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First organization to win BS15000 resigns from scheme to restore industry harmony

August 23, 2004

Axios Systems (www.axiossystems.com), which announced earlier this year it had become the first organization in the world to achieve BS15000 certification as verified by the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF), announced today it had withdrawn from the scheme.

The global IT Service Management (ITSM) software solution provider said it had taken the decision with regret, ending confusion which its success appeared to have generated in the ITSM community.

BS15000 is the first worldwide standard aimed specifically at ITSM and is based on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®), the internationally accepted Best Practice framework. The certification scheme was launched by the itSMF last year to provide independent verification against the standard.

Axios Systems, awarded BS15000 certification on 27 February this year following an audit by KPMG, said it would continue to promote the scheme’s benefits but was cancelling its certification to ease industry tensions and because of uncertainty over the applicability of certification to both service providers and software solution vendors. Its position as an ITSM solution vendor had caused confusion in the market in terms of whether it was the company itself which was certified or its core solution, assyst - a situation which Axios felt was an unfortunate side-effect of achieving its first place.

Axios remains the only ITSM vendor to have won BS15000 accreditation, a success due in large measure to internal use of assyst.

“We’re very sad to announce our resignation from the scheme,” said Tasos Symeonides, the firm’s Managing Director. “Axios was the first organization in the world to achieve this certification and we shall continue to be evangelists for BS15000 and its supporting Best Practice framework”.

“However, the discord which has arisen within the ITSM community surrounding the scheme and our position in it has led us to conclude that the most responsible action we can take is to unilaterally resign our accreditation in order to restore industry harmony.”

Ailsa Symeonides, Sales and Marketing Director, commented: “As a vendor, we believe we have a responsibility to the market to step down in order to ensure we cannot be accused of jeopardizing the scheme and causing confusion.”

She said Axios’ support for the itSMF was as strong as ever. “The Forum is too important for the ITSM community around the world to be placed at the mercy of vested interests,” she stated.

“Some people in the industry felt the marketing of our certification success and the benefits offered by the scheme gave us an edge over those vendors yet to achieve certification,” Mrs Symeonides went on.

One of the latest examples of Axios’ backing of BS15000 has been its support for the recent launch of the Australian equivalent, AS8018.

Brian Kerr, BS15000 Project Director for Axios Systems who has just returned from a tour in Australia to promote the scheme, said: “We trust our actions will restore harmony in the industry. We sought BS15000 to show we practice what we preach in terms of Best Practice and ITIL®, and to assist ITSM in leading the message to the market. That message remains firmly intact.”

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