Over the last few decades, the Internal Organization for Standardization (ISO) has become advocating the quality management systems and similar requirements for almost all the industry. ISO standardization has over 22623 standards comprising of both generic and specific standards which has been expanding its activities into other topics related to social and environmental policy.
Its popularity has been increasing year by year and many businesses are demanding such standards to enhance the systematic development of their company. Likewise, ISO standard certification in Nepal has been popular as well. Many companies demand ISO certification in Nepal through different management consulting firms in Nepal for various benefits which include; international recognition, partnership opportunity, market expansion, marketing purpose, and also for understanding the needs of their interested parties.
However, even though ISO is an international management certification, there are very less management consulting firms in Nepal who can assist in the ISO implementation simply because of a lack of knowledge and expertise. The term management consulting itself is a new industry for Nepal where management consulting firms face difficulty portraying their service in the market. Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal, where there is a pail of services anyone can get but when it comes to management consulting in Kathmandu hardly five to six companies would pop up in search engines. This lack of services is leading to companies hiring consultants from abroad or not implementing them in a genuine manner.
One of the other challenges in ISO implementation is companies’ lack of commitment when it comes to certification. Management consulting firms in Nepal who are specialized and work for the best and put themselves out for the implementation but companies rather than feeling it as a benefit consider it as a burden and portray lack of diligence when it comes to implementation. This delays the work process at the same hinder the systematic management certification.
Lastly, the continuity of implementation after attaining the certification is one of the major challenges where management consultancy in Nepal fails. This is because companies expect the management consulting firms in Nepal to improve the system and get them ready for the surveillance audit certification for next year.
Lack of commitment and determination to improve the system are the challenges facing ISO implementation in Nepal.