With so much happening in the world of services, the May/June 2016 issue of ISOfocus throws a spotlight on the globally important services sector and looks closely at the work ISO technical committees are doing in developing standards for IT service management, consulting, tourism and training.
Here are just a few success stories:
- Sea, sun and quality service on Spain’s Valencian costa – a Spanish seaside resort boosts its tourism reception with ISO 14785
- Service Birmingham delivers value with service management – helping Birmingham City Council transform its public services thanks to ISO/IEC 20000
- ISO 55001, Sodexo’s bottom line – a leader in quality-of-life services uses ISO 55001 to ramp up its asset management
From the world’s major economies to many of the smallest, the story is the same – the services sector is growing at a faster pace than industry. Today, services make up the largest part of the world economy, accounting for over 70 % of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or approximately USD 55 trillion in 2014.
In parallel with such growth, the services sector is in vital need of standards to establish good practice, encourage consistently high service quality and build consumer confidence. Standards for services can cut the business costs of poor service and reduce customer complaints. They underpin trust, provide safeguards, enable compliance with laws and regulations, and offer protection for the customer.
The urgent need for standards to support this rapidly evolving sector has spurred many divergent approaches to standardization at national and regional level around the world. ISO is coordinating the debate on the international arena.
ISO to hold global services workshop
Join us for an interactive workshop on 13 and 14 June 2016 to explore how ISO International Standards can best help design, assess and measure service excellence, benefitting both business and consumers.
ISO’s workshop, “Global services – ISO standards as solutions”, will highlight the worldwide potential for services standardization with participation by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many ISO member bodies. In particular, it will look at the needs and expectations of all interested stakeholders, including companies, consumers, governments and developing countries, concerning ISO standards that support services.
For more information, please contact Belinda Cleeland at cleeland@iso.org.
