Critical of standards

I've recently posted about the new BSI guidelines / PAS (Publically Available Standard) 124 for company website standards, which provides a procedural framework for implementing and managing a company website.

Although the framework within PAS124 sets out to provide various business benefits, such as:

• reduce the risk of doing something wrong
• maximise investment
• improve speed-to-market
• provide a suggested governance structure

......this new standard hasn't necessarily met with universal approval:
http://www.internetretailing.net/news/comment-bsi-standard-for-the-web

However, I do feel that Marcus from Internet Retailing may have missed the point about the purpose of this standard, he may have a point about it being charged for. Surely this can only hinder its adoption?

company website standards

Many of the world’s leading organisations don’t have formal brand and technical standards defined to govern their websites. Even those that do are apparently failing to effectively implement or enforce them, achieving full compliance with less than 20% of their own web standards. The websites of these organisations significantly under-perform or damage the brand as a result.

PAS 124 (Publically Available Specification 124) provides a framework to help organizations deploy website standards efficiently and harness their full potential.

It has four main sections:
• Defining website standards
• Implementing website standards
• Managing website standards
• Guide to the key categories of website standards

Here's the joint Press Release from Magus and the BSI:
http://www.bsi-global.com/en/About-BSI/News-Room/BSI-News-Content/Disciplines/Information-Management/PAS-124/

Standards have several key significant benefits. A company brand is reinforced by ensuring consistency of brand presentation and messaging, plus its provides a consistent & high quality user experience.

A brief overview is here:
http://www.magus.co.uk/pas124
(thanks to Simon @ Magus for the corrected URL)