What Are the Different Types
of ISO Standards?
Published • By mukesh pareek
Standardization within a business is common practice.
Standards are a highly distilled best practice, established by experts who know
the needs of the field they represent. The standards themselves can be about
creating a product, managing a process, or delivering a service.
The development of industry standards has long been, well, a
standard practice; so that individual organizations can align themselves to
external norms, while customers and suppliers can also understand the
organization’s processes.
While several recognized external bodies create standardized
systems, the most frequently adopted standards come from the ISO.
What Is the Full Name of ISO?
ISO stands for International Organization of
Standardization. The ISO is an international body responsible for creating,
setting, and promoting standards. To date it has published more than 22,600
standards and related documents that apply to all kinds of industries, such as
manufacturing, healthcare, and accounting.
ISO standards are a collection of best practices that
promote product compatibility, sharing of solutions and know-how, and
identification of safety issues. The standards present an approach that has
been agreed on by international experts.
Businesses use ISO certification to
provide potential customers with proof of compliance and win their trust.
Before that, however, you’ll have to purchase and achieve the
certification. ISO certification costs differ based on
many factors, such as your organization size, industry sector, annual revenue,
number of employees, and so on.
What Are the Relevant ISO Standards for GRC?
Various ISO standards and other industry-standard practices
address governance risk and compliance (GRC) management systems for the
information technology domain.
A few ISO standards that can offer guidance and advice for
GRC include:
·
ISO 20000 (Service Management)
·
ISO 22301 (Business Continuity)
·
ISO 27001 (Information Security)
·
ISO 27005 (Information Risk
Management)
·
ISO 31000 (Risk Management)
·
ISO 38500 (Corporate Governance of
Information Technology)
Companies can use a hybrid management system, where they
combine the concepts of multiple standards and frameworks (and implement other
best practices as well), to create an effective solution that meets the
requirements of organizational stakeholders. What’s more, the approach can also
minimize the duplication of efforts.
See also
Automating GRC: The
Next Frontier in Risk Management
What Types of ISO Standards Exist?
As mentioned, there are roughly 22,000 ISO standards to
date, covering various industries. But out of these, the three main types of
ISO are:
·
ISO
9001:2015, a standard for general
organizational quality management systems (QMS), including vendor management.
ISO comprises QMS standards for specific industries, too.
·
ISO
27001:2013, a standard for Information
Security Management Systems (ISMS)
·
ISO
14001:2015, a standard for Environmental
Management Systems
Different Kinds of ISO Standards
You can segregate each ISO standard based on the following
categories:
ISO 9000 – Quality Management
ISO 9000 is
internationally viewed as the best practice for quality management.
It outlines the criteria for a quality management system to
help businesses improve quality and customer relations. The standard is a set
of tools and practices that businesses can use to identify areas of
improvement.
ISO 22000 – Food Safety Management
ISO 2200 addresses what an organization should do to assure
food is safe for public consumption. This type of ISO standard contains
guidelines that are applicable for all businesses with food safety concerns,
regardless of their size.
ISO/IEC 27000 – Information Security Management Systems
ISO/IEC 27000 lays out standards that businesses can use to
safeguard their information assets. Companies that manage personal data,
finances, intellectual property, or sensitive customer data can use these
standards to make sure their information is protected at all times.
ISO 31000 – Risk Management
Every business decision involves some risk. ISO 31000
provides companies with a framework for managing these risks by applying best
practices for identifying risks and handling consequences.
What Are the Most Useful ISO Standards?
In this section, we’ll discuss eight of the most popular
types of ISO standards in detail. Let’s take a look.
·
ISO 9001. This is one of the most popular ISO standards for
creating, implementing, and maintaining a Quality Management System (QMS) for
any given company, regardless of its industry, capital, or size.
·
ISO 14001. This ISO standard provides guidelines on what has to
be done to implement an environmental management system (EMS). It includes
policies, processes, plans, records, and best practices that define rules
regarding how your company interacts with the environment. ISO 14001
requirements give you a framework, along with guidelines, for creating EMS for
any organization.
·
ISO 27001. This ISO standard is for information security.
Organizations that meet these requirements can be certified by an accredited
certification body after they’ve been audited successfully.
·
ISO 22000. This standard details requirements for a food safety
management system (FSMS). Following this standard allows an organization that’s
involved (either directly or directly) in the food services industry to be
assured that it is following best practices for safety and hygiene.
·
ISO 50001. ISO 50001 is a voluntary standard that gives organizations
a framework to manage and improve their energy performance. It addresses
measurement, documentation, and reporting of energy use and consumption.
Additionally, ISO 50001 includes design and procurement best practices for
energy-using equipment and other factors affecting energy performance that
organizations can monitor and influence.
·
ISO 31000. This is a risk management standard that contains
principles to manage risks safely. Implementing ISO 31000 facilitates safe
business operations and helps organizations to achieve objectives, identify
opportunities and threats, and allocate resources for risk treatment.
·
ISO 26000. A relatively new standard, ISO 26000 focuses on social
responsibility. It provides businesses direction on how they can work in a
socially capable manner by explaining their social duty. It also helps
associations set up an effective system to do activities identified with
corporate social responsibility goals.
·
ISO 20121. This ISO standard began in 2012 and covers event
sustainability. It’s an international standard that establishes all
requirements to help businesses and individuals improve the sustainability of
their event-related activities.
What Is the Difference Between ISO and ISO Standards?
The ISO is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies. It’s a non-governmental organization that consists of standards bodies
from more than 160 countries, with each standard body representing one member
country.
ISO standards are internationally agreed-upon formulas that
describe the best way of doing a specific activity. They are the main products
of ISO.
What Are the General ISO Standards?
General ISO standards are the most common ISO standards.
Here’s a rundown of each general ISO standard:
·
Quality management standards that
help organizations work more efficiently and reduce product failures.
·
Energy management standards that cut
down and optimize energy consumption.
·
Environmental management standards
that reduce environmental impact, reduce waste, and make processes more
sustainable.
·
Health and safety standards to
reduce workplace-related accidents.
·
Food safety standards that protect
food from contamination.
·
IT security standards to keep
sensitive information secure and away from unauthorized eyes.