(ISO: Geneva) -- Leaders of the international groups of experts that develop ISO International Standards recently gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for a two-day, highly interactive conference to improve even further the efficiency and usefulness of the solutions and benefits ISO offers to business, government and society.

ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele welcomed some 200 delegates representing 24 countries and explained the background to The Fifth ISO TC Chairs’ Conference that opened in Geneva on June 16, 2011: “You have told us that we need to be faster, better and simpler. If we are not, we might as well pack up because we will be irrelevant.”

Rob Steele underlined the growing demand for ISO standards against a background of massive challenges, such as the global economic contraction and the expansion of social media. He added: “We need to embrace change and think even more about our customers’ needs. If we are good, but too slow in meeting our customers’ needs, we are not relevant.

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