Blog

It’s often assumed that standards are for big business and are not really useful to smaller organizations. In fact it can be easily argued that the opposite is the case.

Standards are especially important to small businesses because they put you on a level playing field with larger organizations. The national and international standards are a route whereby everyone can access well-worked out, peer-reviewed best practice. Many standards spread current technology and best practice widely, which helps open market entry to smaller businesses.

Increasingly SMEs are adopting standards and benefiting from streamlined processes, refined products, extended markets and differentiation from the competition. As markets shrink these factors are becoming more important than ever. Competitiveness is becoming more important than ever and standards are a proven route to increased competitiveness and a stronger business.

* Using standards to reduce operating costs
* Standards for better products
* Standards for better customers
* Standards for a better brand
* Extend your markets
* Reduce your risk

How can you start to take advantage of using standards?

Download Small business guide to making standards work and read Small business case studies and then become a BSI Member.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Becoming a more environmentally-friendly business isn’t just an ethical choice, it can also help your business get ahead. The experience of businesses that have already adopted environmentally sustainable working practices is that energy efficiency can lead to significant cost savings. The same technologies that help reduce your carbon footprint can at the same time result in significant efficiency gains. In addition, companies are increasingly being asked to prove their green credentials when pitching or tendering for business.

As small businesses represent 41.7 per cent of UK employment, they are just as important in tackling climate change as their larger corporate counterparts. With this in mind, BT Business has launched an “Understanding Green Business Practices” guide to help SMEs get to grips with ‘going green’.

By adopting the five simple actions outlined in the practical guide, SMEs could collectively save millions of tonnes of carbon emissions annually and play an integral part in addressing climate change. It illustrates how the use of IT and communications technology can not only enable SMEs to act in a more sustainable way, but will also provide business benefits from reduced costs, an enhanced reputation with customers, to greater productivity among employees.

Businesses can download a copy of the guide on the website.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!