Managed ISO program
The system stays sound between audits.
Why ongoing partnership
The hidden cost of drift.
Most ISO certifications fail quietly between audits. Not in dramatic ways — no certificate is revoked, no warning letter is issued. The management system just drifts out of currency. New procedures don't make it into the document set. Internal audits become checkbox exercises. Operations change in ways the system doesn't reflect. Each year, the gap widens.
Then surveillance audit week arrives, and what was nominally a maintenance audit becomes a recovery exercise — weeks of leadership attention, late-night documentation work, and stress that the certificate is at risk. Most clients who experience this once conclude that light-touch maintenance is structurally cheaper than periodic recovery. The Managed ISO program exists for that.
Three tiers
Calibrated to the depth you actually need.
Each tier represents a different depth of engagement. Most clients start in Tier 1 or Tier 2 and move between tiers as needs evolve. Tier transitions are routine.
On-demand advisory
Pay-as-you-go senior access. No commitment.
For clients between certification cycles who want occasional senior advice — a second opinion on a specific decision, help drafting a CAPA response, or a tight management-review consultation. Hourly engagement, no monthly commitment, no minimum hours. The right tier when your management system is running well and the gap you're filling is occasional senior judgment.
Right when…
- Mature management systems running smoothly between audits
- Specific operational decisions where senior judgment is valuable
- Second opinions on CAPA responses or audit findings
- Light-touch coverage when your senior practitioner is unavailable
Operating retainer
Active monthly partnership. Priority response. Discounted internal audit.
Monthly retainer with included hours for QMS guidance, document review, training questions, and priority response. Discounted internal audit add-on. The right tier when your management system needs active maintenance — document updates as operations evolve, internal audit support, training refreshers, and surveillance audit preparation — but you don't yet need an embedded leader.
Right when…
- Active certified management systems with regular maintenance needs
- Clients between full-time quality leadership hires
- Operations that change frequently and need management-system updates kept current
- Surveillance audit cycles where preparation depth varies year to year
Fractional ISO leadership
Embedded senior leadership. Strategic involvement. Internal audit included.
The deepest tier. A senior practitioner serves as your de facto management-system leader — present at leadership meetings, management review, strategic planning. Internal audit program included. Surveillance and recertification audits owned end-to-end. The right tier when your management system would benefit from senior leadership but the cost of a full-time VP of Quality isn't justified.
Right when…
- Companies needing senior quality leadership without full-time cost
- Multi-standard integrated management systems needing strategic ownership
- Companies pursuing additional certifications while maintaining existing ones
- Organizations where the management system is a real operational lever — not just compliance
Specific hour commitments and engagement details are written into each engagement letter. We do not publish rate cards because tier fit and scope are tailored conversations.
Frequently asked
Common questions about the Managed ISO program.
Why an ongoing partnership? Can't we just maintain the system ourselves?
You can, and many do. The Managed ISO program exists because in practice, three things happen between audits for most companies. First, operations evolve faster than the management system, so the system drifts out of currency. Second, internal audits get squeezed by competing priorities and end up checkbox-quality. Third, by the time the next surveillance audit approaches, what looked like minor drift accumulates into preparation that consumes weeks of leadership attention. A light-touch partnership prevents all three. The economics typically favor the partnership at any scale where the management system matters to operations.
How do we know which tier fits us?
We design tier fit during the scope conversation. Quick heuristic: if your management system is running well and you want occasional senior backup — Tier 1. If your operations change frequently and the system needs active maintenance — Tier 2. If you'd benefit from senior leadership engaged in management decisions, not just compliance — Tier 3. Many clients start in Tier 2 and move to Tier 3 as their relationship with their management system matures, or shift between tiers as their needs evolve.
Can we switch tiers as needs change?
Yes. Tier transitions are routine. We review the partnership formally every six months, and informal adjustments (a heavier month around surveillance audit, a lighter month after a stable period) happen as needed without formal renegotiation. The partnership is designed to flex.
Does the Managed ISO program work for clients we didn't take to certification?
Yes — about a third of our Managed ISO clients hold certificates we didn't place. The intake process is slightly longer (we need to learn your management system before we can run it), but once we're up to speed, the partnership runs the same way as for clients we took through certification.
What's included in each tier specifically?
Tier 1 (On-demand): Senior access on an hourly basis, no monthly commitment, internal audit available separately. Tier 2 (Operating retainer): A defined number of included hours per month for advisory, document review, training questions, and priority response — plus discounted internal audit add-on. Tier 3 (Fractional ISO leadership): A deeper monthly commitment with senior leadership presence, internal audit program included, surveillance audit ownership, and strategic involvement. Specifics scale with engagement size and are written into the engagement letter — not standardized in a published rate card.
How is Tier 3 different from your standalone Fractional Executive Leadership service?
Tier 3 (Fractional ISO leadership) is scoped specifically to your ISO management system: management review, internal audit program, surveillance preparation, system maintenance, related management responsibilities. Our standalone Fractional Executive Leadership service is broader — fractional COO, VP of Operations, Chief of Staff, or domain-specific roles that may or may not include ISO oversight. Some clients engage Tier 3 to start and expand to broader fractional executive responsibility as the partnership deepens. Others stay scoped to ISO only.
What does the Managed ISO program cost?
Tailored per client. Pricing depends on tier, standards in scope, site count, and the depth of engagement you need. We don't publish rate cards because tier fit and scope are the entire point — a rate card would mislead more than inform. Reach out and we'll walk through honest scope.
Ready to make the maintenance year easier than the certification year?
Tell us which standards you hold, which tier you're considering, and when your next surveillance audit is. We'll come back within one business day with a scoped engagement proposal.