From the factory to service companies, from the Third sector to events: in thirty years, management systems have gone from a distinctive signal to a common language of the market. The challenge today is not to have a system, but make it alive and compliant with the expectations of stakeholders.
Thirty years ago, crossing the threshold of an ISO certified company often meant entering a world still perceived as specialized: procedure, manuals, checks, controls. Certification was above all the language of industry, of large-scale production and international supply chains. Today that language has left the factories. We find it in professional offices, in service companies, in social cooperatives, in third sector organizations, in training institutions, in healthcare, in ICT and even in the world of events and entertainment.
The change is not just cultural: it is measurable. The first ISO survey, in January 1993, photographed circa 25 thousand ISO family certifications 9000 in the world. At the end of 1999 they already were 343.643. In the 2024 ISO certifications 9001 valid have arrived at 1.474.118. The figure is almost sixty times that of the early nineties: in just over thirty years, Therefore, certified quality has gone from a still limited phenomenon to a global infrastructure of trust between organizations, clients, clients and suppliers.
A similar trajectory is observed for the environment. The ISO 14001 was born in 1996; at the end of 1998 the certifications were approx 7.900. In the 2024 they have become 676.232: over eighty-five times the figure of 1998. In the meantime, other management systems have established themselves: health and safety with ISO 45001, information security with ISO/IEC 27001, energy with ISO 50001, anti-corruption with ISO 37001, operational continuity with ISO 22301. The diffusion of these rules tells the story, in conclusion, the evolution of the responsibilities that organizations are called upon to assume.
From "title of merit" to condition to remain in the market
For many years a certification could be presented as an element of excellence: something more than its competitors. In numerous sectors today it has become, in fact, a prerequisite. Not always because the law requires it, but because the supply chains ask for it, the station, the big clients, international partners and customers themselves. In other cases it helps to qualify the organization, to demonstrate its reliability or to make commitments verifiable that would otherwise remain declarations.
This is where the diffusion of ISOs has changed its nature. It's no longer just about proving that a product is made well, but to show that the organization knows how to govern its own processes, know the risks, measure performance, correct errors and improve. And this applies both to a factory and to a social enterprise that manages services for people, for a digital company that stores sensitive data or for those who organize a festival.
The case of events is emblematic. The ISO 20121, dedicated to the sustainable management of events, It applies to events of all types and sizes: conferences, festival, sporting and cultural events. It's a strong signal: also entertainment, a sector that by nature thrives on creativity, relationships and unpredictability, it needs models capable of transforming sustainability, inclusion and responsibility in concrete organizational choices.
The new challenge: less rigid systems, closer to reality
If certification has become a basis, the real distinctive element moves later. It's no longer enough to ask: “We are certified?”. The useful question is another: “How much this system resembles us and how much it helps us make better decisions?”.
The risk, Indeed, it's always the same: transform a government instrument into a collection of documents. An effective system should not force the organization to live according to certification; it should do the opposite, that is, progressively sewing oneself onto its reality, to its size, to its risks, to the people who work there and the market in which it operates.
In the coming years this ability will be even more important, because stakeholder demands also change rapidly. Customers and citizens demand transparency; workers seek safety, well-being and coherence; communities are increasingly attentive to social and environmental impacts; supply chains need reliable data; regulators demand traceability and accountability. A management system cannot respond to such different needs with fixed procedures.
The challenge will therefore be to build integrated systems, proportionate and dynamic: capable of using real data, listen to stakeholders and change together with the organization. Less bureaucracy for its own sake, more ability to read context. Less certification seen as a goal, more system used as method.
After thirty years of global diffusion, ISO standards have already achieved a first result: be understood and adopted far beyond the industrial world from which they started. Now another one begins, perhaps more difficult: ensure that each management system remains robust enough to ensure reliability, but also flexible enough to accompany organizations and stakeholders in a continuously changing market. It is in this balance that, Today, excellence is once again measured.
RPL
Sources for data
Sources: ISO Survey 2003: global trend of ISO certifications 9000 dal 1993 to 2003. | ISO, “The ISO Survey reveals biggest-ever rise in ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certifications”, given to 1999. | UNI, “ISO Survey 2024: data in hand", 15 October 2025: ISO 9001 = 1.474.118 certificates; ISO 14001 = 676.232 certificates; total main management systems = 2.963.862 certificates. | ISO, ISO 20121:2024 – Event sustainability management systems: applicability to events of all types and sizes.
