What Does an ITSM Tool Do

ITSM—or IT service management—is a best-practice framework for the implementation and optimization of an organization’s IT services. Modern ITSM processes are versatile and relatively easy to implement, and they’re especially powerful when companies equip their IT teams with the intuitive and comprehensive ITSM tools they need.

If you’re wondering what all ITSM entails—or whether or not you need to revisit your ITSM tools list—you’ll want to keep reading. This brief article will provide you with an overview of ITSM’s goals, as well as some of the ITSM products you can use to streamline operations and reduce costs without sacrificing utility or security.

What Is ITSM, and What Are the Goals of ITSM?

As mentioned above, ITSM typically refers to a collection of tools, processes, and resources companies use to implement and manage IT services in an efficient and cost-effective manner. 

Depending on the needs of the organization, goals or benefits of implementing one or more ITSM solutions can vary. Some of the most common objectives of ITSM include:

• Improving efficiency and productivity throughout the organization by automating routine tasks like access reviews, provisioning and de-provisioning of user accounts, streamlining service ticket management, and more.

• Enhancing systems’ security and ensuring legal and regulatory compliance, as applicable to the organization and industry.

• Reducing costs by identifying unnecessary expenditures and selecting well-rounded, comprehensive ITSM tools.

• Providing a “single source of truth” for all things IT—including through integrations with other business systems—to unify operational silos and ensure consistency throughout the organization.

• Delivering an improved user experience through streamlined workflows, automated self-service requests, and better systems for processing service tickets.

• Empower leadership teams with the timely and actionable data they need to make the right decisions for their organization, including tracking performance metrics and trends,

• Implement solutions tailored to the organization’s most pressing needs, readily configurable and scalable to grow alongside the business.

• Better understand—and prevent—IT staff burnout, which is exacerbated by overwhelming workloads, cumbersome processes, siloed operations, and other key challenges.

What Are ITSM Tools?

ITSM tools are software platforms that provide different functions related to the delivery and management of an organization’s mission-critical IT services. Depending on the size and complexity of the business (among other factors), the best solution may be one or multiple tools, with comprehensive ITSM tools—like Lumos—often providing the greatest value.

What Are ITSM Tools Used For?

Before selecting an ITSM solution or solution set for your organization, it’s important to first assess—and then prioritize—the needs of the business. That way, evaluating different solutions can feel a little bit less like comparing apples and oranges. Instead, you can find the solution that best aligns with your highest-priority objectives.

What Are the Top ITSM Tools and Advantages?

The best ITSM tools are comprehensive and highly-configurable—they offer several advantages, including:

• The ability to leverage automation to take repetitive and time-consuming tasks off of IT team members’ plates so they can focus on more strategic initiatives.

• Enhanced security and compliance, protecting an organization’s data, systems, and other assets safe from internal and external threats.

• Cost savings, primarily through the identification and elimination of unused applications and licenses and the ability to consolidate vendors.

• Customizable integrations, so you can develop a single, unified source of truth for stakeholders throughout the organization.

• An improved and more secure user experience, including through automated onboarding processes and self-service portals. 

• Timely and actionable data for improved decision making based on real-time trends.

• Scalable, customizable features to meet today’s needs while growing and evolving alongside your business.

• The ability to empower IT teams with the tools they need to perform their jobs effectively, which can have a significant impact on an organization’s ability to retain its best talent.

How Do I Choose an ITSM Tool?

Choosing the best ITSM tool for your business starts with thinking about your specific needs and objectives. Try this: Instead of asking “what does an ITSM tool do?” as you evaluate solutions, instead start by asking “what do we need an ITSM tool to do?”

From there, you can prioritize your needs and then search for the ITSM platform or provider that best fits your organization. One of the best ways to do this is to create a checklist of questions to ask different vendors. Here are some questions you can ask as you zero in on the perfect solution:

• Does the ITSM tool have the ability to automate routine tasks, like provisioning and deprovisioning? 

• Will the tool be easy to integrate with existing tools and systems your organization already uses?

• Are there features to enhance security and ensure compliance with applicable regulations?

• How can the tool help us to consolidate vendors and reduce costs?

• Does the tool provide a unified and intuitive platform, or will there be a steep learning curve that makes it difficult to adopt and implement?

• How extensive are the tool’s insights and reporting—can it be configured to provide the type of actionable insights you need?

• As the business grows or its priorities change, is the tool flexible enough to scale with the organization, or will you have to move to another solution at some point?

• How can the tool help us to mitigate or reduce IT staff burnout?

As you evaluate different platforms, you’ll find that some will be up to the task and others clearly will not. At Lumos, we’ve built a game-changing, versatile ITSM platform that checks all the boxes above, and more.

Lumos: A Comprehensive ITSM Platform for Modern Business

Looking for the perfect ITSM platform, but starting to suspect it may not exist? Meet Lumos—an all-inclusive tool for SaaS management, access reviews, identity governance, self-service automation, and more. 

If you’re tired of cobbling together patches and workarounds to get the functionality you need, there’s a better way. Visit our website to learn more about everything we have to offer, or reach out to book a demo today.