BVQI vice president Pietro Foschi said Vericert could focus on a variety of different areas requested by clients and that its main duties were to benchmark a client's position in an industry and help create business strategies to reach a business goal. Thailand is the first Asia-Pacific country to use Vericert.

"If a company wants to achieve an ISO9000 [quality] certificate, we can chart the mission it must accomplish in order to get the certificate," he said. Vericert can also help clients make improvements in environmental protection and safety.

Foschi said, "Vericert also helps our clients carry out benchmarking and rating to evaluate the departments inside their companies or their competitiveness compared with other companies in the same industry, locally and internationally." He said the score Vericert gave to each company helped them know which areas most needed to be developed.

BVQI executive director Udomdej Kongtaveelert said one reason behind the company's decision to launch Vericert in Thailand was feedback from clients themselves. He said companies often asked which benefits they receive from ISO9000 certification or how they could compete with other companies in the same field.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation