Top 5 standards

See which standards are the most popular among UK business owners and why.

Top 5 standards for businesses of any size

If you’re looking to improve productivity, sustainability or health and safety in your business, there are plenty of standards to choose from. And as many standards offer such a wide range of benefits, it can be tricky to find the right standard for your business.

To help you choose and familiarize yourself with just some of the standards that are available, we’ve put together this list of our top 5 comprehensive standards. These standards give businesses an effective way to manage quality, data security or energy usage as well as offering a whole host of additional benefits such as increased productivity and competitiveness.

ISO 9001 - Quality management systems (QMS)

Monitoring the quality of your processes, products and services is essential to staying at the top of your game; effective quality management gives you the visibility to improve any area of your business, as well as a benchmark against which to meet - and exceed - targets.

ISO 9001 is the most popular management system standard in the world, used by over a million organizations to run more productively, more efficiently and ultimately more profitably. As well as improving processes at ground level, ISO 9001 helps you boost your business’ resilience and underpins your growth strategy for the long term.

ISO/IEC 27001 - Information security management

With more and more of our everyday lives taking place in the digital world, keeping data safe should be a priority for any organization. Whether it’s staff’s personal records or confidential business documents, ISO/IEC 27001 helps you create and implement an Information Security Management System (ISMS) that will help protect your data from hackers, thieves and accidental breaches.

Like many of the most popular standards, ISO/IEC 27001 offers wider benefits than just data security. The benefits of adopting an ISMS and strengthening your information security are wide-reaching; it builds trust in your business by demonstrating your commitment to keeping client and customer data safe, therefore making your organization more competitive. It also improves efficiency and productivity by establishing easy-to-follow protocols for using IT infrastructure, so staff don’t waste time hunting around for lost files, for example.

ISO 45001 - Occupational health and safety management

The most important part of any organization is its people - without them, there wouldn’t be a business. So keeping those people safe at work, whether that’s on a construction site or in the office, is hugely beneficial. This standard shows you how to strengthen legal and regulatory compliance while also taking a proactive approach to risk prevention.

ISO 45001 helps you to identify potential risks and put protective measures in place to keep staff, customers and clients safe, as well as supporting you to continue to innovate and improve your health and safety processes. It offers one easy-to-follow health and safety system for businesses of any size that can demonstrate your commitment and responsibility to safe, healthy and sustainable working environments.

ISO 50001- Energy management

The climate crisis requires everyone to assess and address their energy usage and energy security is increasingly important, too. For any size business, managing and reducing energy usage and ensuring resilience to rising energy costs - and potentially less availability - is an essential consideration to keep operating.

ISO 50001 offers a best practice approach to implementing an Energy Management System (EnMS), helping organizations to manage their environmental impact, use resources more efficiently and cost-effectively, and improve their bottom line through efficient energy management.

ISO 31000 - Risk management

Effective risk management helps to protect a business and support its growth by using risk analysis to minimize losses. ISO 31000 provides principles and guidelines to help any organization conduct risk analysis and risk assessments, from planning and management operations to communication.
ISO 31000 is the international standard for risk management and is used by businesses worldwide to establish a strong foundation for decision making and encourage proactive management at every level of the organization. This results in improved operational efficiency, greater business resilience and increased stakeholder trust in your organization.

Start your standards journey

Visit the BSI shop to explore over 60,000 standards and see how the right one can transform your business for the better. The standards in this article show just a tiny part of what standards can do and the benefits they can offer organizations of any size.

To find out more about standards, contact our customer service team on 0345 086 9001.