ANSI's retail sector poster illustrates various aspects of a busy shopping plaza, from customer transactions to accessibility to video surveillance, and identifies corresponding standards that support these systems. The poster also depicts related standards-based conformance activities, including ANSI-accredited certification programs for business continuity auditors, facility management experts, and more.
The new poster and other user-friendly resources can be found on www.ansi.org/services. The ANSI services page provides access to updated information, events, and resources related to of a broad array of standards and conformance activities that impact the services industry. The services page also features links to recent ANSI news articles related to services standards, as well as services-related resources from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), various national standards bodies, and other standards organizations from around the world.
What is the service economy?
The "service economy" comprises those economic activities that do not result in tangible ownership. Very broadly defined, a service may be any valuable action, deed, or effort performed to satisfy a need or to fulfill a demand. Thousands of domestic and international standards and conformance activities impact the ways in which services meet demand.
While many service providers already rely upon standards and conformance to help them grow their business and access new markets, some are missing out. In fact, there are whole sectors that aren't using standards, and many more that aren't using them optimally.
ANSI is working with our members and partners to identify the needs of the services sector, the ways in which all sectors are becoming increasingly service-oriented, and the role that standards and conformity assessment can play.