Business Unified™
An Exact Software White Paper
Developing and Maintaining Cost Effective
Solutions and Strategies for Industry Regulated
Compliance
ISO develops only those
standards for which there is
a market requirement. The
work is carried out by experts
from the industrial, technical
and business sectors which
have asked for the standards,
and which subsequently put
them to use. These experts
may be joined by others with
relevant knowledge, such
as representatives of govern-
ment agencies, consumer
organizations, academia
and testing laboratories.
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©2007, Exact Holding North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Industry compliance—Friend or Foe?
Today’s consumers have become less tolerant of sub-standard quality products and
services. As these consumers demand more, there is almost an exponential increase
in the activity supporting the efforts to produce or deliver products and services.
Throughout the world, various standards bodies have been shaped into existence
in an attempt to provide some form of “structure” with respect to delivering products
and services. This in itself has caused concern among many smaller organizations, but
the ultimate result is a collection of industry regulated compliance certifications, each
specific to defined industries. There are basically two groups of certification classifica-
tions....industry compliance and federal/governmental compliance.
Governmental compliance includes topics such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Bill 198
(Canada), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). Organizations that fit a specific profile are required, by
local law, to adopt and adhere to the various regulations found within the various
acts of government.
Industry compliance is not a mandatory set of compliance components, but more a
voluntary set of guidelines based on industry characteristics. However, today, many
companies adopt these compliance guidelines and then require their suppliers to
adhere to such standards. Today, the most