How to Maintain the SMS after Achieving ISO 20000 Certification?

Summary

Review this article to explore eight factors that can help you maintain your Service Management System even after gaining ISO 20000 certification.

It would be wrong to assert that implementation of ISO 20000 based Service Management System or SMS is an effortless task. The truth, in fact, is the exact opposite. Implementation of this ISO Standard is an intricate task. You might feel relieved once certification is achieved, but this is not the end of the story.

It is imperative for you to learn that certification only confirms that your Service Management System is compliant with the ISO 20000 Standard. Once certification is gained, you may need to put effort into the maintenance of the system. If you want to retain the validity of your ISO 20000 certification, you should take heed of the maintenance factors. We have discussed a lot about how to gain the certification; in this article, we are going to discuss how an organization should manage the SMS after the certification.

Once your SMS gets the ISO certification, you should count on eight activities to ensure that the system is adding value to your organization. It is also important to ensure that the SMS is maintaining the requirements of the standard.

Let’s get into the eight factors that can help you maintain the SMS and the validity of the citification:

1. Run the SMS

Well, there is nothing new in running the SMS. Then, why are you asserting this again? Many ISO experts have experienced that many companies tend to implement the Standard return to old habits. Once the implementation is done, you may need to document and implement the procedures along with roles and responsibilities. Next, you should generate all the relevant records. Hence, it is imperative to stick to the specified rules regularly.

2. Keep Evaluating the Performance

We all know that the ISO 20000 Standard wants you to perform the measurement, but do you know that many operational activities and obligations towards your interested parties (including customers and shareholders) need regular assessment and continuous monitoring? For instance, you may consider the Service Level Agreement or SLA. Generally, availability or service abilities are defined as parameters that can resolve many existing issues. By evaluating the performance of your SMS on a regular basis, you will be able to measure it against the relevant parameters.

Performance evaluation is essential to other ISO certifications, such as ISO 9001 certification as well.

3. Manage the Outsourced Services

No entrepreneur can do everything by himself or herself. It implies that assistance from a third party is needed. It is important to note that the performance of this third party can be visible to your customer and you may have to take responsibility for their performance. So, you should always supervise the services you are outsourcing.

4. Consider Customer Satisfaction

The prime endeavor of ISO 20000 Standard is to achieve customer gratification. Hence, it is important for you to find out how the overall process is doing. How should you determine that the system is performing as per your expectations? There are multiple ways through which you can determine customer satisfaction. Some of these ways are:

• Arranging customer satisfaction surveys
• Garnering inputs through business relationship and service level management
• Responding to customer complaints/compliments

5. Ensure Continuous Improvement

Maintaining continuous improvement is one of the crucial requirements of ISO 20000 certification. You should maintain the progress even when your SMS gets certified. If you fail to maintain the ongoing improvement, your SMS may fail to retain the validity of the certification.

6. Perform Internal Audit

An internal auditing program engages your top management and requires thorough preparation. However, once you manage to meet these requirements, you will be able to be more decisive. Taking firm decisions about budget approval and changing the scope of SMS will become easier.

7. Review Management Performance

Earlier, we have talked about the performance of the SMS. In this point, we are going to insist on management performance. ISO 20000 Standard needs active participation in the management. Hence, you should observe whether your management is performing all the essential tasks or something is still missing.

8. Arrange Training Programs to Increase Awareness

To maintain an ISO certified SMS, you may need to introduce new processes and tasks. Maintenance will become facile if you help your employees understand the operations of the system. You may arrange training programs to introduce your employees to the right ways of maintaining an ISO 20000-certified SMS.

A Final Takeaway

Don’t forget that certification audit will come back again and again even after gaining the certification. To turn the surveillance audit into a least stressful experience, you may count on the eight maintenance factors we have discussed in this article.