ISO Standards and their value

Well it's been a while since I posted something and after the success that we had with our Green Day and the involvement of the other businesses we were very pleased with the involvement and participation of people here at Cobweb and the other businesses. If you were involved then please accept my gratitude, I hope you got something out of it too.

One of the things I've been looking at recently was what customers perceptions are of ISO standards and I got a very broad spectrum of responses ranging from 'they are fundamental to the success of a business' to 'they are a complete waste of time'. Obviously they can be viewed as worthless paper chases if you view them as a rigid structure that you must abide to strictly but that isn't the case. Yes, you do need to meet the requirements of the standards but not to the detriment of the business or the customer experience.

The thing that surprised me the most was that people's perceptions were that having Microsoft Gold Partnership, they felt gave them more value as a customer than ISO27001. Is having a system that fundamentally is in place to ensure their data is protected wherever possible really not that well valued? One of the things that has become clear is that maybe we need to promote the benefits of the 27001 system more so people understand what it gives us as a business and gives them as customers.

If you want more information on the standards that we hold then it is available on our website here

If you have any opinions on the value of ISO standards then I'd love to hear them.

Mark

Comments

[Nik]

I think the value of ISO standards varies very widely depending on the specific standard and market sector. ISO 9000 for example could famously be applied to concrete lifejackets as long as they were consistently produced.

In many cases there's a lack of attention to detail with the ISO badge being seen as a rubber stamp. ISO 27001 is a good standard but as a security person I would want to see the supporting documentation (policies etc), not just the certificate. One size doesn't fit all.

As for MS Gold partnership, it's very variable. I've been very happy with Cobweb's service and support, but have had truly dire service from another MS Gold partner in a different sector.