BT's NHS broadband network organisation given seal of approval
BT today announced that N3SP, the unit within BT responsible for building and supporting the broadband network for the NHS under the £12.4 billion National Programme for Information Technology, has received one of industry’s top accolades for service management with its accreditation to ISO 20000 - the world’s first standard for IT service management.
ISO 20000 sets out requirements against which an organisation can be assessed for effective IT service management process and performance. It provides an integrated framework for delivering and managing IT services to the customer, encouraging a more service orientated and customer focused organisation.
According to the International Standards Organisation, with up to 80 per cent of information technology budgets of most organisations directly linked to service management processes, the new standard is also expected to lead to costs savings for users as well as increased productivity and improved customer service.
Increasingly customers, particularly those in the public sector, will only consider companies for large IT contracts if they are accredited to this standard. The NHS already insists that for large outsourced contracts its suppliers meet this standard or its predecessor, BS 15000.
Patrick O’Connell, managing director BT Health, said: “We continue to make good progress on our NHS contracts and today’s news that N3SP has been given the seal of approval by gaining ISO 20000 accreditation rounds off a good year. This independent endorsement is an example of our commitment to providing a high standard of service to all our customers.”
Stuart Hill, chief executive of BT N3SP, said: “This standard is important because it provides a baseline against which an organisation can demonstrate its service delivery processes conform to best practices and are performing well.
“This has really been a team effort and we have drawn on the expertise of our people on BT’s other NHS National Programme contracts which have been accredited with ISO 20000 predecessor, BS 15000."
“This globally recognised standard is all about industry-wide best practice and gives our customer the confidence that they have a totally customer focussed supplier. It is a tangible example of how BT Global Services is a true world-class services organisation.”
BT was awarded the £530 million N3 contract in February 2004. It has since created one of Europe’s largest secure virtual private networks. N3SP is an autonomous unit within BT and is supplier agnostic, meaning it provides the NHS with broadband connections at best value from a range of suppliers.
BT has have installed about 16,000 connections and is confident that it will complete the 18,000 roll out by the end of March 2007.
BT Broadband
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