Businesses Encouraged to Leverage Standards As Tools for Innovation and Market Expansion

Businesses are being encouraged to move beyond viewing standards solely as compliance requirements and begin leveraging them as strategic tools for innovation, efficiency, risk management, customer satisfaction, and market expansion.

The call has been made by Executive Director of the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), Dr. Velton Gooden, who said standards, competence, and quality play a critical role in building resilient organisations, facilitating trade, and supporting sustainable economic growth.

Dr. Gooden was addressing the BSJ Quality Institute Stakeholder Engagement Session, held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston, on Tuesday (September 29).

“Transformation occurs when competence is converted into capability and capability is translated into performance… . Businesses that invest in quality are often better positioned to enhance productivity, improve customer confidence, enter new markets, and compete effectively both regionally and internationally. For Jamaica, this transformation is essential,” he said.

The Executive Director said this mandate is facilitated in the work of the Quality Institute, which serves as the BSJ’s principal capacity-building hub.

Through its training, certification of people, and other capacity-building services, the Quality Institute supports individuals and organisations in developing the knowledge, skills and systems needed to consistently meet applicable standards and quality requirements in local and international markets.

Dr. Gooden emphasised that the value of standards is realised only when businesses and professionals possess the knowledge, competence, and confidence to implement them effectively.

“Through training, certification, and accreditation-readiness support, we help businesses and professionals translate standards from documents into action and from compliance obligations into competitive advantages,” he added.

“As we pursue sustainable economic growth and increased export earnings, our businesses must be equipped to meet the expectations of global markets. Standards, accreditation, certification, and competence development all play a critical role in achieving that goal. The Quality Institute is, therefore, proud to serve as a catalyst for business transformation and a partner in building Jamaica’s future competitiveness,” he said.

The engagement session brought together current and prospective stakeholders of the BSJ’s Quality Institute to strengthen awareness of the Institute’s role, services and opportunities for collaboration in building competence and supporting business transformation.