With so many new technology systems vying for space—and your attention—in the market, it might appear that you need to change your ITSM solution. After all, there are numerous cloud-based SaaS products that appear to reflect the future, or at least the space to pursue now.
But you may already be using a solution that provides the functionality and flexibility to accommodate change over time. Here are a few characteristics that mark a solid product work sticking to.
It Requires Little Upkeep
How much time and how many resources are devoted to keeping your ITSM solution productively running? For standalone solutions that aren’t integrated into a larger ecosystem, it may be a constant struggle to update, upgrade, test and continually monitor some aspect of the system.
Systems like Microsoft System Center Service Manager (SCSM), however, provide flexibility and efficiency without bogging down the IT department. They are created to integrate and work with fellow Microsoft solutions. If you use Microsoft Office or M365, chances are that Service Manager is part of your Microsoft Licensing Agreement. It’s worth a look to find out.
It Supports You with Some Form of Automation
Have you tracked the number of repetitive requests bogging down your team? Without self-service or some form of automation, it’s bound to be a lot. Don’t be surprised if you see statistics stating that 20-30 hours per month are spent resetting passwords, or that pointing users to specific URLs may absorb 10-15 hours per month.
An ideal ITSM solution, however, provides functionality that addresses questions like these, so that IT analysts have more time. And more time means that the team can solve complex issues, skill up and pursue strategic projects.
It Scales with Your Organization
Let’s face it, technology is an investment. Nobody wants to spend a substantial amount of money on a solution, install, configure, deploy and train users… only to outgrow it in a few years. It’s more ideal if the solution is flexible enough to accommodate growth and changing user needs, while working in conjunction with other platforms in use.
That’s another reason why tools like SCSM are valuable—they can integrate with the Microsoft product family, including:
- Configuration Manager (SCCM), now called Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MCEM)
- System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
- Active Directory
- Microsoft Exchange
- Azure
Connections between these systems centralize user, device and business system information to a single up-to-date CMDB that is actively updated, without the need for complex or intrusive workflow services to sync data.
If you have this setup, you’re in an ideal spot. You can build a system that is “customized” for your company, yet flexible enough to accommodate tools you choose to integrate. You won’t need to rely on counterproductive and cumbersome workarounds that will only cause headaches down the road. You can maintain an effective infrastructure that aligns with business needs and goals.
It Transparently Organizes the Team and Maintains Momentum
An ITSM solution that doesn’t prevent duplicate tickets or redundancy isn’t living up to its promise. But a solution that offers structure and visibility into the process is a winner. You’ll want to see:
- The path tickets are following
- Who is working tickets
- Ticket history and audit trail
- Ticket workflows and the hierarchy of escalation
- Analyst assignments and backup plans
- Processes for events like new hire setups, etc.
Information should be accessible to the team and referable to those that need help. If the tool you are using offers an ease of use with data, and it supports repositories like a knowledge base, you’ve already overcome a challenge facing many organizations: siloed information.
Microsoft shops may have a solid foundation already in house: SCSM. We can help you get more out of SCSM, given future plans and current requirements. Sign-up for free SCSM training to learn more about full system functionality, engage with us in Cireson Community or schedule a call.
