What Is ITSM? (+How It Helps Businesses)

Information technology (IT) is growing increasingly important for business operations—especially as more companies shift to a hybrid or fully remote work model. As we become more dependent on IT to keep everything running smoothly, more companies are adopting an IT service management framework and developing best practices so their IT can scale with them.

IT service management—also known as ITSM—is how your IT team manages and completes their services to you. Understanding what ITSM is can help you determine how it can best benefit your business.

What Is ITSM?

There’s a lot more to ITSM than your standard IT support. ITSM includes creating, designing, and delivering any and all IT services. 

When you adopt ITSM for your organization, IT is delivered as a service by a productive team. ITSM tools, including self-service solutions and automated activities, help make IT teams more efficient. ITSM practices typically involve:

• IT asset management
• Change management procedures
• Incident management and problem management
• Service request management
• Knowledge management 

When implementing ITSM, your IT department (or your managed service provider) can assess your organization’s needs and business goals to align their own IT objectives with them and drive long-term success.

What is ITIL?

ITIL is a commonly used approach to ITSM. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) includes detailed practices for IT activities. ITIL covers service management and asset management and prioritizes aligning IT with specific business needs.

ITSM Software Types 

ITSM software helps implement your IT services. There are three main types of ITSM software that tech departments can utilize. 

• Service Desks streamline internal and external communications.
• Help Desks work with ticket management software to automate customer support requests.
• Server and Application Monitors manage, support, and monitor your existing IT infrastructure and its performance.

Benefits of ITSM

There are plenty of perks for businesses working with a managed services provider and adopting ITSM. It’s easy to adapt, encourages your team to collaborate, and is flexible enough to tailor to your business needs. 

Above all else, adopting ITSM best practices helps your business save time and money. Here’s how:

More Efficient IT Department

With ITSM, your IT department will work more efficiently as a team. A major component of any ITSM software is IT asset management. Asset management covers asset procurement, life cycles, and disposition. Your team can stay on top of all of your IT assets and the processes for each, allowing them to work more clearly and efficiently and establish standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Reduced IT Operational Costs

Managing your IT can get expensive, especially as your company grows. You’ll need to hire fewer IT staff members down the road thanks to ITSM automation practices reducing your staff’s existing workload since they’ll be able to work more effectively.

Improved Customer Service

With ITSM best practices, you’ll see an increase in customer satisfaction thanks to improved customer service. Ticketing systems, communication workflows, and alignment with business goals make it easier for your IT team to work with those in need of support. 

Additionally, it allows for self-service for those who prefer to troubleshoot their own issues. When adopting ITSM, your team can build a self-service knowledge base for users to solve IT problems independently. This means fewer tickets for your IT team, which reduces wait times.

Reduced Risk from Implementing IT Changes

Part of ITSM is a change management process. This covers ways your business can implement new changes to your IT infrastructure. With a change management process in place, you have a reduced risk of unplanned IT downtime due to the controlled environment and SOPs in place. Unplanned IT downtime can leave you vulnerable to hackers and eat at your bottom dollar so having a change management process is a must.

Accurately Measure and Track Performance

With ITSM software, you have access to in-depth reporting and analytics to measure your team’s progress and success. Problems are also easier to identify, giving you the opportunity to take a proactive approach rather than a reactive one.

What to Look for in a Service Management Provider

Does your business lack an IT department, or is your existing IT team feeling overwhelmed? A service management provider can help businesses get started or ease their existing team’s workload. 

A managed service provider is a third-party IT company that acts alongside your own business to execute your IT service management and support. As businesses grow, they often find a contract with a managed services provider to be more cost-effective than growing their own internal IT department.

When looking for a service management provider, keep an eye out for the following:

• 24/7 support and monitoring 
• Disaster recovery planning
• Fast customer service response time
• Partnerships with technology vendors
• Daily backups
• Cloud services
• Proactive maintenance, including security testing and monitoring
• On-site support

Get Started with IT Proactive

At IT Proactive, we offer fully managed IT services, specializing in enterprise-level support for small and medium-sized businesses. With our managed IT services and 24/7 monitoring, our team fully integrates with your own and prioritizes your business’s needs and goals.

Already have an IT department? We can integrate with existing IT teams to help resolve issues faster by adding additional resources and manpower.Enjoy the peace of mind that our professional technicians and predictable, affordable monthly costs provide. Contact us today about how our IT service management can help your business.