On April 15, 2011, The international organization of standards (ISO) released a revised requirements document from ISO 20000.  The new version, ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 replaces the ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 version.  Updated copies of the standard can be purchased directly from the ISO.org website.   The guidance document or Code of Practice will not be available until later this year. 

What do the changes mean for you?  If you have already received  your certification, you have until June 2013 to fully transition your Service Management System.  If you are expecting to certify in 2011, check with your registrar to see if you need to update your SMS.  If you are just beginning, we recommend you utilize the new standard which went into effect on June 1, 2011.  

Sally Smoczynski, managing partner at Radian Compliance, detailed the changes between the 2005 and 2011 versions.  To review the changes, link to Continuity Compliance.org.

Recently, a decision was made by one of our staff writers, Sally A. Smoczynski, to summarize a listing of benefits that we believe are gained by an organization upon completion and integration of the ISO 20000 standard into their organization.

Sally wrote an article on the topic and posted it on the web for everyone to view.  That posting is on a new Business Continuity Lifeline website located at http://www.continuitycompliance.org/information/it-service-management/iso-20000-implementation-benefits-gained/ .  We hope that this information adds meaningful content if your organization is just now considering an ISO 20000 implementation or even if you have already integrated the standard into your company.

And as always, we welcome your thoughts and comments on this posting — that will most certainly assist our own continuous improvement efforts in this area.

The job description of a CIO has always included several non-technical responsibilities — i.e. corporate strategy, compliance, and human resource management.  Today most CIO’s must go beyond assuring that the organization meets its compliance requirements with a growing number of laws and regulations.

Today we see a strong trend for ethics to be included in a CIO’s job description …e.g.  they must promote the right behaviors in their employees and flag and correct wrong behavior by those same employees..  

Mary K. Pratt, a contributing writer for Computerworld, has addressed this topic and her article is good reading to recommend to the CIO in your organization.

Click here to read more about how more ethics disasters can be avoided in organizations…..