You have decided to initiate an ISO 9001 or ISO 27001 certification process .
Your customers or prospects want you to be certified. Your manager would like to structure your processes and improve your managerial dynamics to take better account of your customers, improve internal operations...
This is a fairly classic situation encountered by many SMEs in all sectors.
This raises a number of questions:
I'll try to answer these questions briefly and precisely, to help you make the right choice.
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A certification project takes between 6 and 12 months.
- Diagnosis and risk analysis - 1 to 2 months
- Setting up the management system (process, organization) - 3 to 6 months.
- Internal audit and certification - 2 months: This period includes an internal audit (mock audit), a preliminary documentary audit, the on-site audit (minimum 2/3 days), study of the file and response to the audited company.
Complexity and duration depend on the following factors:
If you'd like to find out more about your maturity, take ourISO 27001 self-diagnostic.
If you're working on a project involving both certifications, you'll generally need to allow an extra 2 or 3 months.
Learn more about ISO 27001 and 9001 synergies with our Webinar.
How is a certification budget divided up?
Certification fees depend on :
Please note that contracts with certification bodies must be for 3 years.
Certification in 2025 for a period of 3 years varies between 12 and 20 K€ for a small or medium-sized company or a group of around 100 people with one or two sites. This cost covers the entire 3-year certification period; after 3 years, you need to contract with a certifier again.
The daily rate for certification bodies may vary from one certifier to another.
Certification in 2025 for a 3-year period costs between €15 and €25,000 for an SME or a 100-person organization with one or two sites. This cost covers the entire 3-year certification period; after 3 years, you need to contract with a certifier again.
The price for both certifications will be lower than for the certifications separately.
Some audit days may be reduced.
The budget and cost of implementation will depend on how you deploy and support your project.
The external budget to allow for without full support is that of the blank audit budget.
For a white quality audit, providing an overview and analysis of your entire system, you need to budget €4,000 for ISO 9001 certification (QMS) and €6,000 for ISO 27001 (ISMS).
This "mock audit" enables the organization to meet the requirements of the standards, and is mandatory prior to certification. The organization must have at least audited its entire management system.
As an alternative to comprehensive coaching, you can take a training course on ISO 27001 or 9001.
The most common are the ISO 27001 and 9001 LEAD Implementer courses. The budget is between 1,500 and 3,500 euros plus VAT, depending on the classroom or e-learning option. These courses provide an overview and theoretical explanation of the standard, but do not really enable you to acquire the skills needed to implement ISO certifications.
For full support on one of the certifications, the following budgets are required:
The budget for maintaining certification is not limited to the surveillance audits imposed by the certifier. To reap the full benefits, we recommend at least one annual internal audit, generally costing between 3,500 and 6,000 euros. Seriously carried out, this audit does more than just tick boxes: it provides a complete review of the system, independent advice, concrete proposals for improvement and real coaching to help your teams progress and make the approach a reality on a daily basis.
Maintaining certification can be broken down into several levels of support.
A follow-up consultancy with audit represents a budget of around 7 to 10 k€, covering most of the management and an annual internal audit.
To go one step further, a complete follow-up package, including reinforced support, regular advice and several internal audits, costs around 15 k€.
Lastly, some organizations opt for fully outsourced support, with the coach taking on the role of Certification Manager; this turnkey formula starts from 20 k€ and guarantees ongoing, proactive management of the system.
Feedback from our customers is clear: the ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification processes offer a particularly positive ROI.
Over and above official recognition, they open up access to new markets and often enable us to win major contracts by meeting the requirements of our principals. But the benefits are not limited to business: these standards also provide internal structuring, improved organization and enhanced performance, creating a decisive long-term competitive advantage.
Choosing your certification body is a strategic step. We recommend giving preference to organizations accredited by COFRAC, which you can identify via the "Search for an accredited organization" section on their official website. This accreditation is a guarantee of reliability and recognition at national level.
Among the most recognized organizations, we recommend : AFNOR, BSI, Bureau VeritasApave and LSTI.
It's essential to remember that the certifier is first and foremost a supplier. Even if his mission is to deliver your certification, he is still bound by precise rules and strict specifications.
Our key tips:
In short, the right certifier is the one who combines rigor, independence and a sense of exchange, while allowing you to remain a player in your certification process.
If you need help choosing your certifier or would like a quote, please contact us: Contact form.
In reality, it's all about finding the right balance:
To put it simply, an effective certification process is based on a few key principles:
A successful management system is first and foremost an organization in which each player understands his or her place and actively contributes to overall performance.
When assessing the resources required for a quality or safety project, it is essential to distinguish between two phases:
The need for a full-time quality or safety manager is generally only justified when there are between 100 and 150 employees.
For the implementation phase, it is essential to appoint an in-house project manager. This person will steer the construction of the system and ensure its follow-up. When the person is already well operational and experienced, this mission represents on average a quarter of time during the project period.
Project management and coordination play a central role in the certification process. Even with a highly experienced person, you need to set aside at least a quarter of time for effective project management. This time is essential for organizing actions, coordinating the various players and guaranteeing steady progress through to certification.
Implementing a management system and raising team awareness requires a significant investment. You need at least a quarter of your time to roll out the approach, train staff and monitor actions.
In practice :
Once certification has been obtained, the management system must continue to operate on a day-to-day basis. This requires regular in-house monitoring, which can reasonably be estimated at at least two days per month. This time is needed to steer actions, update documents, monitor indicators, and prepare for surveillance or renewal audits.
If you're perfectly comfortable with setting up certification, you can skip to the conclusion of this article.
If this is not the case, working with a consultant is a real gas pedal. Based on our experience and feedback from our customers, here are the essential criteria to evaluate:
This is exactly the approach we propose at Feel Agile:
When you choose a consultant, you're not just choosing expertise: you're choosing a partner capable of turning certification into a competitive advantage.
See our detailed articles on choosing the right support: Choosing a consulting firm.
It is essential to remember that a management system is not simply a documentation system.
If you're content to write a quality manual, pile up procedures and wait for the auditor with your binders, you're likely to be disappointed:
A true management system rests on three fundamental pillars:
It's this lively, pragmatic approach that we champion at Feel Agile.
To find out more, read our articles dedicated to certifications:
Thank you for reading, and we look forward to continuing this reflection on how to make certification a lever for sustainable performance.
2025 FeelAgile
