Standards are a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes, supporting innovation and increasing productivity. The UK's Department for Business, Enterprise and regulatory Reform (BERR) reports that:

• standards make an annual contribution of £2.5billion to the UK economy
• 13% of the growth in labour productivity is attributable to standards
• standards enable innovation and international technology transfer

Effective standardization promotes competition and enhances profitability by increasing efficiency and enabling businesses to take a leading role in shaping the industry itself.

Standards allow businesses to:

• attract and assure customers
• demonstrate market leadership
• create competitive advantage
• develop and maintain best practice

Market Access
Introducing standards can help businesses to retain existing clients and generate sales from new customers, while easing the process of regulatory conformity through:

• removal of trade barriers
• a flexible, cost-effective means of complying with regulations
• maximising revenue via optimised market access

Promoting Innovation
Standards provide support for innovation from original concept through to market. The shared knowledge and network benefits they afford help reduce costs and associated risks, allowing a business to:

• increase speed to market
• create interoperability
• shape and develop a new market

Best Practice
The application of standards within a business serves to streamline internal and external operations and strengthen the consistency of processes. Business benefits can be gained through:

• eliminating wasteful investments of time and resources
• increased internal productivity and quality of communication
• reduced duplication of effort and improved risk management

© 2008 SAC BSI.