Introduction

COVID-19 has changed the whole world, in how we think about our safety, our employee’s safety, safe and hygiene practices and even the safe working environments we are exposed to and which inherent and which transmitted dangerous hazards could be in our environment.

Governments across the globe are struggling with COVID-19, not only to manage and curb the pandemic, but also to start to think of how the global economy will be opened. This would be a huge challenge, as industry per industry needs to be assessed and determined what is the chance for reopening the economy.

This picture looks bleak in the face of COVID-19. One thing is for sure, we are working with a virus which do not know or understand age, race, religion, borders, etc, it is just looking for a new host to infect.

Globalisation in the midst of COVID-19

This in effect mean that everyone is in the same situation, some more than others. If the borders are not open across the world, the airlines are affected, and thus the businesses it affects. Crest Advisory Africa (Pty) Ltd, is a Global company with a client footprint over most of the continents, and we have a network which cross all the boundaries of countries.

What COVID-19 has made us realised, that our Globalisation strategy, with implementing ISO Systems across the Globe, auditing these systems and providing International Certification and conducting Training, Globally, that at present, this cannot be done at all, and we need to rethink our strategies.

New ISO Based Global Strategies

• ISO Training
  • Our training on ISO standards, whether Introduction, Foundation, Lead Implementer and Lead Auditor, has gone online. We received permission from the Certification Body we are working with and they approved our proposal and our assurance that the training will be conducted where you are Globally and we will do that Face-to-Face, via our multiple conferencing tools.
  • Arrangements will be made for the exam to be written, whether remotely or in a secure environment.
• ISO Implementation
  • We have seen over the past 6-8 weeks, that you don’t always have to drive or spend time in traffic to conduct a meeting. We have seen our productivity across the multiple product offerings improve as a result of our adaptability and of our adaptability to our client’s systems they are using, whether, Teams, GoToMeetings, Hangouts, Google, Zoom, we can do it.
  • Thus, for any implementation of Management systems, conducting risk assessments or facilitating Board, Exco or other levels of Risk Registers, Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and even to determine, in this pandemic, the Risk Bearing Capacity (RBC) of companies, to determine their liquidity their resilience.
  • Therefore, Implementation of an ISO is not a challenge for CAA, but possibly for our clients. But we are a resilient species, and we have overcome adversity.
• ISO Auditing
  • Lastly, auditing. Management System Auditing is a skill and a balance of understanding the context, having the knowledge and the skills. But most of all, the behaviour of all the parties could make this happen.
  • Once again, CAA was the first to request from the Certification body, permission to conduct Virtual Management System Audits (VMSA). This is usually not permitted, but in the face of COVID-19 and the fact that we are still many months away from creating a solution, we need to think how do we ensure that the companies which are ISO Certified, do not lose their certification during this Global pandemic.

Application for a Virtual ISO Management System Certification Audit

The objective is to maintain the Management System certification you have earned and for which you have worked hard for. Whether you are a client of CAA or not, we shall assist you and ensure that you are still competitive within the market. The process are as follows:

• the first step is to obtain pre-approval for a remote audit from the Certification Body, based on the risk assessment of both the confidence of the management system and the business/industry of the certified client, because according to IAF documents, and IAS recommendations, depending on these results;
• the Certification Body may decide to accept the request and conduct a remote audit or grant an extension to the deadline to conduct the surveillance or recertification, or in specific cases, even decide to suspend a certificate.
  • The process is as follows:
    • Client wants to know if they can have a remote audit
    • CAA/client transfers the request to from the Certification Body (email)
    • the Certification Body performs the risk assessment (pre-approval), and informs the decision to reseller/client
    • If the remote audit is viable, Client/Auditor complete a remote audit form
    • CAA/client send the form to the Certification Body for review and approval
    • the Certification Body evaluates the request
    • If the Certification Body accepts request- approved
    • If the Certification Body does not accept form - rejects with comments
    • CAA communicates the Certification Body results to the client

Transfer your Management System Certification

PECB as a leader in the Management System Certification field provides the highest level of services and expertise in the world of standards. PECB delivers an exceptional commitment to its customers through service excellence, support and trustworthiness. Hence, PECB is dedicated to preserving the integrity and assisting your business towards a sustainable growth. The experience and expertise shown emphasizes our commitment in empowering your business success.

Transferring your certification to PECB can be described as the easiest and smoothest process you have ever encountered as a customer. Our transfer process follows a simple method from the initial contact of showing your interest in transferring your certification to the final process of accepting your transfer to PECB and becoming part of our global network of certified companies.

CAA Webinars

Please have a lookout for the Free webinar where this topic shall be discussed and where you will be having the opportunities to ask questions and your opinions.

Please check on webinars@crestadvisoryafrica.com for the schedule of the webinars to be held and the transfer of extremely valuable knowledge within the Corporate Governance environment.

CAA Technical Library

Please contact CAA if you want to have access to all our various Management System Models. Over the years of implementing various Management Systems, we have built up industry leading Intellectual Property (IP).

Please contact us on library@crestadvisoryafrica.com. We will guide you through our enrolment process.

CAA Management System Toolkits

For the most advanced and easy to implement toolkits for ISO Management Systems, please contact us on toolkits@crestadvisoryafrica.com.

You will also be able to procure these toolkits from the Professional Evaluation Certification Board (PECB) Store soon. CAA is in the process of uploading all the Intellectual Property (IP). This link will also be sent out to you when fully loaded.

ISOLTXâ„¢-GRC-A Software

The ISOLTXâ„¢ Software, developed by Crest Advisory Africa (Pty) with one of the leading Universities Globally, are disrupting the GRC-A market. This software is so advanced that it uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to quantify and rank the data captured within the software.

The ISOLTX Software consists out of a number of modules, which makes it ideal for any Enterprise, or for a Small and Medium Enterprise. The various modules are:

• ISOLTXâ„¢-GRC-Aâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-i²MASâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-Checklistsâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-Bowtieâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-ERMâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-Complianceâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-ISOâ„¢
• ISOLTXâ„¢-Surveysâ„¢

For a free Proof of Concept (PoC), please contact us on isoltx@crestadvisoryafrica.com.

This is also our Global system for the Global Certification of ISO Management Systems.

The Way forward

Crest Advisory Africa (Pty) Ltd are experts in the Global Corporate Governance field. We are here to change with the times and set the tone going forward, during all the challenges of the Global economy.

CAA has also developed a GRC-A software, where this matrix and other advanced matrixes, for better decision making has been integrated. We drive Performance and Certainty and provide global changing methodologies within the Corporate Governance universe.

COVID-19 has created a demand to measure better and to equate our decisions based on science. This must translate to the general workplace, whether you are an airline carrier, a train system, of a bank. With the wrong’s models, you will make awful decisions. With the relevant, acceptable, suitable, effective and efficient models, CAA can assist enterprises to drive their risks and their objectives to the new standard.

Contact Crest Advisory Africa and ISOLTXâ„¢

Crest Advisory Africa and ISOLTXâ„¢ can be contact on:

Email	nico@crestadvisoryafrica.com	Nico Snyman (Founder and CEO of CAA)
Mobile	+27 (0) 76-403 4307
Telephone: Office	+27 (0)10 595 4675	Office
Website	www.crestadvisoryafrica.com