Version 1, the IT consulting and managed services company, has been certified in the international IT service management standard ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011. The certification covers all of the company’s managed services offerings.
The standard promotes an integrated process approach to the delivery of IT services and allows organisations to demonstrate excellence and best practice in IT management. Michael Brophy, CEO of certification body Certification Europe, said to date Version 1 is the only organisation in the country to gain certification to ISO 20001:2011.
Brendan McGettrick, head of commercial services at Version 1, told Siliconrepublic.com that the company’s managed services business has grown dramatically through the current recession, which made investing in ISO 20000 a necessary progression from the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) initiative it undertook six years ago.
“Whilst cost savings remain the primary driver for outsourcing in both the private and public sector, recent tenders tell us that customers place almost equal weighting on the vendor’s approach to quality and process management in IT service delivery,” he said. This was particularly apparent in a recent commercial sector win where the customer moved its managed services from an offshore provider to Version 1, McGettrick added.
Catherine Hughes, Version 1’s head of managed services, said achieving ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 is an important differentiator providing its customers with an independent assessment of the quality and repeatability of the company’s managed services. She added that it would help to attract and retain customers by driving increased productivity and reducing costs to customers.
“This certification is industry recognition of the maturity of our managed services. ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 requires hard evidence that our Managed Service Practice is complying with every part of the standard and that we are committed to continually improving the service we provide our customers,” Hughes added.
Version 1 has operated a managed services practice in Ireland since 2000 and has 140 customers supported by a team of more than 100 IT support professionals. The company has been growing recently and now employs 280 staff between offices in Dublin, Belfast and Cork. Version 1 was recently named ‘Company of the Year’ at the 2011 ICT Excellence Awards and was recognised as the 2011 Microsoft Country Partner of the Year.
Photo: The Version 1 team celebrates that it is the first company in Ireland to achieve the international IT service management standard (ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011), awarded by Certification Europe Ltd. The company has been awarded for demonstrating excellence and best practice in IT management
