3 steps to Small Business Standards SMEs accross Europe
1. Why standards?
A standard is simply a set of commonly agreed criteria that allows what one business does to be in harmony with all other businesses in the same field. Standards are everywhere; they apply to all sorts of things, joining together goods, services and business practices in an invisible frame. Standards are the glue that holds the world together – without them, everyday life would be very difficult indeed. Standardisation bridges research, innovation and the market. It also captures and disseminates knowledge and the state of the art, benefiting the whole economy. Standards have been with us for centuries, and are so common we take them for granted. Yet today, in our fast-moving, technically complex and increasingly interconnected world, their importance is fundamental.
2. What standards do for SMEs?
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the one category which uses, needs and benefits from standards the most. SMEs benefit in myriad ways: costs are reduced when businesses have a set of agreed rules to work towards; goods and services can be marketed cross-border and internationally more easily and swiftly; and red tape is avoided as compliance to safety, functional and other requirements are built into production and supply processes. But many SMEs are either not aware of the standards which could help their businesses or of how best to use them. This is where Small Business Standards comes in.
3. Why Small Business Standards (SBS)?
Standards do not appear on their own – they have to be proposed, written, negotiated, agreed and rewritten to keep them up to date. SBS works with CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in Europe and ISO and IEC internationally to ensure that the small business community across Europe is properly represented throughout the world of standards.
