Need New ITSM Software? Prioritize These Must-Have Features

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Are you looking to update your IT Service Management (ITSM) software? If so, there are three things you should keep in mind when it comes to evaluating which ITSM platform makes sense for your business:

Prioritize Codeless Platforms with Enhanced Automation and Integration

The ITSM software you select for your business should be easy to use, own and operate – that’s why codeless ITSM tools are a great option. Not only do these platforms have the flexibility many organizations need, but they also have a lower total cost of ownership since they usually don’t require a team of developers or admins to manage. With a codeless system, you can empower employees across the organization to manage their own portals and tickets.

You can also supercharge your ITSM with tools like iPaaS. By using iPaaS you can automate and integrate systems across your organization and reduce toil.

Look For Customizable Self-Service Portals with Searchable Knowledge Bases

A customized self-service portal with a knowledge base is essential for ITSM success. When you have a great portal with a searchable knowledge base you can save time and resources by allowing customers and employees to solve their own issues instead of needing to put in a ticket, send an email or call your IT help desk.

With the right knowledge base and portal in place, you can reduce the amount of time that IT staff must spend fielding calls, answering questions and routing requests – once again freeing them up to focus on more strategic work.

Many find success crowd-sourcing the content for their knowledge base using of Knowledge-Centered Service® (KCS), so be sure the ITSM platform you pick can support the right knowledge management methodology for your organization. The easier it is to gather, document and maintain the knowledge, the better your portal will be.

For the City of Buffalo, creating a self-service portal was a pivotal step in streamlining IT service for the city. Powered by TeamDynamix, the portal allows city employees to find answers to their IT questions online. This provides instant gratification for employees and eliminates the need for further assistance in many cases.

If employees can’t resolve their own IT issues, they can submit a service request through the portal by choosing from an online service catalog. Their request is then routed automatically to an appropriate IT staff member for a response, based on the nature of the problem or request.

Aided by the dynamic workflows built into the TeamDynamix platform, a small team of IT staff members create and maintain knowledge base articles for the city, ensuring that this information always remains relevant and up to date.

“Before the service portal existed, employees would call or email the help desk to ask questions or request service,” said Nathan Ignatz, system support analyst for the City of Buffalo. Having employees enter service requests directly through the portal ensures a faster resolution to their issue and frees up IT staff to work on other tasks instead.

“It allows us to provide service quicker,” Ignatz observed.

Ensure Full ITIL Support and Scalable ESM

ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library, and describes the processes, procedures, tasks, and checklists that can be applied by an organization as part of an overall IT strategy; to improve customer delivery; or to maintain a certain level of competency company wide.

Any ITSM software you invest in should allow you to be ITIL aligned as much, or as little, as needed depending on your organization’s IT maturity. Many organizations implement ITIL to ensure they have a common vocabulary and methodology surrounding request fulfillment and incident response – both within IT and outside IT when using ESM.

And when it comes to ESM – ease of use is critical. A good ESM platform is one that allows each department to manage its own service requests, content, and workflows without the help of IT resources.

A codeless service management platform, like TeamDynamix, can help you achieve this with ITSM/ESM, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and automation and integration (iPaaS) all on a single platform.

Andrew Graf is the Chief Product Strategist for TeamDynamix. His passion lies in helping organizations thrive in an ever-changing environment. As a co-founder of TeamDynamix, Andrew is well versed in the common issues facing IT leaders– as the need for increased IT Maturity rises, he is able to help map out a way forward.