S & O Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (SOEM) began its new business category with Foxconn since October 2019 and for this year’s surveillance audit, we have extended the ISO9001:2015 and 14001:2015 certificates scope to include new product category.  ISO third party certification body conducted the remote audit on October 19-20, 2020.

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year that changed the world. The emergence of COVID-19 and its related travel restrictions has impact how onsite audit are being done currently.  What was once an on-site exercise, be it a face-to-face meeting with an auditee at their desk reviewing the sales process or discussing with a senior manager the context and leadership of aspects of the system, or having a site tour of the factory floor with a member of the operational team, audits are now being carried out using remote techniques.

The ISO 9001 and 14001 surveillance audits were conducted in real-time via Google Meet.  Documents were shown by using handheld camera and walk-through audit were performed on request by the auditor.

Remote audit not only shortening travel distance, time and cost, but also reduce the environmental impact associated with the audit travel.

One of the main challenges faced during the remote audit was due to technology glitches. Conference bridges failed for instance where people couldn’t hear arising from connectivity issue and failure to turn on their microphones. Additionally interviews and audit may be interrupted due to network issues as such taking some time to reconnect.  Living in a world where data and technology is everywhere, all these hurdles can be overcome with time and experience.  This first remote audit was an experience well learnt by SOEM for future audits.

All the lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic so far, points to the disruption of the existing status quo.  We need to improvise the auditing function to embrace a new level of flexibility and fluidity to secure compliance.

COVID-19 has changed the way we look at our lives, the way we behave, and the way we do business.   Things will never be the same again – we need to adapt to the “new normal” as a forward path.