What is ISO 20700?
ISO 20700 Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services is a standard that was created to serve as a guideline for people and companies in managing management consulting services effectively. ISO project committee ISO/PC 280 created this standard. In June 2017, ISO 20700 was issued for the first time.
Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services (ISO 20700) is a set of guidelines designed to enable management consultancy service providers (MCSPs) and their clients increase transparency and knowledge of their consulting assignments in order to achieve better results. The proper implementation of this International Standard allows service providers to reduce risk in management consulting assignments, provide valuable expertise to an organisation when commencing organisational growth and/or transformation, and deliver higher value to their clients.
All MCSPs, regardless of size or operation field, are covered by ISO 20700, which includes associations, governmental and non-governmental organisations, partnerships, and so on. The standard allows MCSPs to protect their innovation and distinctiveness while emphasising the significance of knowing and addressing clients' demands.
What benefits will it bring to my organization?
This standard aims to improve management consultants' quality, professionalism, ethical behaviour, and interoperability, hence increasing their efficacy and creating greater customer trust.
For management consultancies, use of the standard will improve client understanding and visibility of the benefits they can experience through the use of their services.
For clients of management consultancies using the standard, it will increase the value added and reduce the risk of misunderstanding or error when using management consultancy services, by helping them to better understand what they can expect from a management consultant in a consultancy project and thus ensure more predictable outcomes.
Who is ISO 20700 for?
ISO 20700 is written from the perspective of management consulting and is aimed at management consulting service providers, but clients and other stakeholders in the management consulting industry can benefit from using the standard by getting a clearer picture of what their services entail and what outcomes they can expect.
What about certification?
Based on research and the experience of a wide range of consultancies and their clients, ISO 20700 offers recommendations to improve the specification, execution, acceptance of the product, and closure of management consultancy services.
Because this standard only provides advice rather than requirements, it is not suitable for certification.