ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, is an independent, non-governmental organization, the members of which are the standards organizations of the 162 member countries. It is the world's largest developer of voluntary international standards and facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations. Nearly twenty thousand standards have been set covering everything from manufactured products and technology to food safety, agriculture and healthcare.

ISO International Standards ensure that products and services are safe, reliable and of good quality. For business, they are strategic tools that reduce costs by minimizing waste and errors and increasing productivity.

The ISO 9000 family addresses various aspects of quality management and contains some of ISO's best known standards.

The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer's requirements, and that quality is consistently improved.

The ISO 9000 series are based on eight quality management principles

Principle 1 – Customer focus
Principle 2 – Leadership
Principle 3 – Involvement of people
Principle 4 – Process approach
Principle 5 – System approach to management
Principle 6 – Continual improvement
Principle 7 – Factual approach to decision making
Principle 8 – Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

The ISO 14000 family of standards provides practical tools for companies and organizations of all kinds looking to manage their environmental responsibilities.

The ISO 14000 family of standards are developed by ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC 207 and its various subcommittees.

Basic principles and methodology

Plan: establish objectives and processes required
Do: implement the processes
Check: measure and monitor the processes and report results
Act: take action to improve performance of EMS based on results
Continual Improvement Process (CI)

The ISO 27000 family of standards helps organizations keep information assets secure.

Using this family of standards will help your organization manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted to you by third parties.

ISO/IEC 27001 is the best-known standard in the family providing requirements for an information security management system (ISMS).

What is an ISMS?
An ISMS is a systematic approach to managing sensitive company information so that it remains secure. It includes people, processes and IT systems by applying a risk management process.

It can help small, medium and large businesses in any sector keep information assets secure.