Setting new standards for IT Service Management with ISO 20000
This month Ergo added to its armoury of managed service credentials by achieving ISO 20000 certification. The international standard is all about best-practice ITSM (IT Service Management), and helps our managed services team evaluate how effectively they perform. With strong links to ITIL – the most widely adopted methodology for service management – we see certification as another step in the development of our next-generation managed services.
We are currently rebuilding our propositions around ServiceNow’s workflow solution, Technology Provider Service Management (TPSM), which is specifically designed for service providers. As the only IT services company in Ireland to adopt the toolset, which utilizes automation and AI, we are in the unique position of being able to offer clients a combination of self-service tools and rigorously audited processes.
Increasing Ergo efficiency
In pursing Service Management Standards (SMS) like ISO 20000, Ergo is looking to bring greater efficiency to client engagements. Studies have shown that ISO SMS certified companies experience increased productivity compared to uncertified companies; it helps people define and take responsibility for their roles and be clear on the training they’ll need to get better at their jobs. The outcome is more motivated teams, which has a positive impact on quality and performance.
There’s also a connection between process efficiency and better security, because greater attention to detail means vulnerabilities are less likely to go unnoticed. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is recognised worldwide as the authority on Information Security Management, and many organizations, including Ergo, will already have the principal certification in this area, ISO 27001, under their belt.
ISO 20000 is important because it encourages Service Desk teams to be more involved in identifying and documenting their processes, a good culture to set for a managed service provider. It also puts guidelines in place that help new team members learn the ropes, and because it’s based on repeatable processes it makes trouble-shooting easier.
All of this will be familiar to the many organizations that make ISO 20000 certification mandatory in their tenders. Others see it as a nice-to-have, but I expect it to become more of an expectation as the regulatory requirements for better governance and accountability prompt organizations to demand more from their suppliers.
Continual improvement
One of the cornerstones of ISO 20000 is that all processes are meticulously defined, outlined and documented, minimizing room for error, driving consistency and improving the customer experience. All changes are evaluated, planned, implemented and reviewed, which puts pressure on the provider to continually improve the service. It’s something that’s core to Ergo’s culture.
Because ISO 20000 encourages constant information gathering, we are better equipped to make data-driven decisions about what to do next. With documentation of all processes – including errors and discrepancies – we can stand over measured and controlled change where positive outcomes will be much easier to achieve. The traceable records generated will inform follow-on work and provide clients with an auditable trail of everything that has occurred.
Not just a record that goes from design through to ongoing management, it also tracks supplier relationships, the key partnerships we forge with third-party vendors to deliver the best-possible service. It can be used to evaluate new suppliers that we bring onboard, ensuring the same levels of consistency are always maintained.
As ever with Ergo, it’s another stop on our journey rather than the destination. We have already achieved ISO 9001, covering quality management standards, ISO 27001 for information security, and ISO 14001, which sets out criteria for an environmental management system. ISO 20000 adds all important service capabilities as we start to deploy next-generation ITSM, enabled by the market-leading ServiceNow platform.
