Accreditations and certifications reassure partners, customers, suppliers, regulators and other stakeholders that S&SHIS’s operational procedures and processes comply with best practice standards. We are proud of our existing accreditations and certifications and continue to look at others as part of our continual drive for service improvement.
ISO27001
Information security has never been so important to the NHS and wider public sector, given the increasing cyber threats that all organisations now face. Protecting information in the current climate is of paramount importance and as an ISO27001 certified supplier we can demonstrate our strong commitment to adopting a robust approach to information security.
ISO27001 is an international standard that sets out the specification for an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and all of our services fall within the scope of our ISMS and we have been ISO27001 certified since 2015.
ISO27001 gives us a formalised and widely recognised and accepted approach for managing information security through good IT risk management and addressing control areas relating to people, processes and technology. We get independently audited on an annual basis by an ISO27001 accreditation body to confirm that we remain compliant with the requirements of the standard and are continually improving how we manage information security.
In 2022, the ISO auditor commented that our ISMS was
excellently managed, maintained and supported by existing documentation…top management commitment was evident…and the organisation continues to support its management system and has made investments in continued development and updating of the system that ensures the management system’s effectiveness.
Service Desk Certification
Service Desk Certification (SDC) is an accreditation programme to certify service desk quality. The certification provides clear and measurable benchmarks for IT organisations. The audit builds a picture of S&SHIS as an organisation and challenges us to look afresh at our service operations and examine what we deliver and how. Annual audits carried out by the Service Desk Institute allows up to demonstrate our competence, identify key areas for improvement and celebrate our successes.
Driven by our Management Team, Service Desk Manager and Service Leads, who are fully committed to the certification, we achieved 2 star Proactive Service Desk certification at our first audit in 2019. Following a programme of continual improvement and further investment into the training of our staff to best practice standards, we achieved 3 star Customer Lead level at our 2021 audit and have maintained (increased our point score) our 3 star Customer Lead level following our 2022 audit.
Keeping up Certification:
The work doesn’t stop! We strive to be the best Service Desk in the public sector and aim to be 4 star Business Lead following our 2023 audit. Our Service Desk is constantly working on our roadmap for continual improvement in order to ensure we can deliver continued service excellence and to retain certified status of our Service Desk.