There is more to IT Service Management than just the help desk.
In its broadest meaning, ITSM refers to the way IT is used within an organisation – and how to design, deliver, managed and improve it. ITSM should be oriented towards the business achieving its goals. It comprises the front-end team that handle the communication and support of your IT organisation, deal with the requests for support and deliver them to the back-end teams and developers. Your ITSM is the mainstay of your IT organisation, so to ensure they do their jobs to the best of their ability, they need the support of software that provides IT Service Management Solutions.
What exactly should a good ITSM software do?
• Well-implemented ITSM ought to guarantee that all requests received are dealt with through a clear and reliable process.
• Service level agreements need to be made to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Communication between IT groups and the customer, as well as amongst themselves, needs to be as fast and effective as possible.
• The software needs to deliver management with accurate and reliable reports which facilitate decision-making.
Quality ITSM software will lead to effective IT management and an excellent degree of customer and employee satisfaction – combined with a high level of cybersecurity, of course. Your employees will work harder, and your business will gain a better reputation that will attract more customers. Learn more about business security software here.
Examples of ITSM Software
There numerous ITSM tools on the market, including Samange, Freshservice, ConnectWise, IBM Control Desk, and C2 Atom. Each product will come with the basics, which usually includes a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to support the product’s ability to deal with data, and a ticketing system to more easily manage, maintain and track lists of issues. However, every ITSM software solution has its own user interface and reporting structure, with features and add-ons.
Samanage is a unified IT service desk and asset management cloud solution. Its user interface allows code-free customisation. This solution would be particularly suited to a company with a high-level IT organisation.
This solution provides all the core functionalities you would need from ITSM software, but also allows your knowledge base to be stored on the cloud. Freshservice is popular amongst Managed Service Providers, financial and governmental organisations, and educational institutions.
ConnectWise fully integrates business-process automation, help desk and customer service, marketing, project management, cloud services and business analytics. ConnectWise is made with companies that work with technology in mind, whether selling, servicing or supporting.
Why do I need ITSM software?
You may think you don’t need ITSM software if your current IT Service works just fine. If all of your requests are dealt with eventually, why change anything?
Without ITSM software, even if everything appears functional, your process is probably way more complex than it needs to be, and there will be a lot of valuable information slipping through the cracks. It’s much more difficult to follow changes and analyse frequent issues without Service Management Software. Nor can you easily store data on employees, processes and assets without a configuration management database.
A lack of ITSM software leaves companies vulnerable to unforeseen incidents such as power outages. In the event of an outage, it would be more difficult to notify all the teams, and the outage is more likely to go undocumented and unscrutinised. A company that doesn’t use ITSM software could be using multiple systems or applications for the relatively simple process of soliciting IT services.
Solutions
Installing ITSM software is a worthwhile investment for the costs it could save your company alone. An ITSM tool can save money by streamlining time, support, resources and dealing with outages. Changes can automatically be tracked and you can be given trending analysis and be provided with a database that keeps track of your company’s resources and procedures. This gives you a wider and more accurate picture of your business which will help you rationalise your processes, and even automate some manual responsibilities as well. Outages can be dealt with more easily as teams will be notified quicker, and the incident can be documented and investigated.
How SAS Can Help
So you’ve decided that ITSM software would indeed be beneficial for your company’s IT processes. But now you have to go about finding which ITSM tool would suit your needs the best. It’s a difficult process to wade through the sea of potential solutions available, and companies can often go about this process all wrong. Businesses often look at the options within their price range and just pick one based on which one fits their needs at first glance.
It’s highly recommended not to start with the tool list, but instead to first conduct an assessment of the requirements of its infrastructure then a company needs to find out how the new software will integrate with their current IT operations software. They also need to consider their short-term and long-term ITSM licensing and hosting options, such as whether their solution ought to be on-premise or cloud-based. This is a lot to think about, and a lot of work to undertake. A company making such an important decision would profit from expert technology buying advice.
This is where we come in.
YourShortlist provides a shortlist of potential partners depending on the specific requirements of your IT organisation for no charge. Our experienced consultants understand the software market in depth, and provide trusted guidance to support the selection process. With the aid of Software Advisory Service’s non-chargeable assistance, you don’t have to waste any time or money finding the right software to dramatically improve your IT services!