ISO/IEC 20000-1 certification of service management systems

It independently demonstrates that services are managed systematically: that service levels are agreed and measured, that incidents, problems and changes are handled in an orderly way, that capacity, availability and continuity are planned, and that results are reported and improved. Certification is carried out after an on-site audit by a partner certification body accredited by IAS, USA.

For all organizations that provide services — IT, financial, insurance, consultancy, healthcare, education, legal, administrative. The main category of companies that apply it are IT companies: providers of support, hosting, cloud services and infrastructure management, as well as internal IT departments.

ITIL is a framework of good practices for IT service management — it describes how processes can be organized, and people are trained in it. ISO/IEC 20000-1 is an international standard with requirements: it defines what the system must achieve, and an organization is certified to it after an audit. The two complement each other — many organizations build their processes on ITIL and demonstrate that they work through ISO/IEC 20000-1 certification. A detailed comparison is available in the article ISO/IEC 20000-1 — IT service management system.

Yes — by IAS, USA (No. MSCB-206). Certification is carried out through a partner certification body whose name is given in the quote. IAS is not a member of the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA), so if you need a certificate with European recognition in the IT field, the appropriate standard is ISO/IEC 27001. What accreditation means and what to check with any body is explained on the Accreditation and How to choose a certification body pages.

The IAF CertSearch register lists certificates issued under accreditation recognized within Global ACI. ISO/IEC 20000-1 is not among the schemes covered by this recognition, so the certificate is verified with the body that issued it, by number and validity. If a client or contracting authority wants a certificate listed in IAF CertSearch, the solution in the IT field is ISO/IEC 27001.

Yes. The main body of the standard follows the common structure of ISO management system standards, so the documentation, internal audits and management review are shared. The optimal option for managing processes in the IT sector is an integrated system to ISO/IEC 20000-1 and ISO/IEC 27001, based on an implemented and certified quality management system to ISO 9001. For certification to several standards at the same time, see the article Certification to two or more standards.

The price depends mainly on the number of employees, the services in scope and the sites — these determine the extent of the audit. That is why every quote is individual. You will find a guide to the factors involved on the Pricing page, and you receive an exact quote within 2 hours of your enquiry. If you already hold a certificate from another body, the transfer is a free procedure — you pay only the agreed audit fee: Certificate transfer.

The audit has two stages: a review of the documentation, the scope of services and readiness, followed by an on-site check of how the processes work in practice. The certificate is valid for 3 years, with a surveillance audit every year and a recertification audit before it expires. More about the process on the Certification page.

It is not mandatory — many organizations use consultants because they have the experience and qualifications needed to conduct the internal audit in line with the auditing standard ISO 19011:2026 — Guidelines for auditing management systems. The consultant must be independent of the certification body: the body that certifies you cannot provide you with consultancy on the same system. This is an impartiality requirement under ISO/IEC 17021-1.