Analysis of benefits of the process of certification on international standars: ISO 9001-2008 for Mapfre Assistencia Portugal

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

This report provides a preliminary analysis and evaluation of the current situation of Mapfre Assistance Portugal in terms of productivity, performance, processes and need of implementing the ISO 9001:2008 standards for the assistance service (call-center). The decision about focusing on this part of the group of activities that compound the whole services and products is mainly addressed to the fact that this process is vital when talking about reducing or avoiding unnecessary costs. Thus, the study focuses on the performance in terms of services rendered, files opened, turnover along the years and complaints, as well as the analysis of the flow of process (call center) along with some statistics about ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and related data from competitors. The results showed that the processes are going accordingly with the expectations of the company as the number of complaints is low compared with the turnover, the services required have no high variations and productivity levels are significantly positive. This happens even when there are not documented records of the procedures that could contribute with the effective allocation of work and activities.The report concludes that the possibility of Mapfre Assistance Portugal entering in a ISO 9001:2008 certification process is low, since the costs of certification are higher than the benefits that might arise, given the present strategic objectives that Mapfre Asistencia in Portugal is following, the economic situation of the country and the perception of ISO certifications in the sector and the country itself. The strategies of the company would require the use of different tools and the planning of different strategies towards the accomplishment of the general targets of the group (Mapfre Asistencia). Thus, the recommendations are addressed more towards to policies that increase and improve the net of providers which can meet requirements and expectations from customers about solving issues related to greater speed and reliability. Therefore, relation management strategies will be more appropriate since allow the company to get to know the needs of different actors, namely: customers, suppliers, employees and managers; and finally keep focused on internal control in order to improve the dimensions rated as low by customers.