Enterprise Singapore urges SMEs to adopt ISO standards

Singapore’s SMEs will do well to adopt ISO standards so they will not miss out on business opportunities, said Enterprise Singapore (ESG) director-general of quality and excellence Choy Sauw Kook, according to The Business Times. 

Logistics firms that adopted such standards during the “circuit breaker” period were able to operate smoothly as these provided them with operational and administrative standard operating procedures and training requirements to follow, she said.

When concerns over supply chain disruptions were rife, adopting such standards assured their customers of transparency. Many large firms are now looking to incorporate standards into their business models and will also require their vendors to do so, Choy said. 

Businesses that are ISO certified means that they have their service, product, management techniques, business processes, production control, and quality adhering to a globalised standard. 

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The certification covers many industries, ensuring the quality, efficiency and safety of systems, products and services, which allows a firm’s positioning to be more competitive in the industry. 

In Singapore, awareness for businesses to be ISO certified may be growing. ESG said that unique page views for its web pages on ISO standards increased 36.7% year-on-year over the January to September period.