What Are ITSM Tools?

In many ways, the right IT service management (ITSM) tool is like a Swiss Army Knife, one specially designed for IT professionals. These tools are versatile in their functionality and impact, suited to a wide range of important tasks. And when you have a really good one at your disposal, you can effectively “retire” several older, possibly outdated tools from your toolbox. The best ones also have a virtually non-existent learning curve, meaning you don’t need some drawn-out orientation or training just to be able to use it.

For better or worse, there are countless ITSM products on the market today, so how do you find the perfect fit for your business? Keep reading for a brief overview of ITSM tools, including their main purpose and the most compelling benefits they can offer your business.

What Does ITSM Mean?

ITSM, meaning IT service management, generally refers to the tools, processes, and policies an organization leverages in order to evaluate, configure, and manage their IT assets, services, and systems. Implementing a consistent ITSM framework—supported by the right tool or tools—makes it possible for an organization to improve its productivity and security, while also reducing costs.

What Is an ITSM Tool?

ITSM tools are software offerings specially designed to enhance an organization’s ability to optimize their IT workflows. There are two approaches to ITSM tool adoption, the first of which involves researching and adopting standalone, function-specific tools and then attempting to get them to “play nice” through customized integrations. The alternative approach involves comprehensive and versatile ITSM software platforms, like Lumos. 

What Is the Purpose of ITSM Tools?

While ITSM tools provide a wide range of organizational benefits, their primary purpose is to empower IT teams with tools and workflows that are both efficient and effective. In doing so, they also improve their overall productivity and increase security, making ITSM tools a vital investment.

Why Do I Need an ITSM Tool?

There are many reasons why you might benefit from either considering adopting an ITSM tool or upgrading your existing ITSM tools list to increase its functionality or streamline its IT workflows. If any of the following points apply, you probably need an ITSM tool:

• Your IT team is bogged down with monotonous tasks, like provisioning/deprovisioning and handling access management requests. By automating routine tasks, your IT pros can instead focus on what they’re more interested in: solving complex problems.

• You’ve had to cobble together countless standalone IT tools, some of which may be either incompatible or outdated. Modern ITSM tools like Lumos make it easy to configure custom integrations, consolidating your toolset.

• You’re finding it difficult to maintain high standards related to security and compliance, another challenge related to simply having too many tools and services to manage (and too many vendors to coordinate). ITSM tools are invaluable when it comes to ensuring that user access controls are properly configured, among other security and compliance considerations.

• When the unexpected happens, it disrupts operations more than it should. An ITSM tool helps to ensure business continuity through automatically logging and categorizing issues, prioritizing them, and tracking their resolution.

• It takes longer for user access requests to be received and processed, causing inefficiencies. By using an ITSM tool for service request management, users can use a self-service portal to submit and track requests. From there, you can configure automated approval workflows and request fulfillment functions as well.

• You’re experiencing challenges related to effective change management. Any time changes are made to an organization’s IT environment, there are certain security risks involved; using an ITSM tool can help with risk assessment during both the planning and implementation stages.

• It’s not always easy to determine the root cause of minor—or major—issues that arise. Without understanding a problem’s root cause or causes, it can be difficult to prevent it from re-emerging in the future. ITSM tools can help with detecting problems and analyzing their cause(s), as well as implementing and documenting their solutions. This includes configuration management capabilities, which make it easier to manage IT assets through database management, change tracking, impact analysis, and more.

• You want to gain a more holistic understanding of your organization’s IT environment—including the identification of any inefficiencies or related issues. A platform like Lumos is designed to provide well-rounded and actionable insights, including the tracking of key metrics (incident resolution time, for example), identification and analysis of trends, and the ability to build highly-customized reports.

What Are Examples of ITSM Success Stories?

Considering the many benefits or advantages of ITSM, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that you can find several examples of successful ITSM case studies online. For example, on our Customers page, you can learn about how Lumos has helped…

• Checkr to automate 20% of IT tickets while slashing $230,000 in SaaS costs.

• Code42 to automate IT tickets and reduce privileged access by 67%.

• Chegg to reduce time to resolution (TTR) by 99% and build a culture of self-service for over 2,500 users.

Discover How Lumos Can Deliver ROI for Your Organization

Over the course of this short article, we’ve outlined some key ITSM advantages, as well as how you can assess your own needs and find the perfect solution for your business. At Lumos, we are ready to be that solution!  

If you’re still not sure how Lumos could impact your organization, you can use our IT Automation ROI Calculator to get a better understanding of the value our platform can deliver. Or, consider booking a demo with our team to explore how our solutions can align with your core objectives.