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The International Organization for Standardization is a privately funded, international standards body, founded in 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose of ISO is to promote the international harmonization and development of manufacturing, product and communications standards. ISO has promulgated more than 8,000 internationally accepted standards for everything from paper sizes to film speeds.
ISO produces internationally recognized standards by using Technical Committees (TC's), which are divided into Subcommittees which then charter Working Groups, where the actual standards writing occurs. The working group products lead to international agreements which are published as International Standards. Roughly 130 countries belong to ISO as full voting members, while several other countries serve as observer members.
The ISO philosophy is becoming accepted increasingly around the world, by governments and industry alike. What this means to you is: There is an increasing expectation that you will be accredited to ISO standards as the world economy becomes a single marketplace.
ISO is a word which is derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal", which is the root of the prefix "iso-" that occurs in a host of terms, such as "isobar" (equal pressure) and "isotherm" (equal temperatures).
The decision was made that the International Bureau of Standards would not select an acronym which reflected a single language or culture. Rather, since they were seeking equality and standardization in processes and Quality, they decided to use the Greek root word "isos"
Anybody who wishes to do business in the Global economy will probably be forced to consider obtaining ISO accreditation if they hope to survive. ISO is not a set of standards or regulations, as some people believe. Perhaps ISO may be considered a form of language because we can discuss business performance in terms of metrics and audit results - apples to apples. We don't make this statement lightly - the performance of a business may be measured and evaluated using ISO standards. Even with a language gap, a potential customer should be able to judge your efficiency and mutual compatibility based on your willingness to reveal audit results, both internal and third party. Any business which has embraced ISO philosophies will have a performance and process improvement history worth bragging about - and they often do.
ISO is growing in a nearly geometric manner as business, quality and technical organizations realize the benefits of ISO. If a business decides to obtain ISO accreditation, they are making a decision to become process based organizations. "Process based" means every significant function in your organization must develop and adhere to documented processes, be continually prepared for audits and commit to improve your processes and documentation based on audit results.
AND, ISO is growing quickly: From the ISO Survey webpage:
"At the end of 1999, the number of ISO 9000 certificates issued worldwide totaled 343,643. This was an increase over the previous year of 71,796 – 26.4% – the highest recorded since the survey was launched in 1993. (The ISO 9000 series was first published in 1987; no worldwide statistics exist for the early years up to 1993.)
The number of new ISO 14000 certificates issued worldwide in 1999 was 6,219 – an increase of 78.85 % – bringing the total to 14,106."
Get ready folks. If you have a business now, be prepared for the question "Are you ISO accredited?". If you tell a customer you are good at what you do, be prepared for the question "How good?", which will increasingly be answered only in terms of your ISO performance.
ISO is here. It is coming on stronger. It is the future of global business.