When it comes to business innovation, professionalism and quality standards, Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (“DUBAL”) – Dubai’s entirely state-owned enterprise that operates the world’s largest modern primary aluminium smelter with a captive power station – is a regional leader. Attesting to this, the company has not only implemented the processes based on I.T. Infrastructure Library (“ITIL”) – an international framework that provides a comprehensive set of guidelines for excellence in I.T. Service Management (“ITSM”); but also obtained certification to ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 – the first international industry standard aimed specifically at ITSM, and which is aligned with and complementary to the process approach defined within ITIL.

Importantly, DUBAL is the first Dubai government-owned company and the first manufacturing enterprise in the UAE to achieve ISO/IEC 20000 certification; and the third company in the UAE overall to obtain this status[1]. DUBAL’s President & CEO, Abdulla J M Kalban, who received the official certificate from Mustafa H Jassim (Deputy MD of TUV:SUD Middle East - a recognised certification body) on 6 September 2009, describes ISO/IEC 20000 certification as a vital component in realising DUBAL’s vision to become one of the world’s top primary aluminium producers by 2015. “The ISO/IEC 20000 standard describes an integrated set of management processes for effective delivery of services to a business and its customers. As such, it fully supports the customer-orientated, quality- and service-driven principles of our business.”

Ahmad M Almulla (DUBAL’s Vice President: Information Technology) agrees, saying that the main objective behind two-phased project was to strengthen the I.T. Department’s commitment to increase customer satisfaction by providing services aligned with business needs. “By improving DUBAL’s ITSM processes, we will be able to provide consistent quality I.T. services to all our users. Indeed, the combination of ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005 has the proven capacity to transform the quality of I.T. customer service in any organisation and, in doing so, deliver quantifiable business value.”

Almulla goes on to say that certification to ISO/IEC 2000 attests that DUBAL’s I.T. department is customer-focused; able to deliver service which meet defined quality levels; and making use of resources in an economical way. “By definition, it confirms that we have aligned our I.T. processes with the requirements of the ISO 20000 standard, which broadly corresponds to ITIL Best Practice,” says Almulla. “It also infers that we use a management approach in line with the ISO management standard ISO 9001:2000, which is not only based upon the principles of Business Process Management but also aimed at continuous quality improvement. These are important credentials for a global industry player such as DUBAL, especially as just 446 elite companies worldwide have obtained ISO/IEC 2000 certification.”

The 14-month project, dubbed “Polaris”, was completed through the collaborative effort of DUBAL’s entire I.T. Department, with invaluable support from the Quality Assurance, Purchasing, Legal, Corporate Relations, Recruitment, Training & Development, Employee Relations, HR Services, Security, Internal Audit and Business Performance Departments. “Our successful certification is a tribute to the discipline we have adopted to drive effectiveness, consistency, efficiency and high customer satisfaction,” adds Almulla. “However, ISO/IEC 20000 certification is not our ‘final destination’. Instead, it is a milestone on an ongoing journey in which the I.T. Department strives to achieve true business service management and grow continually in ITSM maturity. This approach, together with the embedded culture of continual improvement and our corporate strategies going forward, will increase the credibility and competitiveness of the I.T. function and therefore the company as a whole.”

As with other quality and service standards, DUBAL’s ISO/IEC 20000 certification is valid for three years but will be subject to regular re-certification audits and intermittent ISO/IEC 20000 assessments. Confident that the company will sustain its performance, Almulla says that DUBAL I.T. recently also completed and passed the re-certification audit, conducted by TUV-SUD Middle East, on the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 standard for its Information Security Management System. “We are extremely proud of our both certification standards,” he states. “These international benchmarks confirm the world-class foundations of our business model.”