Procurers - organizations procuring services are provided with a degree of assurance that the service provider has been independently assessed to ensure they and not their services meet the ISO20000 standard and furthermore continue to do so.

 

Suppliers - ISO/IEC20000 organizations offering services are provided with a distinct competitive advantage over those organizations not accredited.

 

Internal IT Suppliers - regarding IT services offered within an organization the ISO/IEC20000 endorsement provides an element of security and assurance against the potential threat of 'out-sourcing' the services. ISO20k provides the step beyond ITIL with independent recognition of the quality of the infrastructure that supports the service(s) offered.

 

Probably one of the biggest advantages is the fact that having achieved ISO20000 accreditation the organization has a market differentiator with regards those organisations that have yet to achieve or seek accreditation.

 

The strength of the standard will begin to bear fruit when the number of organisations that have the accreditation can provide the 'service purchaser' with a potentially 'inter-changeable' service that as well as being more efficient, may also be cheaper. Potentially the early adopters could have a stronger and more established presence as the market place evolves.

 

Public Sector organizations generally follow and promote standards, although current experience seems to suggest that they are content to accept the pursuit activities of service providers striving to achieve the ISO20000 standard, as the number of organizations certified are limited. An immense opportunity therefore exists for those organisations that can be sufficiently flexible and dynamic to achieve the standard early. Pressure will be bought to bear on both the Public Sector organizations and the large Service Providers to only consider and only accept services from ISO20000 certified organizations.

 

Having said all of the above, any organisation must first establish the fundamentals of what the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has to offer. Time lines to implement are very much dependant upon senior management 'buy-in and commitment' together with sufficient budget and resources to be employed in the interim to ensure business as usual activities continue whilst ITIL / ISO20000 requirements are implemented.

 

To support ITIL and ISO20000 the organization will in the majority of cases need to employ an ITIL Service Management toolset.