KARACHI: Under its Enhancing IT Exports through Industry Support Program, the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has launched an initiative to assist software companies in achieving ISO certification, which would help companies in obtaining a greater share of the domestic as well as the global IT and ITeS market place.

An official said PSEB was hiring the services of consultants and auditors to advise and audit IT companies on ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 Certification. “PSEB will bear 80 percent of the consultancy and audit costs, while the companies will bear the remaining 20 percent,” the official said.

ISO/IEC 20000 is the first international standard for IT service management. ISO/IEC 20000 reflects best practice guidance contained within the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) framework.

According to the introduction of the project issued by PSEB, there is a need to establish a comprehensive Information Security Management System within all major IT companies of Pakistan as in the modern day business; they need to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of both vital corporate information and customer information.

ISO 27001 has fast become one of the world’s established biggest sellers and hence it is the right time to launch a project to assist IT companies in adopting this standard, the official said.

Pakistan IT has seen a recent up thrust and many companies are now working with blue chip companies of the world. Recent worldwide scams of client information trading illegally by the middle level office staff of certain companies have ignited the need of strong information security processes implementation around the globe.

As a result of these scams most foreign companies and organizations have now started to check the information security arrangements at their client companies before outsourcing any business to them. “Implementing this standard in the country’s IT industry would surely assist in the export business,” the official said.