The purpose of this article is to briefly enumerate the benefits accruing to companies by joining organizations or consortia that create standards. The information should be of value to individuals interested in participating in standards organizations, so they are better prepared to justify their participation to their employers. Companies that are members of standards organizations can also use this information to explain to customers, business partners and shareholders why they participate. There is, of course, an assumption that the standards organization is developing standards in areas that are relevant and significant to the business of the company.
Companies accrue two kinds of benefits by participating in the development of standards: immediate and deferred.
The immediate benefits come about through access to technical resources, communication and networking with peers in the industry, the ability to influence the development of the standard and recognition for participation.
The deferred benefits come about when the standard is released and accepted by its user community. Although it is true that all users of the standard experience these benefits (whether they participated in the development or not), participation insures the standard is in fact developed, accelerates the development so benefits begin sooner, and of course, participants get a jump on the implementation of the standard.
Further explanation of the points listed below, as well as justification and examples can be found in the references from DIN [DIN] and Progress Software Corporation [Progress].
Participants of organizations that develop standards typically gain the following immediate benefits:
Standards can have a significant impact on the products that incorporate them and on the marketplace. For example, standards can provide assurances of performance, reliability, safety and interoperability that eliminate inhibitions to sales. Often, increased sales volume reduces production costs of commonly used components that support standards. Standards also provide guidance to designers, reducing research and development costs and eliminating costly errors.
In particular, companies that produce products that incorporate standards typically gain the following benefits:
This article authored by Tex Texin.
Tex Texin, XenCraft "Benefits of the Unicode™ Character Standard"[DIN]
DIN German Institute for Standardization e. V., (www.din.de) "Economic Benefits Of Standardization, Summary Of Results." (No longer online.)[ISO Bookshop]
ISO Standards Bookshop, (www.iso-standards-international.com) "What Is A Standard?" (No longer online.)[Progress]
Progress Software Corp., "The Ties That Free Us" (No longer online.)[Unicode]
Unicode Consortium, "Unicode Development and Maintenance Process"[W3C]
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "The W3C Recommendation Track"[Tex]
Tex Texin, XenCraft and I18nGuy
The economic impact of standardization, AFNOR 2009
The Empirical Economics of Standards, DTI & BSI 2005
Economic benefits of standardization, DIN 2000 (This may be the same as [DIN])
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 Tex Texin. All rights reserved.
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