ISO 20000: IT Service Management

Do you provide a good IT Service?

What is ISO 20000?

ISO 20000 is an international standard for service management systems (SMS), specifically focusing on IT service management (ITSM). It provides a framework for organizations to establish, implement, maintain, and continually improve their service management practices to deliver high-quality IT services that meet the needs of their customers and stakeholders.

The primary goal of ISO 20000 is to help organizations ensure the effective delivery of IT services by establishing processes, controls, and metrics to manage service quality, availability, and performance. It is based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework and aligns with best practices in IT service management.

Key elements of ISO 20000 include:

  • Service Management System (SMS):
  • Establishing an SMS framework to plan, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and improve IT service management processes.
  • Service Management Policy:
  • Developing a service management policy that reflects the organization’s commitment to delivering high-quality IT services and meeting customer requirements.
  • Planning and Implementing Service Management:
  • Planning, designing, implementing, and transitioning IT services to meet agreed service levels, performance targets, and customer expectations.
  • Service Delivery Processes:
  • Defining and implementing processes for service delivery, including service level management, service reporting, service continuity management, and capacity management.
  • Relationship Processes:
  • Managing relationships and interactions with customers, suppliers, partners, and other stakeholders to ensure the effective delivery of IT services.
  • Resolution Processes:
  • Implementing processes for incident management, problem management, change management, and release management to address service disruptions, resolve issues, and implement changes effectively.
  • Control Processes:
  • Implementing controls and measures to ensure the security, availability, confidentiality, integrity, and continuity of IT services and information assets.

ISO 20000 certification involves a third-party audit to assess whether an organization’s service management system conforms to the requirements of the standard. Certification demonstrates to stakeholders, including customers, partners, regulators, and the public, that the organization is committed to delivering high-quality IT services and managing service delivery processes effectively

Benefits of Implementing ISO 20000

Improved Service Quality:

Enhances the quality of IT services by focusing on customer requirements and expectations, leading to heightened customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Efficiency and Effectiveness:

Streamlines ITSM practices, optimizes workflows, and eliminates redundancies, resulting in increased operational efficiency, reduced costs, and improved resource utilization.

Risk Management:

Promotes a proactive approach to identifying and managing risks within the IT service environment, ensuring business continuity and protection of critical IT services.

Compliance with Industry Standards:

Aligns with industry best practices, showcasing a commitment to recognized standards and demonstrating the capability to deliver reliable and consistent IT services.

Credibility and Competitive Advantage:

Certification enhances business credibility, validating commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. It provides a competitive edge and attracts customers prioritizing certified service providers.

Customer Relationships:

Demonstrates commitment to meeting customer needs and providing reliable IT services, fostering trust and strengthening long-term partnerships.

Continuous Improvement:

Cultivates a culture of continual improvement within IT service management processes, driving innovation, adaptation to technology trends, and a competitive edge in the digital age.

Why ISO 20000 Matters for Your Business:

ISO 20000 is crucial for your business as it propels service quality, efficiency, risk mitigation, industry compliance, credibility, customer relationships, and a culture of continuous improvement within IT service management practices. Implementing this standard contributes to the overall success and competitiveness of your business in the dynamic digital landscape.

The philosophy behind ISO 20000: consistently deliver a cost-effective, quality IT service

If you are considering attaining Cyber Essentials  or Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation and want a pre-assessment evaluation to identify any areas where you might fail, then AEC can conduct a Readiness Assessment complete with a report advising on any areas where you need to make improvements, or changes, to pass the Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certification/audit.

Working in partnership with our Certification Body we can conduct the audit and award the certificate if you meet all the criteria. One of our Cyber Assessors will link to you remotely to conduct an audit against the criteria specified for Cyber Essentials Plus.

AEC can provide additional support and guidance to identify any changes required for your environment to mitigate any problems with the  security posture that could cause any non-compliance or impact a successful certification. We also can provide additional ongoing guidance throughout the Cyber Essentials Certification process.

In order to get a fixed price proposal please complete the following Cyber Security Consultancy Next Steps and select Cyber Essentials Fixed Price Proposal

Notes about Cyber Essentials Plus Service Options 

  • The cost of a Cyber Essentials PLUS assessment will depend on the size and complexity of your network and devices.
  • Re-testing timescales are based on the NCSC guidelines.
  • You will need to complete your Cyber Essentials PLUS audit within 3 months of your last Cyber Essentials basic certification 

Legacy Operating Systems and Applications

Unsupported operating systems will not meet Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essential Plus certification and organisations often feel pressured to upgrade their systems, which could mean significantly increased costs and having to re-engineer applications to run on new platforms.

If you are developing, or have developed your own applications, you need to be able to deploy safely and securely and meet the requirements of Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus, this is where our Legacy Application Security solution from Droplet will enable you to meet the requirements without the additional burden and overhead of re-platforming your legacy applications and operating systems.

What Are the Benefits of Cyber Essentials? 

Most companies rely on digital offerings and services as part of their day to day business, but where there is information technology there is an element of information security risk. These organisations will at some time come under some form of threat from cyber criminals. This self-assessment and audited Cyber Essentials option will give you protection against a wide variety of the most common cyber-attacks.

Your Cyber Essentials certification will:

  • Reassure customers that you are working to secure your IT against cyber attack.
  • Attract new business with the assurance you have cyber security measures in place.
  • Give you a clear picture of your organisation’s cyber security level.
  • Present more business opportunities since some Government contracts require Cyber Essentials certification.
  • Reduce the risk of your organisation becoming a victim of a cyberattack.
  • Show your customers that you care about the security of their information and help you win their trust

Cyber Essentials technical requirements updated for April 2023

In April 2023, the NCSC and its Cyber Essentials delivery partner IASME will update the technical requirements for Cyber Essentials. This update is part of a regular review of the scheme’s technical controls, ensuring that it continues to help UK organisations guard against the most common cyber threats.

After a major update last year – the biggest update to the scheme since it was first set up in 2014 – the 2023 update will be lighter touch, providing a number of clarifications, alongside some important new guidance. This includes:

User devices.

With the exception of network devices (such as firewalls and routers), all user devices declared within the scope of the certification only require the make and operating system to be listed. We have removed the requirement for the applicant to list the model of the device. This change will be reflected in the self-assessment question set, rather than the requirements document.

Clarification on firmware.

All firmware is currently included in the definition of ‘software’, and so must be kept up to date and supported. Following feedback that this information can be difficult to find, we are changing this to include just router and firewall firmware.

Third party devices.

More information and a new table that clarify how third-party devices, such as contractor or student devices, should be treated in your application.

Device unlocking.

They have made a change there to mitigate some issues around default settings in devices being unconfigurable (such as the number of unsuccessful login attempts before the device is locked). Where that is the case, it’s now acceptable for applicants to use those default settings.

Malware protection.

Anti-malware software will no longer need to be signature based and they have clarified which mechanism is suitable for different types of devices. Sandboxing is removed as an option.

Zero Trust

New guidance on zero trust architecture for achieving CE and a note on the importance of asset management.

Style and language.

Several language and format changes have been made to make the document easier to read.

Structure updated.

The technical controls have been reordered to align with the updated self-assessment question set.

Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Testing.

The CE+ Illustrative Test Specification document has been updated to align with the requirements changes. The biggest change there is a refreshed set of Malware Protection tests, to simplify the process for both applicants and assessors.

All these changes are based on feedback from assessors and applicants, and have been made in consultation with technical experts from the NCSC. As well as the updated requirements and new question set, IASME are also providing more guidance documents to help applicants during the certification process. This includes articles to help applicants understand the questions, as well as access to a dedicated knowledge base.

This latest update (version 3.1) will take effect from 24 April 2023. This means all applications started on or after this date will use the new requirements and question set.

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