How to get an ISO certificate online in Switzerland

You get an ISO certificate online by completing a self-assessment against the standard, having a reviewer check your answers, and receiving a certificate that anyone can verify on a public page. No auditor visits your premises, and you can do the whole process from your desk.

This article explains what that process looks like, what you should have ready before you start, and where the online route reaches its limits.

What an online ISO certificate is

An online ISO certificate is a certificate issued after a remote assessment instead of an on-site audit. You answer structured questions about how your business works. You describe your processes, responsibilities and records, and you confirm what you actually do.

A person then reviews the result. At Zertify, a member of the SICE Certification Board checks every assessment before a certificate is issued. The certificate itself is issued by Zertify under licence from SICE. It carries a QR code that leads to a verification page, so a purchasing department or a customer can confirm it without calling you.

This is a different route from the classic one, where a certification body sends an auditor to your site for one or more days. Both routes lead to a certificate. They differ in effort, calendar time and in what the process demands from your team. The guide on ISO certification without an audit goes through those differences in detail.

The steps from start to certificate

The order is the same for every standard, though the questions differ.

1. Choose the standard

Pick the standard that matches what your customers ask for. A supplier questionnaire usually names it. If you do not know yet, look at the last tender or customer request you received and read what it lists under quality, environment or information security.

2. Start the self-assessment

The questions follow the structure of the standard. For management system standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO/IEC 27001, that means the clauses on context of the organization (4), leadership (5), planning (6), support (7), operation (8), performance evaluation (9) and improvement (10). You answer for your own business, not for a model company.

3. Back your answers with facts

A self-assessment is only worth something if the answers are true. If a question asks who is responsible for handling complaints, you name a person. If it asks how you review your own performance, you describe what you actually do, even if it is a monthly meeting with notes in a shared folder.

4. Pass the assessment and pay

The reviewer looks at your answers as a whole. If the assessment is passed and payment is made, Zertify issues the certificate within 4 hours.

5. Download and use the certificate

You receive a PDF with a QR code. You can attach it to quotes, add it to tender documents, send it with a supplier questionnaire or place it on your website.

What to prepare before you start

Most of the time spent on a self-assessment goes into finding information, not typing answers. Gather it first and the assessment takes far less time.

• Name the standard your customers or tenders ask for
• Write down the scope: which sites, services and teams the certificate covers
• List the people with responsibility for quality, safety, environment or data, depending on the standard
• Collect your existing procedures, even informal ones such as checklists, templates and onboarding sheets
• Find your records: complaint logs, training lists, meeting notes, supplier evaluations
• Note your main risks and how you handle them today
• Check your legal obligations, for example industry rules or data protection duties that apply to you
• Decide who in your company will complete the assessment and who confirms the answers

If an item on this list is empty, that is useful to know. It shows where the assessment will be difficult, and it is better to find that out before you start than halfway through.

Which standard to choose

There is no single correct standard. The right one depends on who asks and what they ask for.

ISO 9001 covers quality management and is the most common request in supplier questionnaires. ISO 14001 covers environmental management. ISO 45001 covers occupational health and safety. ISO/IEC 27001 covers information security, and it comes up more and more when you handle customer data or work for IT-heavy clients. The standards overview lists what is available online.

If you are unsure, ask your largest customer which standard they would like to see. A short email is enough. Most purchasing departments answer within a day, and the answer saves you from certifying against the wrong standard.

What it costs

The cost depends on the standard and on how the certificate is maintained over its life. With the online route you pay for the assessment and certificate, and the certificate is confirmed every year, which is a yearly subscription. Compare that to the classic route, where costs come from auditor days, travel and the preparation time of your own staff. The guide to ISO certification cost explains the cost components on both routes, so you can compare them for your own situation.

Where the online route works and where it does not

The online route suits businesses that need to show a certificate to customers, answer supplier questionnaires, join a tender or give a purchasing department something concrete to file. It works well for small and medium businesses, agencies and start-ups that do not have a quality manager and cannot give an auditor several days.

It does not suit every situation. Some tenders and some customers explicitly require a certificate from an on-site audit by a certification body. Read the wording in the tender documents or ask the customer directly. If the document says nothing on how the certificate must be obtained, the online certificate is usually a valid answer to the question. If it demands an on-site audit, you need the classic route.

The second limit is internal. A certificate does not replace working processes. If you answer questions about procedures that do not exist, the assessment will not hold, and a customer audit later will show the gap.

How Zertify fits in

Zertify issues ISO certificates based on an online self-assessment. There is no on-site audit. A member of the SICE Certification Board reviews every assessment, and Zertify issues the certificate under licence from SICE. Each certificate can be verified publicly through the QR code on the PDF.

The certificate is valid for three years. Every year you confirm it with a short online re-audit, which is part of the yearly subscription. That keeps the certificate current and gives your customers a reason to trust the date on it.

To get started:

1. Look at the available standards and choose the one you need.
2. Check the pricing page to see what the certificate and the yearly confirmation include.
3. Start the assessment when your documents and responsibilities are ready.

What happens after you receive the certificate

The certificate is a document you will use in practice. Put it into your standard tender folder. Add it to your email signature template or your quote template if it fits your business. Send the verification link when a customer asks for proof, because a link is easier to check than an attachment.

Set a reminder for the yearly re-audit. The re-audit is short and online, but you need to do it for the certificate to stay valid. Use the same reminder to look at what has changed in your business: new services, new staff in key roles, new sites. If the scope has moved, the certificate should move with it.

If a customer later asks for an on-site audit, the work you did for the self-assessment is not wasted. Your documents, responsibilities and records are the material an auditor would ask for anyway.