How would your organization benefit from an external Audit?

As Mrs Doyle, (think lots of tea in Father Ted) was fond of saying, “Ah, go on, go on, go on “

Perhaps the business world isn’t quite ready for someone as persistent and persuasive as Mrs Doyle knocking on your door but there appears to be a reluctance to open your ITSM process suite to the external auditors.

Auditing though, plays a key role in the implementation and maintenance of an effective Service Management system.

Regular audits against an ISO 20000 framework help organisations achieve compliance and develop a competitive edge by promoting continual improvement in the IT Service Management lifecycle. An external audit will provide impartial assessment of core processes and activities against an International Standard.    

Another benefit is that it can help ensure that your ITSM processes are in line with the needs and direction of the business. It will allow you to identify areas where you can improve performance and crucially, accuracy, based on a non-negotiable standard.

If you deal with other organisations in a supply chain or companies in different countries who have different cultures the common denominator will be an understanding that you all observe a measured process.

It’s worth thinking about cost, value and return on investment at this point in proceedings.   

Spending money on prevention is less expensive than having to deal with an issue. It can cost your business up to 10 times as much to deal with an issue once it reaches the customer than if you had caught it in house and would have cost you a tenth of that to prevent the same issue occurring in the first place. This is where an external IT Audit can really add value.

Good process management and acceptance of the outcomes from an audit can be game changing.

It’s a bit like making a Victoria Sponge (200 g caster sugar, 200 g softened butter, 4 eggs, beaten etc). It shouldn’t matter who we are or our prowess in the kitchen. As long as we follow the same recipe, we can all be Mary Berry for the day.

Now what goes perfectly with a slice of cake? That’s right, a cup of tea. “Ah, go on, you know you want to!”