Standardization News

When you’ve been with an organization for 33 years, you see change.

One of the biggest changes I’ve seen is how dramatically our member and customer expectations have evolved.

In years past, members would tally physical ballots, prepare meeting agendas, distribute negative votes and comments, take minutes, and more. They would do all these things with very few tools to support them.

Member expectations are different now.

Our members — many of you reading this — would rather focus most of your time and energy on discussing technical matters and achieving consensus.

You expect ASTM International to provide online tools and well-trained staff to help make your job as a volunteer as easy as possible. And you increasingly rely on tools such as virtual meetings, online collaboration, and our member dashboard, which have streamlined your ability to create and update standards.

Customer expectations have changed, too.

In the past, ASTM International’s customers would buy single print copies or books of our standards, and we would ship them out.

But today, 80 percent of our customers choose immediate electronic delivery. In addition, some customers want to be able to use standards as pieces of data that can be repurposed for their own applications.
And the list of customer wants and needs goes on: training for their workers in how to use standards, Proficiency Testing Programs to make sure tests are being performed correctly, certification for products or personnel performance, credentialing to demonstrate competence, productivity tools, and more.

We are doing everything we can to meet these diversifying and pressing customer requests.
Sometimes, fortuitously, we find that one tool can help meet the needs of both our customers and our members. Compass is a great example.

Over the past several years, Compass has served as our flagship product, offering companies access to value-added programs and content while also providing productivity tools that businesses, associations, and others are seeking.

Compass has become one of the most respected platforms in the global standards community, with features such as “redlined” standards that can immediately show the differences between current and historical standards, similar to the “track changes” feature in Microsoft Word.

We heard from members that they want access to this platform, too. That’s why I’m pleased that we are going to provide members with access to their free volume through Compass, including free redlined versions of standards. And yes, there will be other tools on the Compass platform that members can explore and/or purchase.

As our mission states, ASTM International integrates standards with innovative services. We want you to know that you can find your standards and related services at your fingertips 24/7. We also want you to know that we now offer technology solutions that respond to member and customer feedback.

My commitment is that we will continue to work to understand, anticipate, and exceed the expectations of all of our stakeholders, including our members, customers, partners, and others. Please let us know if you have ideas for how we can do that in the months and years ahead.

Katharine Morgan
President, ASTM International