March 3, 2017
At first sight, they can seem like an onerous, costly list of hurdles to jump to get a product or service to market. So what tangible benefit do standards deliver for businesses or to our everyday lives?
Standards: the technical documents that outline requirements, rules and specifications for production and delivery of products, materials, processes and services. At first sight, they can seem like an onerous, costly list of hurdles to jump to get a product or service to market. So what tangible benefit do standards deliver for businesses or to our everyday lives?
From the seemingly trivial to the life-changing, product and service standards have been one of the biggest life-savers and convenience creators of the last 100 years. You can thank standards for everything from ensuring your pencil fits into the sharpener1 your toaster plugs securely into the electrical socket2, if you live in a bushfire prone area, your house has been designed correctly3 and ensuring the toys you let your children play with are safe and don't present inhalation hazards4.
Far from being just an onerous set of compliance obligations, the proven economic value to a business of complying with standards is far reaching. Standards can affect an organisation's quality, lead-time, supply chain management and costs. They make trade across international borders easier and promote global competition, having a positive impact on economies.
A study by the International Organization for Standardization5 to measure the economic benefits of standards to a business identified three key contributions they make to a company's bottom line:
- Streamlining internal operations which reduces the time needed to perform activities, decreases waste, reduces procurement costs and increases productivity;
- Innovating and scaling up operations mitigating risk of introducing new products to market, enabling expansion of network to introduce or manage new product lines; and
- Creating or entering new markets - using standards as the basis for new product development, supporting market uptake or creating new markets. Management systems standards were identified as providing the greatest economic benefits to their business.
From a reputational perspective, the value of standards is immeasurable. They provide a company's customers with confidence in the quality and safety of their products and services; when customers trust a company's products and services, it helps secure their ongoing business sustainability.
When a company achieves product certification from a certified independent assessor they earn the right to use that standard scheme’s mark on the packaging or product itself. SAI Global’s mark is the StandardsMark® ‘five tick’ logo and it drives consumer confidence and assurance that they have purchased a product that expert and independent assessors deem safe and effective.
Matthew Clark
SAI Global’s Director of Knowledge Solutions
To find out more about the value of standards, download our free Whitepaper for more information. It includes details on the various types of standards, the difference between mandatory and non-mandatory standards, further detail on the economic benefits of standards to businesses, certification and the costs of non-compliance.
To purchase standards or to find out which standards are applicable to your business, visit the SAI Global Infostore.
1. GB/T 22767-2008 Manual pencil sharpeners
2. AS NZS 3100-2009 Approval and test specification - General requirements for electrical equipment
3. 3. AS3959
4. 4. AS/NZA ISO 8124.1:2013
5. ISO, Economic Benefits of Standards (2014), p 9.