There are many reasons why organizations decide to register or certify themselves to the various standards and specifications in industry; all are important, but not all are vital. Standards registration in support of sales, marketing, and PR efforts certainly helps companies grow, for example. However, enterprisewide coordination, performance excellence, and overall efficiency are the real reasons why standards are the beating heart of most successful organizations.

Industry-neutral standards can provide an excellent working framework for operations such as quality improvement (ISO 9001) or environmental management (ISO 14001). Industry-specific standards, on the other hand, drill deeply into the processes of discrete sectors.

 …