ISO: Setting Global Standards for Goods and Services
ISO stands for International Standardization Organization. ISO is a well credited, international non-governmental organization that is in charge of setting up certain standards for specific business functions pertaining to goods and services provided to consumers. The organization has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and is responsible for coordinating with other organizations that examine standards in 163 different countries. We’ll now examine the ways in which the ISO facilitates the exchange of quality goods and services worldwide.
The Bridging of Different Sectors
The ISO structure allows each country to be represented by only one member of the organization. This factor bridges the gap between public and private sectors, which in turn facilitates the smooth exchange of information among regulators and businesses. Additionally, the fact that the ISO structure allows for both private and public sector representation, ensures that neither entity’s needs are of greater importance than the other.
Benefits of Maintaining Standards
ISO is the only organization that is charged with the role of maintaining standards throughout the world. This organization implements standards throughout many industries. This helps to make standards in world markets and makes it possible for these markets to interact more smoothly, since their products meet strict international standards. By ensuring that businesses meet these standards, high quality goods and services can be sold anywhere in the world.
Benefits to Businesses
The ISO standards helps the business organizations to better allocate their resources and personnel towards producing goods and services that are internationally standardized. The standards that are implemented by ISO also makes the process of production and quality assessment more effective. Additionally, these standards create some of the best and most proven methods, hence helping the business become more productive by following methods of production and quality assessment that have already been proved to give the best results. For instance, in the technological sector, when a business develops a new technology, the ISO organizations help in the development of that technology and finds ways to make it compatible with the current technology. It also makes sure that the technology is marketable internationally.
Governmental Benefits
The standards that are already set by the ISO enables governments to check whether the industries in their respective countries follow them in order to promote conformity and health standards. The standards also form the framework and the foundation of the standards that the governments base the regulatory laws upon. These standards are also important to international trade because they enable governments to make sure that even when they export products to other countries, the products will be accepted in any country.
Benefits to Society
It is important to note that the ISO standards safeguards the rights of society (consumer) at large. Since these standards are used to make sure that the services and goods offered by businesses are up to the required standards in terms of health, cost and quality, then the consumer receives the quality that they pay for.
