ICT Supporting Organisations 14: Standardisation

What is meant by the term standardisation in ICT? It is the ensurance that computer systems and processes all do what they should. They are developed using a process which makes sure that common standards are implemented in an organization through consistent and repeated use. Standardisation can involve the transfer of several or many technology or IT processes to a single system. Why is there a need for this?

Many large organizations started out with a few computers. As time passed they would buy additional PCs and systems as and when they were needed. There wasn’t, quite often, much central planning involved. What can happen with this random expansion is that systems that have to “talk” to each other can slow things down a great deal with lengthy response times. Often inexplicable system crashes will happen – and this will be a burden on the company. After all, when a system crashes that often means nowadays that the end users (employees) can not do any work while it is down. They still have to be paid though!

So, in order to gain and maintain efficient levels of ICT operation, organizations must standardise their systems. It will ensure that efficient work time us at an optimum. Most importantly, though, it will create a better service for both customers and employees. The result of this improvement is almost always and overall economic gain. In other words, the company will make more money.

But isn’t this process expensive and time-consuming. The simple answer is yes, particularly if older systems (sometimes called legacy systems) have to be integrated with the new IT system. Organisations here have to look to the future. Standardisation at an earlier point will lead to bigger savings when systems have to be upgraded in the future.

There is sometimes a clash in the process of standardisation. This is between the computer manufacturers of hardware and software (called the vendors) and the end users. The vendors always want, if at all possible, to “lock in” their customers so that they cannot go to another company if there are problems with the system or they want to buy other products. The desire to lock customers in is only natural – but it can result in what is known as a monopoly (where one organization dominates the market) which is not legal in many countries. It is also risky, as we will see below. It doesn’t matter how fantastic your product or service is, you will be sidelined if your tactic of domination in the field does not work.

The end users on the other hand want to have the maximum choice – at a competitive price and if they are locked in they have to pay what they are asked to pay!

End users have a huge impact on standards. The more users who take on a particular standard will make that same standard more attractive to other potential users. Although video technology is now almost a thing of the past, there was competition between two different standards – VHS and Betamax. Although Betamax was of a superior quality, VHS won out in the end because of its availability and its comparative cheapness, without losing too much quality.