What’s next in the world of business improvement? Ask Duncan Lilley, SAI’s new Global Head of Assurance Services. Duncan brings impressive expertise and an exciting vision for helping SAI’s clients get the most from their businesses.

Duncan Lilley speaking at the recent Better Business Conference in Sydney

Variously based in his native South Africa, Europe and more recently in the Asia Pacific, Duncan’s experience includes major roles with leading global corporate’s such as Kellogg, Brown & Root and Unisys prior to entering the assurance services space over 8 years ago, and holding top roles based both in the UK and Hong Kong.

A Bachelor of Science graduate and qualified chartered accountant, Duncan’s roles have included overseeing the commercial management of large capital projects including offshore oil and gas, civil engineering infrastructure and transportation projects to managing large complex IT&T bids with sales teams to leading business divisions across vast geographical territories and diverse cultures.

Item one on his agenda after his arrival at SAI Global earlier this year has been to make a detailed assessment of the scope and nature of services SAI provides.

“I am looking at what SAI Global does for our customers and the types of assurance services we offer with a view to ensuring that they are as relevant to the needs of organisations and their stakeholders as possible” he said.

“Areas like driving improvement, managing risk, protecting reputation and assisting with compliance have all gained greater prominence in the last decade or so. We are also looking at further ways to helping organisations that are striving to become more international in their operations as globalisation continues,” he explained.

"We are all aware that the business environment is becoming more and more complex. That’s why the key word for us is relevance: how can we actively help our clients take a strategic approach to management of these challenging and changing areas. We are looking at the full portfolio and seeing how we can make products more closely align and complement each other to deliver more value to our customers.”

In a business world that’s also becoming increasingly specialised, Duncan Lilley signals that a further refinement and evolution of both business management standards themselves and the types of assurance services on offer is also afoot. He also envisages closer relationship between the product certification side and business management systems.

This evolution may find its expression in the increased tailoring of the more generic Standards such as the ISO 9000 series to become more closely aligned with the characteristics and objectives of specific business and industry types.

“We are looking at more sector-specific options in the 9000 series, for example,” he said. “The popularity and success of such options for the health and legal sectors is already clear and more are being explored.”

In addition, he expects the already evident trend away from ‘certification for its own sake’ to continue.

“The benefit and importance of objective expert assessment to organisations – whether or not formal certification is the end result – is becoming increasingly apparent,” he said.

“More and more businesses are seeking what we call ‘second party assessment’. This is external verification against their own set of Standards or criteria, rather than what we describe as third party, which is assessment against an external set off standards or criteria such as something from the ISO Standards.”

He pointed out that second party assessment is a powerful safeguard and risk management tool because it provides the objective, independent evidence of the reality of a business’s operations, culture and compliance. It supports a stronger corporate governance culture and helps provide an objective basis for business improvement strategies.

“It’s not just words on a pretty brochure. It is evidence of what’s really happening,” said Duncan.

Naturally enough, he explained, evolution in the roles of assessment and assurance is also leading to an evolution in auditing style.

“Looking at the business as a whole and taking a partnership approach now involves the audit having a scope beyond that of purely ‘documenting procedures’,” he said.

Although stressing that a healthy balance between auditor independence and the input of his or her experience, technical and management knowledge remains essential, Duncan Lilley said that genuine business improvement occurs when this balance is achieved.

“Many clients need some help from their auditor to get to that next level, beyond mere compliance, so they can really use their system and SAI’s services to gain measurable and ongoing improvements.

“Sometimes SAI’s clients make the mistake of seeing the value of the certification or the assessment ending with the audit or certificate, then forgetting about it until next time.

“But the reality is that SAI’s products and services are designed to deliver benefits beyond the certification or the audit. It’s all about the built-in safeguards, the quality of the improvement feedback mechanisms, the quantification and solid information that an effective system and assurance process can provide.

“These constitute the real value,” said Duncan. “It is SAI’s aim to continue to refine its products and services to ensure that they continue to be relevant and that more of its clients can experience greater benefits.”