What is ISO?

ISO is derived from the Greek “isos” meaning equal, and the members of ISO represent national standards organizations from 162 countries.
ISO is an independent, non-governmental membership organization.
ISO does not have the power to enforce laws or regulations, and it is not a governing body.
It stands for International Organization for Standardization.
It works with institutes and companies from all around the world and help to develop product and technology standards.
The main objective of ISO is to provide trade, as well as focus is on safety, process improvement, and quality in various areas.
Its guidelines are followed by businesses across the world to provide efficient, streamlined, and safe processes.
It helps standardize and offers ways to work globally and makes sure products are compatible and safe for the consumer.
The standard also works to safeguard consumers of products and services.
There are 163 standards bodies that are members of ISO, and each country has one ISO representative.
The first standard, ISO 9660, was for CD-ROM media.
The ISO guidelines mostly go with a number, like ISO 9001, ISO 27000, ISO 31000, etc. These are certifications:
A company can be certified by ISO 9001, which means it follows the structure outlined and steps by the guideline.

About ISO

In 1947, an ISO was founded.
It was covering nearly all points surrounding business and technology.
From some 140 countries, the ISO is a worldwide alliance of national standards bodies.
In 1951, ISO/R, the first standard was published; standard reference temperature for industrial length measurements.
Later in 1952, the first ISO Journal was published.
In 1987, with the ISO 9000 family, ISO published its first quality management standards.
ISO went digital with its first website in 1995.
In 1996, the standard ISO 14001 was launched by ISO, which was an environmental management system standard.
It offers tools to control and identify their environmental effect.

How it works?

It is a voluntary organization.
They meet once in a year to discuss the strategic objectives of ISO at the General Assembly.
In Geneva, the central secretariat coordinates this organization.
Its guidance and governance, including setting the annual budget of the central secretariat, are provided by a council with a rotating membership of 20 member bodies.
Additionally, more than 250 members develop the ISO standards, and the technical management board is responsible for these members.
To create a new standard, Standardization’s process starts when a request come from consumer groups or industry associations.
ISO, then brings industry stakeholders and subject matter experts, they build a technical committee.
Through two rounds of creating a draft standard, the committee passes and conducts a formal vote on the FDIS (Final Draft International Standard).
Then ISO publishes it as an official international standard if the FDIS is approved.

Various Popular standards

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI): In 1983, this universal reference model developed for communication protocols by computer manufacturers and telecommunications providers. Later, it was adopted by ISO as a standard.
ISO 27001: For developing and implementing information security policies and processes, this ISO standard provides a six-step process.
ISO 17799: It is a security management standard that specifies over 100 best procedures for the business asset, access control, continuity, etc.
ISO 20000: For IT (Information technology), this ISO standard creates a technical specification and codifies best practices.
ISO 31000: This risk management framework offers guidelines for any person, business, or agency, and standardizes the definition of risk and associated terms.
ISO 12207: It is capable of creating a consistent lifecycle management process for all software.

Related Posts