future.

The latest tests confirmed that the Quality Management system has consolidated processes. By expanding the scope of control to processes not strictly covered by the standard, this system has also become a real management tool. It could be more appropriately and broadly defined as a Business Management System.

Lastly, a few words about ENAV’s staff. The system is perceived by the staff as a set of rules to apply corporate processes that support and aid daily work, as shown by the invariably intense and constructive discussions that took place throughout the testing period as well as by the presence and focus put on it by the Top Management during the presentation of final results.

This year we will celebrate 10 years of certification and will certainly grasp the opportunity to outline the benefits derived from management systems to help ENAV achieve its targets by encouraging the ongoing improvement of its processes and extending them corporate-wide.

The commitment of DNV GL will continue to be focused on logical consistency so as to guide corporate leadership in this process of identification, safeguard and ongoing improvement.