NCCLS’s Name Will Change, But our Mission and Values Remain the Same

NCCLS is less than a month away from the effective date of our official organizational name change. In recent months, efforts have been coordinated to communicate the new approved name, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, to all of our stakeholders.

Why change the name of NCCLS and why now? About a decade ago, our organization started using the initialism “NCCLS” to reflect our brand. There is strong recognition for our organization in the healthcare community; however, brand identity studies showed that many people were confused by the “N” in our name, which used to stand for “national.” Clearly, our identity needs to better reflect our true strengths, scope of work, and global membership base, which have changed over the last 35 years.

What were the evolutionary elements of this change? In 2003, an extensive brand identity study was conducted. Based on the results of this extensive market research, our organization found that a name change was imperative and that our name should more accurately represent the organization today and in the future. The Board of Directors asked for feedback on potential new names from our membership base, volunteers, and key stakeholders. From the results of this feedback, the Board presented Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute as the organization’s new name. The delegate vote to implement our name change to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, by amending the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, ended with approval on 19 July 2004.

The announcement of delegate approval of the new name was a pivotal moment in the evolution and recognition of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. It was decided that the well-recognized logo would be retained. In addition, the transitional statement, providing NCCLS standards and guidelines, ISO/TC 212 standards, and ISO/TC 76 standards, will be used in communications and documents for an extended period of time in order to retain the established name recognition of NCCLS.

As part of the implementation of the new name, all business, financial, operational, and administrative changes have been expedited, integrated, and coordinated. An extensive name change marketing and communication plan is being carried out now and is a major focus for 2005.

Amidst the implementation of the name change, our organization has expressed our commitment that two things will not change: 1) our commitment to our mission: to develop and distribute practical and useful consensus standards and guidelines, as well as corresponding educational programs for a variety of healthcare and medical testing services worldwide; and 2) our unwavering commitment to our values: excellence, quality, and creativity; responsiveness and timeliness; participation, openness, and multiple constituency; and fairness, balance, and objectivity.

The response from testing and researching our new name has been overwhelmingly positive. More news will be made available as this process unfolds, but we are very confident about the progress we are making and the potential for future growth of our organization.

Our key stakeholders and the Executive Office’s staff have enthusiastically embraced our new name, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. It will soon begin appearing everywhere—it reflects our strong history as well as our opportunities for growth now and into the future. 

Be sure to bookmark our new website, www.clsi.org, which will launch 1 January 2005!
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