We’re thrilled for the Dutch Police, which today, became the world’s first public sector organisation to gain ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification! It received its certificate today from Brand Compliance, the certification scheme auditor, after successfully meeting all requirements.
The Dutch Police’s Marc Goedhart, Audit Coordinator, and John Haenen, Software Asset Consultant, lead the project with support from Rosalie Kramer, IT-Sector Head.
The certification journey
The Dutch Police’s certification journey began in 2022, 10 years after it established a dedicated Software Asset Management (SAM) function with help from Managed Service Provider Softline Group Northern Europe (which is also a ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification partner). This started with a series of informal, internal reviews and audits. Despite the Dutch Police having one of The Netherland’s most mature SAM practices, Softline identified some gaps and needed improvements.
During the scoping exercise, it was decided that certification would focus specifically on commercial software licensing. Work then began to create and implement an ISO ITAM management system so the SAM team could effectively document, manage, review and change SAM practices appropriately and efficiently.
“Creating and implementing ITAM processes is a continuous process,” said John. “It’s not a ‘once and done’ situation. It never stops. Changes are needed to meet business objectives, and there’s always room for improvement.”
Putting in place an ITAM management system involved undertaking a SWOT analysis, stakeholder analysis and environmental analysis. Regarding stakeholders, it required the ITAM team to have increased engagement and better communication with several key stakeholders. These included: security management, risk management, financial management and product line managers with budget authority to procure software.
Certification benefits
According to Marc, certification has brought numerous internal and external benefits, including:
- gaining trust with software vendors
- motivating the SAM team
- adding structure to stakeholder relations
- setting an example for the rest of the organisation to become more professional with their processes
It also helped to raise the ITAM’s team profile.
“We have a new CTO, Joop van der Born, who is very enthusiastic about our certification and wants to be involved with ITAM,” said Marc. “Certification has certainly helped to put our team on the map.”
Already looking to the future, the Dutch Police plans to extend its ISO/IEC 19770-1 accreditation to also include Hardware Asset Management (HAM), resulting in certification of its entire ITAM practice.
In March 2023, the ITAM Forum brought to market the world’s first, globally recognised and accepted ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification scheme. Organisations that gain certification can now unequivocally state the quality of their ITAM practice.
To learn more about the ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification scheme, see our Knowledge Base and FAQ webpage. You can also take our online quiz to see if your organisations is ready for certification.