Adopting ISO standards is a competitive advantage of every organization in driving speed and curtailing their overall development cycle.

Echo Lane, Bellevue -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/15/2014 -- Using the "smart business" approach, organizations must not merely reliant on innovative skills and processes. Standardization perspectives in building a strong business is imperative.

Standardization, whichever industry a business belongs to, indeed makes a difference. This is made possible with ISO(International Organization for Standardization) which is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 100 countries with one standard body representing each member country. Researches and findings from both the World Bank and the International Trade Center showed the developed use of ISO in enhancing fiscal growth.

The Information and Communications Technology Center (CT), which serves as one of the biggest contributors in this new global market, profits largely from standards coordination. Currently, the sector's reliance on ISO standards helps create more jobs, pushes innovation, and boosts productivity. Poverty problems, dwindling incomes, and ascending costs of living are eventually being resolved because of this.

International Trade Centre's Senior Adviser for Export Quality Management Khemraj Ramful affirmed that ISO International Standards plays a big role in removing tehnical barriers affecting trade and in assisting ventures in developing economies that are connected to worldwide value strings. So what does ISO bring to a commoner? Since ISO is geared towards improving exports, it would have a huge impact in poverty alleviation and rising unemployment rates.

The next step that companies need to do with the adoption of ISO standards is to leverage it. Currently, there are more than 19,400 standards in ISO's portfolio benefitting businesses from different sectors, government institutions, and societies with remarkable solutions in all dimensions of sustainable development: economic, environmental, and societal.

Today, ISO's portfolio of more than 19 400 standards provide business, government and society with solutions in all three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, environmental and societal.

Adopting ISO standards is a competitive advantage of every organization in driving speed and curtailing their overall development cycle. As a source of technological know-how, ISO standards are precious in aiding countries expand economies and build faculties influential in competing in global economies. The standards set in ISO help not only in innovating, but only in assisting interoperation between several countries and industries.

Many large companies from across industries who have adopted ISO standards have improved their quality assurance, lean organization management, and operational cost controls.

Indeed, many international standards convey advancement to the marketplace, facilitating the improvement of new markets and leveraging consumer knowledge and buoyancy. ISO makes an encouraging contribution to the world we live in whatever industry it is.

About ISO Navigator
ISO Navigator provides information to help businesses and organizations manage quality whatever the size and scope is. They have grown from a project that started in 2002 by a group of auditors and consultants to freely share their knowledge and experience with the ISO 9001 community. They offer quality manual templates and other useful documents that everyone can download and use for free.

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PwC identifies the blueprint for an aligned, enhancing internal audit functions.

Aylesbury, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/11/2014 -- Technology has paved business automation; monitor certain internal controls, improve organization's productivity and risk management process yet it also posts new risk, rigorous regulations, demanding internal audits for more business insights across companies big or small. According to PricewaterhouseCoppers LLP or PwC suggests a gap between stakeholder's expectation and internal audits performance based on recent survey.

The 10th annual State of Internal Audit Profession Study identifies an alignment of stakeholder expectations, matching skills and capabilities to these expectations to helps internal audit enhance the value delivered to the organization.

2014 survey results indicate that numerous stakeholders do not believe internal audit is meeting expectations. Fewer than half (45%) of senior management believe internal audit supplements significant value. Nearly 70% of board members expressed that internal audit adds significant value, a 10 points drop from 2013 data. This trend could either be due to internal audit failing to keep pace with the changing, complex risk environment, or it could reflects a situation in which internal audit lacks the resources to meet rising board member expectations.

Stake holders were not well aligned in their expectations of internal auditing in the areas of stakeholder management and delivering quality through a client service culture. This can be addressed through laying the groundwork for value and expanding the expectation set. Broader expectation sets are seen as adding significant value on the management's perspective. While this bring broader range of skills and capabilities to the organization, having an expectation set does not correlate with internal audit's opportunity to drive greater value to the organization by expanding capabilities and skills sets. Internal audit can deliver greater value for the enterprise if the stakeholders expand their expectations and internal audit expands its capabilities in response.

Internal audit and stakeholders should be establishing expectations aligned with the eight foundational attributes while proactively considering current and future needs as well as the increasing expectations of regulators and the second lines of defense, the business units and the risk/compliance functions.

Eight foundational attributes include;

Quality and Innovation. Quality standards have been identified and impost to cover all internal audit's activities such as identifying improvement and opportunities. Innovation on the other hand is consistently fostered and rewarded.

Business Alignment. Under this attribute, expectations are articulated and communicated as well as the mission and value of internal audit.

Risk Focus. This approach identifies business risks. It assesses the enterprise key risk towards external business environmental changes.

Talent Model. A continual learning and developmental model is established to improve internal audit's knowledge of business and its risks, conflict management and critical thinking.

Stakeholder Management. This approach captures internal audit's expectations, communication strategy and timelines through one on one interviews and surveys.

Cost Effectiveness. Productivity is actively measured and managed to ensure the most cost-effective delivery of services.

Technology. Automation is applied to provide business efficiency and to utilize business issues, observations and recommendations. Techniques are also applied to provide warning of risk indicators and increase audit coverage.

Service Culture. These are metrics measuring customer satisfaction based on stakeholder expectation.

Once all of these values are defined, internal audit needs to make other functions materialize keeping an open communication with the stakeholders. Regular communication of expectations and responsibilities allows setting the foundation. Monthly and quarterly meetings are suggested to stay abreast on the company's undertakings and the industry's events, to keep a real time observations and recommendations regarding key initiatives, decisions and processes.

About ISO Navigator
This site was created in 2002 as a project to freely share our knowledge and experience with the world-wide quality community and to provide people with the very latest ISO 9001 information and 21st Century quality thinking.

You can access this information through our ISO Navigator™ guidance database as well as via our download page. The ISO Navigator™ database that hyperlinks the ISO 9000 principles and the ISO 9001 requirements; and explains them in plain English with practical guidance.

Why do we do this then? Well, we do it because we like it, call it a passion for quality. We say 'base your quality system on your normal business practice', this is why we also offer quality manuals, audit checklists and integrated management system templates which can be purchased and downloaded.

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ISO published ISO 18091 and ISO/TS 17582 for the public sector

Aylesbury, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/19/2014 -- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published two new documents which present guidelines to the public sector on how to actualize ISO 9001: 2008 – Quality Management Systems. These documents are ISO 18091 – for local governments, and ISO/TS 17582 – for electoral bodies responsible for organizing and administrating electoral processes.

ISO 9001 is the world's most established and leading quality framework. It is currently used by more than 1.5 million organizations in 191 countries so far, thus gaining more attention from the public sector.

Carlos Gadsden, International Secretary for ISO/IWA 4, stated that ISO 18091 comprises "an excellent tool for local governments to reassure local citizens that their needs and expectations are fully understood and met on a consistent basis and in a timely manner." He further discussed that a local government with a quality management system can aim its activities to satisfy the needs and expectations of the local community.

He also expounded that since local governments are the most important suppliers in the world, activities such as transportation, education, water supply, waste collection, sewage and drainage, public lighting, and civil protection, need to be governed by a reliable standard.

ISO 18091 is an essential tool for local governments to organize themselves in a comprehensive way, with focus on continual development where it matters.

Gadsden affirmed that it will produce the benefits for the local government. Here are the benefits he mentioned:

- Empower citizens and governments together
- Produce not only effectiveness but also legitimacy
- Provide a common language and understanding between politicians and technicians, and enable comparability among countries and other local governments
- Serve the local population by making politically viable those things that are technically indispensable
- Create a useful tool for the United Nations millennium goals and objectives for a sustainable world and smart cities
- Produce reliability – essential for society

On the other hand, ISO/TS 17582 establishes a framework for a quality management system which aids electoral bodies offer more dependable and transparent electoral services. Tyler Finn, a specialist in the Electoral Observation Section in the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation, mentioned that the technical specification employs the time-tested ISO 9001 standard to a specifically electoral context.

Finn emphasized, "such quality principles apply to eight processes that are fundamental to any election: voter registration, registration of political organizations and candidates, electoral logistics, vote casting, vote counting and declaration of results, electoral education, oversight of campaign financing, and resolution of electoral disputes."

ISO/TS 17582 upholds "high standards of organization, efficiency, and management throughout the electoral cycle," according to Finn. By certifying to ISO/TS 17582, an electoral body publicly announces its commitment to transparent electoral processes, thereby building public trust in electoral services.

About ISO Navigator
This site was created in 2002 as a project to freely share knowledge and experience with the world-wide quality community and to provide people with the very latest ISO 9001 information and 21st Century quality thinking. The information can be accessed through the ISO Navigator™ guidance database as well as via the download page. The ISO Navigator™ database hyperlinks the ISO 9000 principles and the ISO 9001 requirements; and explains them in plain English with practical guidance. Quality manuals, audit checklists and integrated management system templates are also offered and can be purchased and downloaded.

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm