26 ITadviser Winter 2009
AccreditUK
Elsewhere in this edition of ITadviser we celebrate the first
organisations to be accredited to the National Computing Centre's
new IT Department Accreditation Scheme. The ITDA scheme however,
has its foundations firmly in another NCC accreditation scheme � The
ICT Supplier Standard � known as Accredit UK.
The creation of this ICT Supplier Standard was driven by the regional
development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) who wanted to
address market failure issues that were inhibiting the growth of the
region's burgeoning ICT industry. In particular, small to medium sized
ICT businesses were finding it difficult to compete with established
providers because there wasn't a scheme that enabled these small
companies to be recognised for proven excellence where it existed. At
the same time the procurement processes and practices of purchasing
organisations often made it (and still make it) difficult for SME suppliers
to tender for work.
In 2005 AWM entered into an agreement with the National
Computing Centre (supported by the European Regional Development
Fund) to develop the ICT Supplier Standard, a quality mark and
business process improvement programme for SME suppliers. In doing
so they created Accredit UK (owned and run by NCC), which has
successfully developed and marketed the Accredit UK quality mark for
the ICT Supplier community.
The Accredit UK Standard is a quality assurance scheme that
recognises excellence in the supply of ICT services from sole traders to
multi-national companies and enables purchasers to easily identify
quality suppliers. It also commits the holders to a path of continual
improvement, all of which is assessed and audited by third-party,
independent accredited assessors.
To ensure relevance to the breadth of services provided in the market
Accredit UK takes a segmented approach to service delivery and
accreditation is currently available in six segments for organisations that
provide services in: Communications (Network Design and Installation),
Software Product Design and Development, ICT Consultancy and newly
available in New media and e-Commerce, Information Assurance, and
Solutions Design, Integration and Deployment.
The National Computing Centre's Chief Executive Steve Markwell is
convinced the Accredit UK standard is adding real value, "In a tough
economic climate, purchasers want to ensure that they are dealing with
credible, competent and reliable suppliers. The Accredit UK quality
mark gives them confidence that the organisations they are dealing
with have the right processes, people and performance standards in
place to deliver an excellent job."
He continued, "Public sector purchasers now have to comply with the
findings from the Glover Report which recommends that they should
review their procurement processes to make them more accessible and
fairer for SME suppliers to compete. The Accredit UK quality mark will
enable them to identify suppliers who are fit for purpose and thus
remove some of the pain of complying with this laudable aim."
Over 180 organisations have signed up to the standard and more are
doing so every week. The standard has now become available
nationwide and Accredit UK have a national network of third-party,
independent assessors to carry out assessments of organisations.
Whilst the IT Department Accreditation Scheme's target audience
differs to that of the ICT Supplier Standard the two standards are based
on the same framework. Whether the entity being assessed is an IT
department or an ICT supplier the accreditation process takes a similar,
holistic approach to prove excellence in a given area by measuring the
whole of an organisation's, or a department's people, process and
performance factors across the five stages of a business' operations:
Business Management � how well does a business, or an IT
department manage itself and its personnel?
Business Direction � how well has a business, or department planned
its strategy?
Business Generation � how well does a business or department go
about generating new custom?
Delivery and Operations � how well does a business or department
carry out its activities?
Customer Relationships � how well does a business or department
work with its customers?
By looking at these 5 Stages, an organisation or an IT department can
be sure that it has covered every area of operation.
Robin Bennett of Start Software (Certified in Software Product
Design and Development) sums up what many of the organisations
accredited to the ICT Supplier Standard feel, "We wanted to
demonstrate our quality approach to doing business. Software
development can be a difficult process at times, through this
certification we can demonstrate that our work will be to a high
quality."
ICT suppliers and purchasers can find out more about the ICT
Supplier Standard at www.accredituk.com
IT departments can find out more about the NCC's IT Department
Accreditation Scheme at www.ncc.co.uk
Recognition
deserved
Michael Dean looks at how the Accredit UK ICT Supplier Standard underpins
NCC's IT Department Accreditation.

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