ISO Standards And Their Increasing Traction In The Services Sector

For over a decade, we’ve been leading clients to ISO 9001, TL 9000 and ISO 14001 certification. Well over 60% of our customer base is in the services sector.  While we work with many different types of companies such as EF&I telecom suppliers and IT outsourcing firms, we’ve also had the privilege of leading accounting firms and advertising agencies to ISO 9001 certification.  As mentioned in a previous article, we recently led ARTÉMIA Communications in San Francisco to a triple quality management certification to ISO 9001, TL 9000 and ISO 14001.

BIZPHYX has been on the front line of a continuing trend–the increase in ISO certifications in the services sector.  In the March edition of ISO Focus+, ISO dedicates nearly the entire issue to this global trend.  You can access the online edition here > or visit ISO.org.

So why now? Why this time and place for the services sector?  First and foremost, we are now part of a global, interconnected world economy.  Second, services represent the fastest growing segment of the global economy and service enterprises are also the largest component of GDP in the US and internationally (source: World Trade Organization).  Finally, consider for a moment that you cannot distribute manufactured goods without service infrastructures and devices supported by ICT (information communication technology) services.

All of these market forces intersect to fuel the need for global standards that ensure quality, consistent business practices, uniform communications and sustainability in global supply chains.  While most corporate executives are generally familiar with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 (the environmental standard), many don’t know that there are dozens of industry specific ISO standards (that build upon ISO 9001: 2008) with many new standards currently being developed for the services sector.

Some of these new standards include guidelines for the financial services, mobile person-to business payments (mobile commerce), network services billing, IT service management and even tourism.

We encourage you to read the articles in the March edition of ISO Focus+ to learn about many of these new standards and the stunning trends regarding ISO certifications in the services sector.  Pay particular attention to the centerfold entitled “Services In Every Day Life”.  ISO states, “Trade in services is at present the fastest growing area of international commerce, creating new jobs and extending activities in areas running from the IT sector to tourist areas, each with its gamut of sub-services such as car hire and hotels, camping and accounting, among many others.”

If you’re a service organization and part of a global supply chain, certifying to an ISO quality management standard will not only benefit your business in terms of reduced costs, improved productivity and better customer service–it may become a business inevitability.

One guaranteed result from certification is that you will gain a significant competitive advantage.  In next week’s article we’re going to reveal the results of a case study BIZPHYX recently published that documents how a group of diverse service suppliers increased their top-line revenues as a direct result of ISO 9001 and TL 9000 certification (the ICT quality standard).

For more information on ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and TL 9000 certification, please contact info@bizphyx.com.