About Plain Standards
Plain Standards: plain-English ISO templates and unaccredited remote certification, built by a company director of over 30 years.
If you run a small business, you already know the feeling. Someone from outside is about to look at how you do things, and however good your work is, a quiet voice asks whether you will be found wanting. Plain Standards was built by someone who has felt exactly that, from the other side of the desk.
I'm Mike Armstrong. In over 30 years running companies at director level, I built my own management systems to drive profit long before I adopted ISO 9001. So I come at this from the owner's side, not the auditor's.
Here's something I learned the long way round, as a user, a consultant and an auditor: business owners never need to learn ISO 9001 or memorise its clause numbers. The standard still matters, because certification checks your system against every requirement, but carrying it is the documents' job, not yours. When I built my own integrated management systems, I wrote them so my staff could ignore the numbers completely, while an auditor could read the clause straight off the page at a glance. Every Plain Standards document works the same way. You don't need to learn ISO 9001. Our documents cover every clause for you, so you can get on with running your business.
That is the whole idea behind this business, so it is worth explaining properly.
The person behind it
Plain Standards was founded by Mike Armstrong, senior ISO consultant and former company director, and his background is the reason it works the way it does.
Most people who build ISO management systems came up through auditing and quality inspection. They learned the standard first and the business second. Mike did it the other way round. He held director-level roles across several real businesses, including as a director in the Virgin Group, as managing director of an aviation company, and as managing and health and safety director of a care company running a nursing team of more than ninety staff. He carried the profit and loss, made the payroll, sweated the cashflow, and lived with outside inspection as a fact of working life. Throughout all of that he was building his own management systems to run those businesses better, and only later formalised that hard-won experience into ISO 9001.
That order matters more than it sounds. It means the systems Plain Standards writes are built by someone who has sat where you are sitting, and who is sceptical of anything that looks like paperwork for its own sake. The test every document has to pass is not whether it will satisfy an auditor, but whether it will actually help the business run better. A system that only does the first is a cost. A system that does both is worth having.
Systems he has actually built and run
There is one more thing worth knowing, because it separates Plain Standards from most template sellers. Mike has personally authored, implemented and run real ISO management systems inside operating businesses, not as a paper exercise.
In a maritime risk and security business where he was Deputy Director of Operations, he built and managed the company's ISO 9001 quality management system alongside its environmental, health and safety, and security management systems. He has built integrated management systems, which combine several standards into one, for three companies in that sector, and the business he worked for took its system through to accredited certification with LRQA, a UKAS-accredited body. Plain Standards never certifies a system it has built. He also trained as an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor.
The plain point is this. The person who writes your documentation, and who assesses your system, has built a system solid enough to pass an accredited third-party audit.
Built where failure was not an option
There is a second strand to Mike’s background that shapes how Plain Standards approaches reliability.
Before his commercial career, Mike spent years in high-consequence environments where systems genuinely could not be allowed to fail, across Royal Navy marine engineering, offshore oil and gas, and maritime security. That is not a war story, and it is not the point on its own. The point is what those environments teach you: that a process is only worth anything if it holds up under real pressure, when it matters most, not just on the day someone inspects it. That mindset, combined with the experience of running commercial businesses, is why Plain Standards systems are built to be both dependable and genuinely useful to run a business with. Bulletproof where it counts, and business-smart throughout.
What Plain Standards actually offers
Plain Standards helps small and medium sized businesses get ISO certified without hiring a consultant, and it does two things to make that possible.
The first is expert-authored documentation. Ready-made ISO 9001 templates and complete quality management system packs, written in plain English and built to be adapted to how your business actually works, so you can put a sound system in place yourself rather than paying thousands for someone to write one for you.
The second is a certification service. Once your system is running, Plain Standards assesses it against the standard and, if it genuinely meets the requirements, issues your certificate. The whole thing is delivered remotely, which is why it works for businesses anywhere in the world, not just those near an office.
If you would rather have the whole system built for you, we offer a tailored ISO 9001 system built from your existing documents, with Mike signing off every document.
How the certification works
The certification is a real assessment, never a rubber stamp. That distinction is the foundation the whole business stands on, so it is worth being completely plain about it.
Every certificate is issued only after a genuine assessment of your operating system against the standard, and only if it is found to meet the requirements. Mike personally makes every certification decision and signs every certificate. A certificate can be withheld, and that possibility is exactly what makes the certificate worth having, because a certificate issued to anyone who pays is worth nothing to the customer you are trying to reassure.
Plain Standards is an independent, unaccredited certification body, and it never suggests otherwise. Accreditation is voluntary everywhere, so this is entirely legal, and for most small and medium sized businesses it is exactly what they need. You can read the full detail of how the assessment and certification work, including where it is and is not the right choice.
What Plain Standards believes
One belief runs through everything here: a management system is only worth anything if you live it, not file it.
A system that sits in a drawer helps no one. It does not win you work, it does not make the business calmer, and at assessment it has nothing to show. A system you actually use does the opposite, and that is the difference between certification being worth the money and being a waste of it. Everything Plain Standards writes is designed to be lived with daily, because that is the only version that pays you back.
If you would rather start with the documents, you can see the ISO 9001 templates and packs and adapt them to your business.
Independently reviewed: read The Standards Navigator's line-by-line review of the ISO 9001:2026 Certification-Ready System.
Frequently asked questions
Who is behind Plain Standards?
Plain Standards was founded by Mike Armstrong, a director-level operator who built his own management systems to run real businesses, and later formalised that experience into ISO 9001. He held director roles across the Virgin Group, an aviation company and a care company, carrying the profit and loss and living with outside inspection while building the systems that made those businesses run better. He trained as an ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, and has built integrated management systems for three companies in the maritime security sector, and the business he worked for took its system through to accredited certification with LRQA. The documentation and assessments come from someone who understands running a business, not only inspecting one.
Is Plain Standards an accredited certification body?
No, Plain Standards is an independent, unaccredited certification body, and it says so plainly. Accreditation, by a body such as UKAS or ANAB, is voluntary everywhere; ISO writes the standard but does not regulate who may issue certificates. For most small and medium sized businesses an unaccredited certificate backed by a genuine assessment provides the credibility they need at a fraction of the cost. The one situation where it is not the right fit is where a customer or tender specifically requires an accredited certificate, which Plain Standards will always tell you.
Who issues the ISO 9001 certificate?
Mike Armstrong personally assesses your system and signs every certificate. The certification decision is his, not a mechanical output, and a certificate is issued only when your system genuinely meets the standard. As the business grows, trained support may take on the mechanical parts of the process, but the judgement on whether a system meets the standard, and the signature on the certificate, remain his.
Can you get ISO 9001 certified remotely?
Yes, Plain Standards delivers certification remotely, which is why it works for businesses anywhere in the world. Your documented system and the records it produces are submitted and assessed against the standard, followed by a remote assessment interview about how the system works in practice. Nothing about the rigour changes; what disappears is the travel, the expense and the scheduling of an on-site visit.
Who is Plain Standards for?
Plain Standards is for small and medium sized businesses that want genuine ISO certification without paying consultant fees, and that intend to actually use their system rather than file it away. It suits firms that need credibility with customers, partners or tenders, and that would rather build a sound system from expert documentation than pay thousands for one. It is not the right fit for organisations that specifically need accredited certification, such as those bidding for public sector contracts that require it, and Plain Standards will say so rather than take the work.