This article is part of the series about ISO standards and ISO Certification and what that means for your business. The purpose here is to explain the benefits of ISO standards and why companies would implement it.

Development of an ISO Standard

Development of ISO standards is thorough, consistent and harbours the specialist knowledge of experts from each industry across the globe.  This ensures credible and consistent frameworks for businesses to adhere to.

The development of ISO standards is continual, with meetings taking place daily across the world.  A technical committee is made up of experts, who discuss and debate until a consensus is reached.  The first draft of the standard is put to public review and voting takes place.  Feedback is considered and the standard is redrafted if voting does not go in favour of the original draft.  The process is repeated until a consensus is reached and the ISO standard is published.

ISO makes the world a better place

Consider what the world would be like without ISO standards.  ISO standards make a considerable and positive contribution daily, to the lives of people across the world.  Standards integrate a set of characteristics to a product or service in order to meet the expectations of the consumer.

The role of the ISO often goes unnoticed when a commodity meets the approval of the end user.  However when standards are absent and a product/service does not meet with consumer expectations, be it poor quality or not working, it is very rarely overlooked.  Together with ensuring quality, environmental friendliness and reliability, ISO standards guarantee the safety of products and services.

The ISO standards work to enhance many aspects of business, such as;

o   Improving the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services to be more efficient, safer and cleaner

o   Facilitating trade between countries and develop and fairer trade system

o   Providing governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation

o   Sharing technological advances and good management practice

o   Circulating innovation

o   Safeguarding consumers and users of products and services

o   Providing solutions to common problems, in turn helping to make life easier

10 Benefits of ISO Standards

The ISO standards provide a host of benefits to the economy, technology and society as a whole.

1.       ISO enables businesses to complete on markets around the world, due to the widespread adoption of the standards, products and services are developed according to the specifications meaning they will have international acceptance.

2.       For innovators of new technologies, ISO standards help to speed up the distribution of innovations and their development into products.  Customers can enjoy a broad choice of offers as well as benefiting from the effects of competition among suppliers.

3.       Conformity of products and services to ISO standards provides assurance about their quality, safety and reliability for consumers.

4.       ISO provide the technological and scientific bases underpinning health, safety and environmental legislation to aid governments.

5.       ISO creates “a level playing field” for all competitors, helping trade officials and the existence of divergent national or regional standards can create technical barriers to trade.  ISO are the technical means by which political trade agreements can be put into practice.

6.       By defining the characteristics that products and services will be expected to meet on export markets, ISO gives developing countries a basis for making the right decisions when investing their scarce resources.

7.       On an environmental level, ISO standards can help to preserve the air, water, soil quality, gas emissions, radiation and environmental aspects of products.

8.       ISO contributes to the quality of life in general by ensuring that the transport, machinery and tools we use are safe.

9.       The ISO facilitation process is essentially conformity assessment – checking that the products, materials, services, systems, processes or people measure up to the specifications of a relevant standard.

10.   ISO guides and standards for conformity assessment represent an international consensus on best practice.

For more information about ISO standards and certification, contact IMSM, the leading consultants delivering on the implementation of ISO standards.