In the certification process, an external auditor reviews the supplier’s services against the standard.

”The certificate indicates to us that Fujitsu has thought out its service processes thoroughly and that the services are produced and developed in a systematic manner,” says partnership manager Merja Liikanen of Raisio Oyj.

Last April Fujitsu received the same certificate for its Patja service. Both certificates are first and only of their kind in Finland. ISO/IEC20000-1:2005 is the first international IT service management standard.

Service manager Mika Lunnevuori of Fujitsu says that auditing the service is about so much more than just its operational functionality.

”The certification process incorporates a wide range of elements: how the service is planned and produced; what kind of strategies it involves; how the service is managed and developed; what kind of operating models there are to ensure sufficient competence and resources; how changes are managed.” There are 170 items in the requirements list.

”It’s a given that operational development is an integral part of everything we do,” Liikanen points out. The Sohva agreement with Raisio was signed in 2006. The service covers the day-to-day maintenance, user support and development of approximately 70 applications that have 800 users.

Discrepancies are an opportunity

Fujitsu has for years developed its services in accordance with ITIL IT infrastructure library. ITIL is a collection of best practices in producing IT services. The ISO20000 standard is also based on ITIL.

The certification review was conducted by Inspecta Sertifiointi Oy. Based on the review, some of Fujitsu’s service descriptions were further specified, for example. Also, continuity planning and change management needed a little touch-up. All detected discrepancies were minor.

”I think discrepancies are a positive thing. They tell us that someone has found a development need that has slipped our own eyes,” says Liikanen.

Processes put into practice

Lunnevuori points out that the discrepancies detected in Raisio’s Sohva service were not fixed just there but applied in all Fujitsu processes.
”Our purpose is to improve operational quality in all our customer relationships.”

Quite naturally, the certificate is not end in itself but the actual service production and its quality.

”An essential evaluation criterion is how well the processes are put into practice. It is not enough to have them presented in fancy tables and figures,” says Liikanen.

In Merja Liikanen’s opinion the certificate proves that Fujitsu has truly adopted the idea of quality culture.

”Should there emerge something unexpected in the operation, Fujitsu itself brings it up.”

Mika Lunnevuori also brings up the fact that although quality is the main overall objective, the costs shall also remain reasonable.

”High operational quality also translates into reasonable costs,” Liikanen sums up.