As 2021 comes to a close, I’d like to thank our members, contributors, stakeholders and staff for their ongoing commitment during another challenging year.
We approached this year with the goal to make standards more affordable and accessible to the end user.
I am very pleased to be able to report that this goal was realised and achieved many times throughout the year:
In April, we successfully launched the Standards Store. The store is a big step in transforming service delivery. Increasing ways customers engage with Standards Australia while supporting our licensing and distribution framework will allow content to be used more broadly across the economy.
November saw us partner with the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders Association NSW and launch our innovative Small Business Sets.
In addition to providing greater accessibility to standards, we also focused our efforts on developing and implementing collaborative tools to support customers. 2021 saw us launch the Voice of Customer program, which utilises targeted surveys to understand what we’re delivering well and where we can progress. This program will help us better work with our many contributors and customers, enabling our organisation to meet their needs.
We have also made much progress in 2021 on our international engagement work. Standards Australia was elected to new international governance groups, including the ISO Council, the IEC Council Board (CB), the IEC Conformity Assessment Board (CAB) and the Chairman’s Advisory Group of the ISO committee on developing country matters (DEVCO). We are also a member of the ISO.
These significant appointments add to our existing position on the IEC Standardization Management Board (SMB) and ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) and give Australia a voice on the organisations’ policy, operational and strategic direction.
Next year, we look forward to continuing to support our stakeholders through the development of standards that enable our communities and increase our contribution and influence at the international level. We will continue to drive initiatives that generate more value and become even more accessible to Australian industries.
On behalf of Standards Australia, I thank you again and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.