(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Managed services industry professional association the MSPAlliance (www.mspalliance.com) announced on Tuesday that it has introduced the Unified Certification Standard, a new standard for service providers offering both cloud and managed services.
According to the organization, the UCS offers service providers in each of those markets a standard that is “specific to their industry and profession,” along with a public-facing report, generated by a third-party audit, that can be used to provide assurance to clients.
The UCS applies to both cloud and managed services, adding some flexibility to its existing standards, given the close relationship between the two services.
It will provide two levels of certification for both company types – level one has a fixed certification date, and level two is “forward looking in nature.”
According to the UCS information page on the MSPAlliance website, applicants for the certification are audited according to a long list of criteria that includes financial health, hiring procedures, physical security, service level agreements and many other key service provider functions.
“The Unified Certification Standard is unique as it not only builds upon the groundbreaking work accomplished by leading MSPs when they created the Managed Services Accreditation Program back in 2005, but is also the first of its kind to offer both a MSP and cloud service, non-technical provider certification,” said Charles Weaver, president and co-founder of MSPAlliance, in a statement. “This certification will offer the service provider a public facing report issued by an independent third party, certified public accounting firm that will provide greater levels of assurance – more than any technical certification – to the service provider and their clients.”
The announcement asserts that the certification is a affordable way for a broad range of companies to gain access to an audited report that can provide customers with some assurance as to the reliability of the company being certified. This could lend some real value to the certification.
In a lengthy blog post on the MSPAlliance site, Weaver lays out the reasoning behind the new standard.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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