ISO 20000

ISO 20000 is the international standard for service management. Part 1 of the ISO 20000 standard lays out a specification for a service management system (SMS). Part 2 provides guidance on SMS implementation. On this page you’ll find information on the ISO 20000 standard itself, as well as relevant books, training and resources.

Benefits of ISO 20000

  • offers competitive differentiation by demonstrating reliability and high quality of service;
  • gives access to key markets, as many organisations in the public sector mandate that their IT service providers demonstrate compliance with ISO 20000;
  • provides assurance to clients that their service requirements will be fulfilled;
  • enforces a measurable level of effectiveness and a culture of continual improvement by enabling service providers to monitor, measure and review their service management processes and services;
  • drives down the costs of conformance to a multitude of regulations, including the PCI DSS and Sarbanes-Oxley;
  • helps leverage ITIL practices to optimise resources and processes.

During the audit you will be assessed on:


  • Documentation control
  • Records being kept
  • Staff and management conformance to the system
  • How the system is working in each area of the organisation
  • Staff training necessary to meet the requirements

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What is ISO 20000?

ISO 20000, often referred to simply as ISO 20000, is the international IT Service Management standard that enables IT organisations (whether in-house, outsourced or external) to ensure that their IT service management processes are aligned both with the needs of the business and with international best practice. ISO 20000 helps organisations benchmark how they deliver managed services, measure service levels, and assess their performance. It is broadly aligned with, and draws strongly on, ITIL®.