This report describes the issues around Standards within e-Business and both assess their relevance and provide guidance on their adoption within organizations. It has been written to provide an understanding of the importance of Standards in e-Business and the key strategic questions to ask.

Key Points:

• “A standard is a set of agreed rules and guidelines for common and repeated use for a particular, pre-defined, purpose. It needs to lay down a solid and equitable foundation for the global exchange of goods and services, incorporating all the key elements required by market and societal forces.” (Quote from ISO definition);
• It is important to have the ability to process and communicate information in a completely unambiguous way in order to reduce the cost of managing data information and provide clarity both internally as well as with external customers and suppliers;
• The use of Standards, and which Standards to adopt, needs to be assessed within an overall business requirement;