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Fujitsu NZ achieves ISO/IEC 20000 certified IT vendor status

by Garry Lambert *

Leading IT vendor Fujitsu New Zealand Limited recently achieved certification to ISO/IEC 20000:2005, Information technology – Service management, following Fujitsu Australia’s successful ISO/IEC 20000 certification in 2008. The accomplishment is seen as the cornerstone of an expanding portfolio of best practice certifications, including the ISO/IEC 27001 information security and ISO 14001 environmental management system standards.

The company states that it will now follow one model for consistent high service delivery, irrespective of size or type of client, and demonstrate continual service improvement in conformity with the International Standard.

Under pressure

With IT service providers under sustained pressure to deliver high quality services at minimum cost aligned with their customer’s business needs, ISO/IEC 20000 was introduced to enable organizations to benchmark their capability in delivering managed services, measuring service levels and assessing performance. The standard offers Fujitsu opportunities to drive for efficiencies in delivery while improving customer service.

Year-long project

Fujitsu NZ’s year-long ISO/IEC 20000 implementation project involved three increasingly demanding internal site-by-site audits to ensure that genuine change across every level and every office had occurred before the independent third-party certification audit in September 2010. The formal awarding of the certificate took place in January 2011.

“We were confident we would deliver this project on time as we were coming off a very high base and had full executive support. We had 90 % of the basic requirements already in place due to our commitment to ITIL (the Information Technology Infrastructure Library*),” said Roland Estrella, Service Improvement Manager, Fujitsu NZ, who was responsible for the project.

Quality of service


According to Fujitsu NZ, ISO/IEC 20000 certification mandates the maintenance of the highest internationally recognized standard of IT service management. How the company relates to its customers under the standard covers aspects such as service processes, resource allocation, time and delivery management, and engagement with individuals involved end-to-end within customer projects.

While ISO/IEC 20000 is not a mandatory component of current tenders, Fujitsu sees that its customers have growing expectations of their IT suppliers. To be competitive, and improve market competency and strategy, the company considers external certifications such as this as invaluable reference points for new business and in retaining existing customers.

“This major achievement”

To find out more about Fujitsu NZ’s IT service management initiative, ISO Focus+ interviewed Managing Director, Stuart Stitt, about the company’s objectives, implementation challenges and benefits in implementing and certifying to ISO/IEC 20000:

ISO Focus+: What was Fujitsu NZ’s main objective in implementing ISO/IEC 20000?

Stuart Stitt: To realize Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand’s vision – “To be one of the clear top three ICT companies in the Australia-New Zealand market-place”.

Attaining the ISO/IEC 20000 certification enables Fujitsu NZ to understand better how to enhance the quality of IT services delivered to its customers, both internally and externally. And in order to stay competitive, and improve market competency and strategy, the external certification such as ISO/IEC 20000 is an important reference when working with new customers and working to continue servicing our existing customers.

Fujitsu wanted to prove its leadership position in service management and the maturity of its IT Service Management best practices, its dedication to customer and internal continual improvement, and be one of first companies in New Zealand to accomplish this major achievement.

ISO Focus+: Were there any particular challenges in the implementation process, or did you find the standard’s requirements a good fit with your company’s processes?

Stuart Stitt: ISO/IEC 20000 is a good fit within Fujitsu NZ because of our adherence to, and maturity of, ITIL processes. This played a key role in passing ISO/IEC 20000 certification. ITIL is usually the starting point of bringing processes to fix problems in IT service management and service design. ISO/IEC 20000 is implemented when firms want to move to the higher level of consistently adopting best practices across the organization.

ISO Focus+: Did you have to change any existing procedures to meet requirements?

Stuart Stitt: There were minor additions and changes that we did to meet the standard; we also realigned ourselves more with our Australian counterparts. We have added more emphasis on the continual improvement of our services on a periodic basis.

ISO Focus+: Did you carry out any staff training to help the process, or to gain staff ‘buy-in’ and commitment to the standard’s recommended working practices and procedures?

Stuart Stitt: Fujitsu senior managers undertook ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation training to ensure strong base knowledge of the standard and its guidelines.

As part of spreading the awareness of ISO/IEC 20000, Roland conducted introductory overviews with most staff in the organization from analysts to me, the managing director. This activity further promoted the ISO/IEC 20000 initiative and gathered staff commitments to make the certification a success story.

ISO Focus+: Have you already seen any advantages and benefits of ISO/IEC 20000 implementation and certification?

Stuart Stitt: There is consistency of services being delivered to customers regardless of size. The focus on improvement has helped us ensure the basics are always undertaken, or if they are not, putting a spotlight on them and addressing the issue quickly.

Getting the basics right and demonstrating regular improvements ensures customers have the confidence to expand their services with Fujitsu as new projects come up in the business. We reference our certification for new customers as well as using it to provide proof that we are serious about quality service, business alignment and continuous improvement; it is expected that it will continue to create positive outcomes for Fujitsu.

* ITIL, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, developed in the United Kingdom by the Office of Governance Commerce on behalf of the British government, is a set of concepts and best practices for all British Government data centres to ensure comparable services. Today, ITIL provides general guidelines for service management, and contains documentation on how to plan, deliver and support IT service features.

* Garry Lambert is British freelance journalist based in Geneva, Switzerland.