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TechDogs-"A Beginner’s Guide To IT Services Management Software"

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A Beginner’s Guide To IT Service Management (ITSM) Software

By TechDogs Editorial Team

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Overview

It's a typical Monday at work. You've reached the office and you're starting with your first (not so enjoyable) task of the day – checking your emails. You hurriedly open your browser, only to be welcomed by the message "No internet connection." You check with your colleagues; they've all got speedy internet. After screaming at the heaven like Joey, "Why, God, Why?" you report the issue to the IT desk and wait for an IT person to tend to your problem. After 52 long minutes, the IT personnel arrives, works on your system for another half an hour and voila, you have the internet back. Soon after he leaves, you get a feedback message from the IT team asking if you were happy with the resolution. After doing the needful, you move on with the day.

What if we told you that the same issue could have been taken care of in no more than 12 minutes? All you needed was an IT Service Management Software to help your IT team do their job better and faster.

Irrespective of the department and designation, IT bugs test the best of us. This article will explain how you can manage your IT services better by leveraging an IT Services Management Software.

Here's a million-dollar question for you. What's more important – the goal or the process? Would you consider a service complete even if its process is completely messed up? Let us lay this down for you with an example.

Imagine you slipped and twisted your ankle. You go to a clinic for care where the receptionist greets you and then schedules you directly for surgery. Next, a nurse puts on a neck brace and promptly wheels you away to receive an x-ray of your chest. Finally, you get to see the doctor, who asks you about the reason for your visit after examining your tonsils. You eventually leave with a prescription for pain medication along with crutches.

TechDogs-"IT Services Management Software"-A Woman With A Broken Leg Visiting The Hospital

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Confused, right? Getting a service is very different from purchasing a product; the process and the delivery matter a lot. The service at the hospital was not delivered right because there was no process to it. Everyone was busy doing their own thing, oblivious to the other parts of the service.

While we may have gone for a tad bit of exaggeration there, the above situation is quite commonplace. In fact, you'd find that every business faces a similar issue in managing and delivering their IT services. Since your IT department has to coordinate within its own verticals as well as all the other departments in the company, more often than not, the process goes haywire, leading to additional costs and delay in delivery.

To avoid the clinic scenario, you could provide your IT team with IT Service Management Software. It's an end-to-end tool that can help your team manage and coordinate among different IT services. Let's dive in to understand what IT Service Management Software has in store for your business.

What Is IT Service Management Software?

Before we talk about the software, here's a quick brief of what ITSM means. IT service management refers to the practice of delivering IT services in an organized manner such that there's a defined process to it that aligns with the priorities of the business and the satisfaction of its customers. In simpler words, it's the process of defining, creating, delivering, supporting and managing end-to-end IT services.

These services could include data storage and security management, devices and asset management and network and performance management, among others. Essentially, managing any business-related technology that affects the customer experience falls under IT services.

You probably must have figured out by now that the tool used to monitor and deal with such issues is known as IT Service Management (ITSM) Software.

An IT Service Management Software helps your IT team manage end-to-end services and support across departments and verticals. Any issue or concern that you have related to any piece of technology that you use at your workplace is taken care of using ITSM Software. This technology could range from your work laptop to the company's broadband connection to data servers and even applications that you use to get work done.

Keeping an oversight on every possible technology at a workplace becomes very empowering for your IT team. However, this was not the case a few years back. Let's see how ITSM technology has evolved to its present form.

History And Evolution Of ITSM

The popular narrative for the origin of ITSM dates back to 1989, when Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a standard for Information Technology management and administration, was introduced.

However, IT service management is older than ITIL. While ITIL didn't bring forth the term ITSM, the practice of service management had been in place for quite some time. Back then, managing IT services was often offloaded to vendors who would provide support to help their customers use their technology. In fact, much before the ITIL, vendors provided services like configuration management, change management, problem management, capacity planning, availability management and disaster recovery to their customers. Not just that, service management, in general, had begun taking the forefront for businesses. A lot of that can be credited to Richard Normann's book "Service Management: Strategy and Leadership in the Service Business" which brought forth the idea of service-based thinking and providing service excellence.

Nothing but these services brought together with the thinking of providing excellent service to customers led to the concept of IT service management that was penned down in the ITIL in 1989. As interesting that was, what you really want to know is how these tools work, right?

That’s exactly what we have covered next!

How Does IT Service Management Software Work?

ITSM Software could be considered a workflow management tool that has been customized for IT services. Like any other workflow tool, it monitors the progress of tasks. The only difference here is the stages of different IT services are already listed. So, you would have the system already supporting ticketing management, right from the time a request is made to the time the issue is resolved. Cool, right!

An ITSM Software can carry out this process through its 5 key features:

Incident And Problem Management

Dealing with any interruptions in service and handling any recurring issues that arise at multiple junctions simultaneously.
Asset Management

Tracking, assigning and mapping physical assets and devices of the organization.
Change And License Management

Managing any updates in the services and keeping everyone abreast regarding upcoming changes or license renewals.
Knowledge Management

Documenting solutions and best practices in a knowledge base to create the best possible IT service model.
Ticket Management

Assigning tickets to relevant personnel based on technical expertise and monitoring the ticket until resolution.

For any business, how well their IT services are managed defines how customers feel about them, making ITSM extremely important. How important, though?

Why is IT Service Management Important?

If you have an up-and-coming business with even a single designated 'IT guy,' you're already on the path of IT service management. When you grow from a small team to a multi-vertical organization, your IT guy would need a tool to do the job better. With too many departments and people to lend support to, your IT guy(s) would have to prioritize tasks and that's where ITSM Software would become their greatest ally. However, not just your IT team but your entire business reaps its benefits. ITSM Software allows your business to standardize IT processes that help you save costs and deliver better services much faster.

Benefits Of ITSM Software

Apart from the above, businesses realize other benefits from using a IT Services Management Software as well.

Better Workflow, Better Collaboration

With a technology-enabled process workflow, there's less possibility of human error and better coordination between teams.
Optimum Use Of IT human resources

With fewer admin tasks on their plate, your IT team can focus their time on getting work done.
Save Time And Money

With reduced recurring issues and resolution times, you save both time and money spent on fighting fires and there's less downtime.
Issue Prevention

With the ITSM tool monitoring all your technology issues, you are more likely to prevent serious, business-affecting problems.

That brings us to how a single tool delivers all these benefits – by following the standard frameworks set down for ITSM. Let’s check it out!

Major ITSM Frameworks

Similar to the ITIL framework that marked the official origin of ITSM, as we discussed earlier, other set guidelines define the best practices a company should follow while implementing ITSM. (Yes, they can use other frameworks than ITIL!)

These frameworks include:

COBIT

An IT governance and management framework that provides a roadmap of exactly what needs to be done to manage IT services.
ISO 20000

The internationally recognized standard and code for practicing IT service management.
MOF (Microsoft Operations Framework)

A practical framework that provides operational guidance for creating, implementing and managing efficient and cost-effective IT services.
USMBOK(Universal Service Management Body of Knowledge)

A complimentary guidance piece that can be used with your existing ITSM resources like ITIL to deliver strategic service management.

While this is where ITSM technology stands today, there's always scope for it to evolve further in the times ahead. Here's a quick glance at the trends in ITSM which will define the future of the software.

The Future Of ITSM Software

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When it comes to technology, there's always the question of what's next. Presently, trends in ITSM suggest four key areas of development:

Artificial Intelligence And Automation

Artificial Intelligence would help in automating repetitive IT tasks and better predictive analysis.

Chatbots

Accessing support would become more smooth and quick with knowledge-empowered chatbots that would create tickets and pre-qualify requests to transfer them to the right personnel.

Social Media Integration

IT help desk would be more accessible through social media and communication tools like Facebook, Slack and Instagram. Hence, we will soon see more ITSM tools with social media integrations.

Internet of Things (IoT)

IT services would extend to IoT devices used by the business as the arena of IoT devices increases.

Conclusion

It is safe to say that any modern business that relies on any IT service (who doesn’t!) needs an IT Service Management Software to streamline processes and optimize resolution time. Investing in an ITSM Software will certainly make your IT team incredibly happy – and a happy IT team means a happy workplace!

For any technology, the only constant thing is change. Hence it is imperative to keep up with the latest IT management trends.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is IT Service Management Software (ITSM)?

IT Service Management Software (ITSM) is a comprehensive tool designed to facilitate the management and coordination of IT services within an organization. It encompasses the practice of delivering IT services in an organized manner, aligning with business priorities and customer satisfaction. ITSM software helps define, create, deliver, support, and manage end-to-end IT services, including data storage and security, device and asset management, network and performance management, among others. Essentially, ITSM software ensures that all business-related technologies impacting customer experience are efficiently managed and supported by the IT team.

How does IT Service Management Software work?

ITSM Software functions as a workflow management tool customized specifically for IT services. It monitors the progress of tasks and facilitates the seamless execution of various IT processes. Key features of ITSM software include incident and problem management for addressing service interruptions and recurring issues, asset management for tracking and mapping physical assets, change and license management for managing updates and license renewals, knowledge management for documenting solutions and best practices, and ticket management for assigning and monitoring tickets until resolution. By leveraging these features, ITSM software enables organizations to streamline IT operations and enhance service delivery efficiency.

Why is IT Service Management important for businesses?

IT Service Management is crucial for businesses of all sizes as it ensures the effective management and delivery of IT services, which significantly impacts customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. With ITSM software, businesses can standardize IT processes, prioritize tasks, and deliver services more quickly, saving costs and improving overall service quality. ITSM software facilitates better workflow and collaboration among teams, optimizes the use of IT resources, saves time and money by reducing recurring issues and resolution times, and helps prevent serious business-affecting problems. By investing in ITSM software, organizations can enhance their IT service management capabilities and foster a more productive and efficient workplace environment.

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IT Service Management (ITSM) SoftwareInformation Technology IT services Incident management IT Service Management IT Service Management software IT help desk Problem management Asset management Change management IT Infrastructure Library

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