As the U.S. member body to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) seeks comments by November 11, 2022, on a proposal for a new ISO technical committee (TC) on management consultancy.
Management consulting can improve the operational efficiency and effectiveness of an organization. If effective in practice, it can significantly reduce costs and increase profitability. The proposal document cites data released by management consulting platform Consulting Quest, which indicate that the global management consulting market will exceed US$300 billion by the end of 2022, with North America accounting for 43%; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined at 34%; Asia-Pacific 20%; and Latin America accounting for 4%.
SAC, the ISO member from China, submitted the proposal to ISO for a new ISO TC with the following scope statement: “Standardization in the field of management consultancy.” Excluded from the scope are technical aspects already covered by ISO TC 225, Market, opinion and social research, and ISO TC 260, Human resource management.
ISO previously had a project committee that developed ISO 20700:2017, Guidelines for management consultancy services, in this subject area. However, since the publication of the standard, external and internal contexts of the industry have undergone dramatic changes, including digitization, need for agility, and diversification of clients, among other changes.
According to the proposal, the proposed TC would benefit the development of the management consulting industry by:
Read the proposal and submit comments to Steven Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy and strategy, [email protected], by close of business on November 12, 2022. Based on input received from U.S. stakeholders, a recommended ANSI position and any comments will be developed and presented at the ANSI ISO Committee (AIC) for approval before ISO's voting deadline of December 27, 2022.