Digital transformation is vital to thrive in an ever-changing world. It allows a company to stay up with changing client needs and, as a result, survive in the future. As businesses prepare for the future, the pace of digital transformation is quickening, necessitating the use of IT Service Management (ITSM) to adapt and modernize.
What is ITSM?
IT service management, or ITSM, manages the end-to-end IT services delivery to customers by IT teams. It refers to the activities involved in designing, creating, delivering, supporting, and managing the lifecycle of IT services. ITSM works on the premise that IT should be a service.
ITSM encompasses much more than just fixing day-to-day problems. An IT team must manage these services from beginning to end. Organizations are better prepared when they have tools, like Freshservice, which enable them to take care of ITSM as well as related IT team requirements including:
IT Operations Management:
ITOM refers to “all the tools needed to manage the provisioning, capacity, performance, and availability of the computing, networking, and application environment,” according to the Gartner IT Glossary.
ITSM and ITOM are intricately linked, yet they also have significant variances. ITSM is concerned with the creation, delivery, and administration of information technology services. ITOM is mainly concerned with the administration of the processes that permit and regulate those services.
IT Asset Management:
An IT asset is anything that a firm values, whether hardware, software, or information.
IT asset management ensures that an organization’s assets are installed, maintained, improved, and disposed of when the time comes. Simply put, it’s ensuring that a firm’s precious assets, both tangible and intangible, are recorded and employed.
IT Project Management:
IT project management is a branch of project management that focuses on planning, executing, and controlling technology initiatives. The company may track project performance and deliver value at each life cycle stage by employing structured project management methods.
Key processes in ITSM
- Incident management: The practice that governs the restoration or correction of any service interruptions.
- Problem management: Focuses on completing a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and resolving the reoccurring issue.
- Asset management: The process of tracking, updating, and mapping assets.
Change management: the process of managing any change in the services provided by a business. - Project management: aids in the planning, tracking, and delegation of work.
The role of IT Operations Management, IT Asset Management, and IT Project Management in digital transformation cannot be overlooked while discussing ITSM.
Benefits of ITSM
ITSM leads to increased efficiency and production. It also aligns IT with business objectives by standardizing service delivery based on budgets, resources, and outcomes. It lowers expenses and hazards, assists in decision making, and improves customer satisfaction. ITSM processes have a wide range of benefits including:
- Defining roles and duties improves IT efficiency and productivity.
- Increased assistance in dealing with regulatory and compliance issues.
- Improved grasp of business requirements.
- Increases value and cost-efficiency.
- Shorter incident lifecycles.
- Improved service quality, flexibility, and agility.
What makes ITSM important?
In 2018, China dominated the Asia Pacific Cloud ITSM market by country. The forecast period (2019 – 2025) indicates that Japanese markets will grow at a CAGR of 22.3%, and the Indian market will grow at 23.7%. (*KBV Research*)
The Takeaway
The past 12 to 18 months have fast-tracked digital transformation. An IDC analysis estimates that direct digital transformation expenditure will reach $6.8 trillion by 2023. ITSM modernizes technology and accelerates digital transformation without disturbing work when the business needs to evolve. It learns what the company wants to accomplish and works to add technologies that will help them reach its objectives.
With the added advantage of Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning, and Agile ITSM, ITSM and its verticals are here to stay. It is not surprising to see managers and executives hail ITSM as the backbone of digital transformation.