ISO 9001 Certificate – Is it Worth the Time and Money?

What is ISO 9001?
The ISO 9000 family of standards is related to quality management systems and designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product.
First version of the standard was published in 1987 and the latest version (fourth) was published in 2008.

Over a million companies around the world are certified to this standard.
Why companies go for it?
ISO 9001 certificate provide confidence to clients that the company has an established quality management system.
Is it worth?
A question has often been asked if the time, money and energy spent in getting the company certified to ISO 9001 standard worth it?
One part of getting certified to the standard is to have an established quality management system. This includes a system to ensure that required checks and balances are in place, processes and roles are clearly defined, continual improvement processes are in place etc.

Does Quality Management System lead to long term success of the business?

Second part of this process is to have a third party audit the system and certify that the system meets the requirement of the standard.
Generally people do not have much disagreement on the first part (having the system in place). If you have a good system, you produce consistent product and your clients know what to expect from you.
However the second part (having a formal certificate) is often the point of discussion.