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ISO certifications are more prevalent in areas like manufacturing and physical services. How about web businesses and services? Are there well defined certifications for things like SAAS and SEO? Is there a compelling reason to get these certifications? Ive gone through and read up on some of the ones related to information technology and it seems that this area is still quite undefined, perhaps because of a lack of demand for ISO standards? Is the industry mature enough to require such a assurance of service quality?

Can anyone shed some light on this subject in regards to internet based business?

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Not unless you are an established enterprise seeking for an enterprise projects. – jpartogi Feb 1 '10 at 6:47

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You probably realise that achieving many of these certifications is very expensive (both in terms of time/effort and more importantly opportunity cost), so you don't want to go down that track if you don't have to.

It obviously depends on the nature of your customers. As jpartogi notes, sometimes selling to enterprise customers is a little easier with an ISO kitemark for example, but as enterprise selling is so very often about relationships, for the most part, you don't need certifications, you just need good people, a good product and good support. In terms of prospects who demand certifications, there is a question as to whether you want them as customers anyway, as they are often the sort that are very demanding in return for relatively little additional revenue.

Bottom line is unless not having a given certification is going to seriously hurt your business, I would stay well away.

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+1 Absolutely no reason to get an ISO certification. – TimJ♦ Feb 1 '10 at 13:59

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