What is ITSM and why is it important in an Apple-based environment?
IT Service Management (ITSM) is a set of standards and best practices, which guide IT professionals in the delivery of IT services to their clients. This model supports a proactive IT management framework, and streamlines everything from configuration and problem management to managing availability and improving service delivery.
As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), we use ITSM to align processes with our client’s business goals; this is opposed to manipulating technology in an effort to meet the needs of a business.
Why is ITSM still important?
True, IT Service Management has been around since the 1980s. However, after almost four decades, we can still say that it is important – perhaps more so than ever. Unlike most 80s-era tech, ITSM has evolved in tandem with businesses to reflect their current needs. Where ITSM once sought to align business and IT, it now centers around IT convergence. Rather than focusing on how to optimize operations, the primary objective now is to measure outcomes and identify value.
With the rapid advancement in the competitive global marketplace, it is critical to keep up; using legacy infrastructure and tools will limit your progress. By restructuring and streamlining workflows around a modern ITSM framework, businesses can:
- Seamlessly integrate new processes and technology
- Modernize and consolidate legacy applications
- Derive immediate (short-term) and greater (long-term) value from IT
- Remove data silos in the organization
- Enable collaboration throughout the organization, including with IT
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Gain greater insight into how their business is performing
- Respond more quickly to needs, including threats
- Reduce the number of service desk tickets
- Align IT with strategic business objectives
- Align departments and customers with apps and services that optimize their processes
- Ease HR requirements and payroll costs
- Improve the bottom line through process optimization
- Meet and exceed business goals more quickly
The shortcomings of ITSM
ITSM may prove inadequate if it solely exists in the context of a break-fix capacity – in other words, if the implementation of ITSM becomes operations and/or process-focused rather than being service-focused. In this scenario, the framework exists only to address incidents as they occur, and does not make strides towards service improvement. The value that could be derived is largely ignored or is secondary to the operation itself.
Business-IT alignment is another area in which ITSM has the potential to fall short. While the concept is sound, the business side often doesn’t see or consider current IT capabilities. This can result in an inability to identify and implement a solution until a specific problem or need arises.
Related: See how we helped Okta implement Jamf Pro, prepare for zero-touch, and meet CIS compliance.
Three reasons ITSM is important today:
Shortcomings aside, there are many reasons that ITSM is still important today.
1. Business value
As technology continues to be a driving force in business, it becomes more and more evident that good ITSM is essential to support the IT value chain. With a modern ITSM framework in place, businesses can focus on what they do best rather than worrying about IT.
2. Digital transformation and modernization
Whether or not a business has undergone a digital transformation is now not so much an “if” as much as it is a “when”, and this is where ITSM really gets to shine. Businesses now, more than ever, risk obsolescence if they have not yet modernized. Consumer demand for better access to services and the needs for better workplace productivity, IT security, and scalability demand an elevated benchmark. Good ITSM practices can ensure a more seamless transformation.
3. Business responsiveness
ITSM offers guidance on how best to automate standard tasks, such as password management or device deployment. It maximizes the capabilities of business technology, shifting focus away from mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming processes. This allows IT resources to place time and attention on higher-value activities.
Conclusion
It is fair to say that modern ITSM is not so much about the destination, as it is about how we arrive at it. On the journey towards our ultimate goal, value can be delivered along the way without the need for a project-based, start-stop approach.
When implemented, ITSM best practices will increase the efficiency of IT management, all in the confines of a structure that is scalable. This allows you to take control of your processes, while simultaneously improving service delivery and freeing up IT resources.
If you are curious to learn more about ITSM or to see how Interlaced incorporates ITSM along with other best-practices, reach out today. During our no-cost consultation, we will walk you through our process and provide insight on how you can derive maximum value from your Apple-based technology program.
