Over the years, the IT industry has evolved to meet the technological demands of today’s organizations. There are different challenges arising from the workplace, and IT professionals are expected to solve them.
The thing about information technology is that it covers a broad spectrum of services that enable organizations to gather, organize, and analyze data. This helps them deliver an efficient service to end users.
IT service management (ITSM) is becoming a key to helping IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services.
This article will introduce IT service management, its functions, and how it can help businesses deliver services that maximize customer satisfaction.
What is IT service management (ITSM)?
IT service management (ITSM) involves all aspects of managing information technology services, such as:
- Planning
- Developing
- Designing
- Enhancing processes
ITSM ensures the organization has the appropriate technology, processes, and people to fulfill its long-term business goals. It also enhances the quality and speed of service delivery and increases customer satisfaction.
While the IT industry has a broad spectrum of services, as mentioned above, ITSM has five areas of concern:
- Services. Information technology provides applications, infrastructure, and hardware.
- End-users. This refers to customers and employees that utilize IT services.
- Business. Enables a corporation to accomplish its essential duties and reach its objective.
- Cost. Maximizing the efficiency of an IT budget.
- Quality. Resolving IT issues efficiently and effectively.
Additionally, IT service management shortens the gap between IT professionals and end-users so both can benefit from IT services and collaborate with the process.
IT service management frameworks
IT service management frameworks cover all IT services, including applications, databases, and non-IT business tasks.
These frameworks support organizations in defining their ITSM strategy and implementing it while delivering efficiency and gaining value for IT operations.
As such, it is necessary to set up an ITSM framework that organizations can adopt and incorporate into their overall objectives.
An ITSM framework also allows monitoring of the continual enhancement of provided and supported services.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is the most popular and frequently used ITSM framework, alongside DevOps. ITIL aims to improve IT delivery to fulfill different business goals.
Here are other IT service management frameworks that add value and efficiency to the IT operations team:
- Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT)
- Business Process Framework
- Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)
- ISO/IEC 2000
You must understand the most common frameworks and methods used by other businesses to address IT service delivery requirements effectively.
6 Core IT service management processes
Modern IT service teams utilize organizational resources and follow repeatable processes to provide consistent, efficient support.
The following are the six core IT service management (ITSM) processes:
1. Service request management
Service request management is a repeatable process for ITSM. It manages the vast array of client service requests, such as:
- Application access
- Software advancements
- Hardware updates
This IT service management service empowers customers with knowledge and automates some tasks.
2. Knowledge management
This ITSM process develops, distributes, utilizes, and manages an organization’s knowledge and information. In addition, it refers to an interdisciplinary approach to attaining corporate goals via the optimal use of data.
3. IT asset management
IT asset management (ITAM) is an ITSM process responsible for: accounting, deploying, maintaining, and upgrading an organization’s IT assets.
Simply put, it ensures that your organization’s tangible and intangible assets are recorded and utilized accordingly.
4. Incident management
Incident management is a critical IT service management process that responds to an unexpected incident and restores the service to its normal condition.
Considering all the software services that enterprises rely on today, there are more possible service disruptions than ever. Thus, this process is essential to address problems rapidly.
5. Problem management
Discovering and addressing the causes of issues in an IT service is known as problem management.
This IT service management locates and resolves occurrences and recognizes the underlying reasons for an incident. It also determines the most effective way to eliminate the leading causes of the problem.
6. Change management
Change management guarantees that standard operating procedures are utilized for the effective and timely processing of any changes to the IT infrastructure.
Notably, effective change management in ITSM gives context and transparency to minimize risks in the organization.
IT service management software
ITSM software is the tool that allows firms to implement their ITSM strategy. It governs the delivery of IT services inside a business based on people, suppliers, money, and outcomes.
Some firms utilize ITSM software not just for the administration and maintenance of their IT systems but also to manage their vast array of processes and services.
ITSM software can automate procedures and activities while enhancing the user experience of consumers and those responsible for service delivery.
IT service management software may offer comprehensive workflows, reports, and templates that facilitate adopting framework-specific ITSM processes.
Improve your service delivery with IT service management
The better your service delivery, the more likely you are to maintain customer satisfaction. With the growing IT industry competition, you must focus on what matters to you: the customers and your business.
Effective IT service management can dramatically improve your service delivery and introduce a uniform way of managing your services and process. Further, it also ensures a high level of consistency in the entire process.
