3 Key Quality Assurance Certifications for IT or ITeS Organizations

This article points out the key quality assurance certifications that IT or ITeS organizations need to ensure quality, security, and consistency of their services.

Achieving quality assurance certifications is essential for IT (Information Technology) or ITeS (Information Technology Enabled Service) to stand out in the competition. It ensures that those organizations deliver services that exceed the highest quality standards and grab the maximum share in the market. Besides, quality assurance services help an IT-based organization commit to continually meet clients’ expectations by embracing changes and technological opportunities present in the market.

Whether your organization is a small or big IT organization, considering a few essential certifications can strengthen your services and make them more sustainable in the market.

ISO 20000

It is the top global-level standard, specially designed for IT services management. It is hence the foremost important quality assurance standard for any IT organization. It helps in developing and implementing a service management system that ensures that all processes are in line to organizational objectives and international regulatory practices. The standard actually calls for establishing a comprehensive management system organization-wide, which ensures quality assurance through two aspects. The first aspect defines the requirements for the management system whereas the second aspect defines the code of practices and processes for services management. In short, achieving the ISO 20000 standard ensures an IT organization uses best processes and practices for delivering services which help them to ensure:

• Compatibility with the IT infrastructure library
• Responsive and fast services
• Competitiveness with reliable and quality services
• New opportunities for international trade or partnerships
• Client’s trust and retaining of customer base
• Reduction in operational inefficiency and costs due to downtime
• Monitoring, measuring and improving the quality of services continually

The ISO 20000 standard also helps IT organizations to easily meet compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements and prove itself as the most efficient service provider.

ISO 27001

This is the globally-accepted standard for information security management system (ISMS) and extremely crucial for IT organizations to reduce the risks of data breaches. The ISO 27001 certification is crucial in present digital times when data theft and cyber-attacks are growing everywhere. Failing to ensure privacy or confidentiality of their vital information assets would make IT and ITeS organizations liable for corporate fines, legal penalties, or lawsuits. This ISO standard is the key prescription to the ISMS requirements. It helps them establish the most effective ISMS, which takes care of all information assets, processes, and people of the organization. Some of the observable benefits of the ISO 27001 certification are:

• Protection of highly confidential client and stakeholder data
• Secured exchange and record/storage of information that are used in operations
• Minimized exposure to data breaches and lesser operational disruptions
• Establishment of a continuous culture of information security

It can be said that establishing a ISMS according to the specifications of the ISO 27001 helps IT organizations to ensure superior quality of their services by ensuring safe access and security.

CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration)

The Capability Maturity Model Integration or CMMI model is another type of certification that assures quality services of IT and ITeS organizations. It is a combined level certification model which specifies a set of industry-regulated practices and processes for IT-based organizations. Those practices and processes help them to improve their productivity, delivery efficiency, and client satisfaction. The CMMI certification is in fact a great process improvement tool that guides members of the organizations to drive improvements in all processes, projects, and departments with appropriate practices.

Achieving CMMI helps IT or ITeS organizations to achieve:

• High maturity practices for quality assurance of services
• Visibility of the services or products throughout their lifecycle
• Compliance with other relevant industry regulations and ISO standards

There are 5 definite maturity levels of the CMMI certification and an IT organization needs to achieve the level appropriate to the practices and processes needed for service improvements.

With competition getting fierce in the IT industry, an organization must strive to ensure quality assurance services along with long-term sustainability. These three are the most prioritized quality assurance certifications today that are specifically designed for IT and ITeS organizations. Ascertaining quality, security and continual improvement of the IT services are the keys to survive in the market and maximize stakeholder satisfaction.