ISO 20000 implementation

ISO/IEC 20000 is the first international standard for IT service management (ITSM). IT service management (ITSM) is a discipline for managing information technology (IT) systems, from the customer’s perspective of IT’s contribution to the business. ITSM stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered approaches to IT management and business interaction.

Customers are becoming ever more sophisticated, better informed and their expectations are continuously growing. For any business, the only way to keep ahead is to provide a better level of service than the competition. But how can you demonstrate this to your customers?

One way is to consider implementing an IT Service Management system that meets the requirements of an internationally recognized standard — ISO 20000. Choosing this approach means that you can apply for an independent certification body to assess the system and confirm that your IT Service Management is effective and uses best practice principles.

ISO 20000 is primarily concerned with the areas of Service Support and Service Delivery of the Information Technology function. The three key objectives are:

    ♦ To align IT services with the current and future needs of the business and its customers.

    ♦ To improve the quality of the IT services delivered.

    ♦ To reduce the long term cost of service provision.

ISO 20000 is heavily based upon the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It provides a framework that defines a set of inter-related service management processes essential for the delivery of high quality services that satisfy the business and customer requirements.

Implementation of ISO 20000 brings with it many benefits:

    ♦ Creates competitive advantage via the promotion of consistent and cost-effective services.

    ♦ More efficient use of resources for service provision leading to cost reductions.

    ♦ Lower incident volumes, faster incident resolution and less business disruption because of service failures.

    ♦ Alignment of information technology services and business strategy.

    ♦ The creation of a consistent approach that facilitates organizational change.

    ♦ Reduced risk of not being able to meet business objectives and Service Level Agreement targets.

    ♦ Higher customer satisfaction and improved reputation.

    ♦ A continuous improvement in the quality of IT services.

intiGrow provides advisory support for your ISO 20000 implementation project. The methodology adopted by us is as below:

Gap Analysis and Audits An evaluation of your current capabilities against the standard.

Mentoring and Implementation Support Use our expertise to advise and guide your organization through the changes.

Training In-house training courses and workshops to help staff understand the changes required, including preparing key staff to be able to perform the required regular internal audits.

Implementation Most service organizations will already have in place many of the attributes of ISO 20000, however, they need to be reviewed against the standard to ensure they are consistent, effective and embrace best practice principles. As with most standards, there is an inherent synergy between ISO 20000 and other Management Systems (e.g. ISO 9001:2000). Organizations which have implemented these systems will already have addressed some of the areas covered by ISO 20000 and will find implementation easier.