ISO 20000 certification (Information Technology certificate) enables organization to show commitment to a reliable IT infrastructure with the support from professionals. The ISO 20000 standard (IT quality control standard) focuses on managing IT issues via a help desk.
Standardization in IT service management considers system capacity, levels of management required when the system changes, financial budgeting, software control and distribution. IT is essential to today's business, however, concerns are increasingly being raised about IT services, both internal and outsourced, not aligning with the needs of businesses and customers.
A recognized solution to this problem is to use an IT Service Management System (ITSMS) based on ISO 20000, the international standard for IT service management. Certification to this standard enables organization's to independently demonstrate to their customers that they meet best IT business practices. ISO 20000 consists of two main parts.
ISO 20000-1 is a formal specification and defines the requirements for an organization to deliver managed services of an acceptable quality for customers. The scope of certification includes:
- Requirements for a management system
- Planning and implementing service management
- Planning and implementing new or changed services
- Service delivery process
- Relationship, Resolution, Control & Release processes.
ISO 20000-2 is a Code of Practice that describes the best practices for Service Management processes within the scope of specification. The Code of Practice is particularly useful for organizations preparing for an audit against ISO 20000-1 or planning service improvements. Who is it relevant to? ISO 20000 is applicable to any organization, large or small, in any sector or part of the world which relies on IT services. The standard is particularly suitable for internal IT service providers, such as IT departments, and external IT service providers, such as IT outsourcing organizations. The standard is already making a positive impact in some of the leading IT-dependent sectors, such as the business process outsourcing, telecommunications, finance and public sectors. Benefits: Some of the key benefits are listed below:
- IT service providers become more responsive to services which are business led rather than technology driven.
- External service providers can use certification as a differentiators and win new business as this increasingly becomes a contractual requirement.
- Gives ability to select and manage external service providers more effectively.
- More opportunities to improve the efficiency, reliability and consistency of IT services impacting costs and service.
- Certification audits enable the regular evaluation of the service management processes, which helps to maintain and improve effectiveness.
- The certification process can reduce the amount of supplier audits, thereby reducing costs.
