BUSINESS STANDARDS
is the quarterly magazine of BSI Group, highlighting the vital role that standards play in today's business environment. Regular features include interviews with leading business figures, as well as news on the latest developments in management systems and standards.
Eureka! - Sri Lanka gains its first ISO/IEC 20000 certification
14 Aug 2008
Topics: IT service mgt, ISO/IEC 20000, ITIL, Sri Lanka
When does gaining an international management systems standard become of national significance? Perhaps in the case of Eureka Technology Partners, a Sri Lankan technology company, which has gained certification to ISO/IEC 20000 through BSI Management Systems.
Established in 1995, Eureka Technology Partners delivers internet hosting services, corporate data and software solutions and interactive media services. Its client list encompasses many leading Sri Lankan organizations, including the country's Ministry of Finance and Planning, UPS Sri Lanka and the Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon.
Not lacking in ambition, the company sees the certification as contributing a boost to Sri Lanka's international image as an IT off-shoring destination - a claim it makes with some justification.
Eureka has now become the first and only company in Sri Lanka with ISO/IEC 20000 certification from BSI India - the India office is a hub for Sri Lanka, with BSI India processing the audits. More significantly, Eureka now joins a small international elite that includes much larger organizations like the World Bank, Accenture and IBM. Indeed developed nations and regions such as Singapore, France, Italy and the Middle East have only one certified provider each so far. In South Asia, India has only a handful of certified providers despite the large number of IT service providers based there. Making Eureka's achievement on behalf of Sri Lanka all the more significant.
Respected standard
The ISO/IEC 20000 standard is the first worldwide standard specifically defining the requirements for an organization to deliver managed IT services. As such it's the most widely respected global standard for managing IT infrastructure. Importantly the standard is aligned with the process approach defined within the well-known Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It also incorporates many of the information security components of ISO/IEC 27001.
In a world where organizations are increasingly dependent on robust IT infrastructures and the information they contain, and where these infrastructures and their dependencies are becoming more complex and competition more fierce, the need for iron-clad infrastructure management grows - especially when, as in the case of Eureka, your clients depend on you.
Service providers
Indeed in recent years, IT service providers have come under sustained pressure to deliver ever higher levels of service to their customers in a cost-effective way, including improved quality and faster responses. This challenge is complicated by the increasing diversity of technologies and applications that are becoming available. Moreover, too much time can be spent on reacting to events rather than planning, training and working with customers.
Eureka Technology Planning has avoided these pitfalls because ISO/IEC 20000 provides an integrated framework for delivering IT services to its customers, which provides control, great effectiveness and opportunities for improvement. All of which is enabling them as an organization to deliver managed IT services effectively and efficiently which meet both business and customer requirements.
It makes sense then, that Eureka decided to seek certification to the standard to demonstrate that its IT service management processes were aligned with international best practice.
As Eureka CEO Dilendra Wimalasekere notes: "This is a critical step for both Eureka and Sri Lanka, affirming our progress as a globally competitive IT managed services company, and destination. It will enable Eureka to improve on its already high standards of service quality and uptime and deliver quantifiable results to our local and international clients. Personally, I'm proud to work in an organization and country that can now deliver world class IT managed services."
For more on ISO/IEC 20000 see: www.bsigroup.com/en/Assessment-and-certification-services/management-systems/Standards-and-Schemes/ISO-IEC-20000
Business Standards © 2008. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with the British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
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