The ISO 9001 standard was the start of a global phenomenon which saw the range of ISO management systems standards expand to include, amongst others, the environment as well as continuity, insurance and risk (1996), through to the current Business Continuity Management and Environmental Management standards. The ISO standards are revised every ten years or so; 2015 saw a major overhaul of ISO 9001:2008, in line with the new high level structure of ISO Annex SL (2012) for Management Systems to better reflect modernday organisational planning and process management. Madeleine Fairweather, BSc Hons, PhD Cambridge, MRSB, Director of MSFQA Associates Limited, clarifies why the core quality management systems (QMS) standard was updated last September and describes the aims and aspirations of this new edition.