TIA Celebrates World Standards Day 2021
A shared vision for a better world: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which project to address social imbalances, develop a sustainable economy, and slow the rate of climate change, are highly ambitious. To reach them will require the cooperation of many public and private partners, and the use of all available tools, including international standards and conformity assessments. Learn more at https://www.worldstandardsday.org/home.html
The primary theme for 2021’s World Standards Day is centered around how standards can help the world achieve the collective Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). This theme, and SDG’s in general, are really about how we, as businesses of industry, and more broadly, as people of society are going to respond to the changing conditions around us that will continue to expose inequalities and vulnerabilities of our everyday practices. It’s how we respond that dictates whether we’ll adapt successfully or not in the future.
As famed engineer Taiichi Ohno once stated, “Progress cannot be generated when we are satisfied with existing situations.”
Whether it’s combatting global warming or cybercrime syndicates, one of the most effective means we, as a society, have for addressing global threats is in the development of standards. Standards, in conjunction with appropriate levels of government regulations and incentives, are vital for ensuring collective progress instead of having every business and/or agency trying to solve the same problem in their own silo.
For example, with the rise in ransomware attacks that are targeting both businesses and government entities around the world, there is no one law that could be enacted that would effectively stop the attacks without inflicting harm on the economy or autonomy of individuals or organizations. However, with laws that clearly state consequences and procedures for investigating and prosecuting those who conduct cyber maleficence, industry can do its part by raising the bar for global suppliers in the form of a new standard, like TIA’s SCS 9001, to ensure all the new technology solutions and software being introduced into ICT network products and services can be verified and trusted.
At TIA, our members have been developing technology standards for decades; driving continuous improvement in quality, sustainability, resiliency, and interoperability for the ICT industry. Additionally, this important work should complement the efforts of national and international government bodies. TIA works with governments and policymakers regularly to update them on important industry standards and how they play a prominent role in helping achieve our collective societal goals for a more secure, sustainable, and safer connected world.
Our TIA-942 standard helps data center owners demonstrate to their customers that they have taken measures throughout their facilities to ensure their utmost resilience. TL 9000 is another TIA standard that helps the industry with a quality management system specifically for ICT products and services. It also provides a measurement system that, when implemented, allows a company to track performance and improve results with anonymized industry benchmarking.
On World Standards Day, we should all raise a glass to the important work led by the best and brightest engineers and experts who work diligently, and often with little or no fanfare, to make the world a better place for us all.
If you or someone from your organization is interested in getting involved in ICT industry standards development, please reach out to us at membership@tiaonline.org to learn more.
