For companies, across almost every industry and function, 2020 will forever be a defining year. 

Many service businesses have had to adapt — and some have had to shift their models entirely in order to deliver their normal functions. But every business has felt the effects of rapidly changing consumer expectations. 

With this change in consumer demands, new trends have emerged that businesses in the services sector must adapt to, in order to ensure future success. These trends include an increased focus on delivering higher service quality, adopting innovations to achieve commercial efficiency, and managing future risks.

Service standards can adopt many formats. Standards can help service organizations embrace these emerging trends in order to improve the performance of their business and safeguard future activities. They can focus on improving the quality and efficiency of the supply part while, at the same time, opening access to new markets.

How standards help with the adoption of new service trends

1. Quality of services and operational excellence

Accelerating technological developments, competition in the service industry and increasing consumer expectations have brought about the need for service organizations to provide higher quality services and operational excellence. 

In order to achieve this service organizations must simplify processes, upgrade IT systems, and share resources between businesses up and down the supply chain. Success in adopting this trend will often rely on a broader vision and a stronger focus on execution.

Management standards can help with this:

• BS EN ISO 9001 is the internationally recognized Quality Management System (QMS) standard that can benefit any size service organization. It will help you to continually monitor and manage quality across your business so you can identify areas for improvement.

• BS ISO 44001 has evolved into an international standard to help service organizations, large and small in both public and private sectors, to build and develop effective competitive business relationships based upon a collaborative approach. It provides a framework to help organizations build effective partnerships that deliver value internally and to customers.

To read more on the topic of quality management and business improvement, click here.

2. Innovation and commercial efficiency

Service firms must pursue all potential sources of revenue. 

Technology is being used more widely to streamline service operations, provide resources to staff, and, in some cases, replace the need for staff. Service businesses also need to constantly innovate new services and products in order to remain competitive. These developments need to be accompanied by faster time to market. Improved commercial efficiency demands continually evolving distribution models and more professional staff.

Innovation standards play a crucial role in de-risking investment and accelerating the adoption of new service technologies and are also critical in the commercialization of new services.

BS EN ISO 56002:2021 enables innovation programs to be scaled within service organizations, by governing and managing innovation through a common language framework standard and formal management system. By using a best practice approach, innovation will help create value for organizations, stakeholders, and society and enable organizations to benchmark their innovation capabilities.

3. Steering performance and controlling risk while maintaining compliance

Service businesses must steer commercial performance while controlling future supply chain risks to avoid large disruptions and remain compliant in potentially complex regulatory environments. Service organizations that manage risks effectively are more likely to protect themselves and succeed in growing their business. The challenge for any business is to integrate good practice into their day-to-day operations and apply it to the wider aspects of their organizational practice.

BS 31100:2011 provides practical and specific recommendations on how to implement the key principles of effective risk management as specified in BS ISO 31000 Risk management. Guidelines. It is a key risk management standard that offers guidance to help senior management’s strategic understanding of risk and support decision making that ensures best practice.  

BS EN ISO 37301, published in 2021, is about implementing an ongoing compliance management system and obtaining a better understanding of good compliance. It specifies requirements and provides guidelines for establishing, developing, implementing, evaluating, maintaining, and improving an effective compliance management system within an organization.

BS EN ISO/IEC 27001 takes a risk-based approach to help service organizations plan and implement an information security management system, which delivers an appropriate and affordable level of organizational security.

Prepare your service organization for the needs of tomorrow, by adding these standards to your collection today.

Discover BSI Knowledge

Over 100,000 internationally recognized standards are available for simple and flexible access with a BSI Knowledge subscription. In your trust-critical industry, our subscription service puts the control in your hands, with traceability to monitor and demonstrate your business's compliance to standards, and self-serve functionality that enables you to manage your subscriptions, standards, users, and content quickly and simply. Request to learn more.