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What is ITSM (IT service

management)?
IT automationBusiness operationsIT infrastructureCloud
22 October 2024
 What is ITSM (IT service management)?
 How does ITSM improve service delivery?
 What are important ITSM frameworks?
 ITSM processes and practices
 AI and ITSM
Author: Dan Nosowitz
What is ITSM (IT service management)?
Information technology service management (ITSM) is the practice of
planning, implementing, managing and optimizing the end-to-end delivery of
information technology services to meet user needs and business goals.
By systematically improving processes for service requests, IT support, IT
asset management and change management, ITSM helps businesses
improve the user experience and gain greater productivity from IT
infrastructure. ITSM can also help organizations drive business strategies,
maintain compliance with regulatory and organizational requirements and
reduce risk by embedding controls into IT service design, delivery and
management.

The primary objective of ITSM is to provide the optimal deployment,

operation and management of every IT resource for every user across an
enterprise. Users include customers, employees or business partners. IT
resources include hardware, software and other computing assets such as
laptop computers, software applications, cloud storage solution and virtual
servers.

ITSM relies on software tools, automation and proven procedures. If a

customer contacts a service desk to report a problem with a computer
workstation, request a new license or ask for access to a software asset,
ITSM outlines the process and guides the workflow that will fulfill these
requests.

There are a wide variety of ITSM software solutions, processes and guiding
frameworks for ITSM implementation, including the IT infrastructure library
(ITIL). IT teams customize their approach to ITSM based on customer needs
and business initiatives.

Some organizations extend their ITSM capabilities to include enterprise

service management (ESM), which focuses on the broader business needs of
specific teams, departments or units. ITSM is also forward-looking—it
maintains emphasis on continually improving the user or customer
experience.
How does ITSM improve service delivery?
By implementing repeatable, consistent and predictable services, with a
clear set of procedures and systems, ITSM can increase IT system efficiency
and productivity. It does this in several ways:
Promotes flexibility
As technology evolves and changes, IT demands also change. Strong ITSM
practices help organizations manage changes in a way that is easily
understood, efficient and minimally disruptive.
Enforces standardization
One key tenet of ITSM is standardization. ITSM frameworks offer
standardized protocols and practices that reduce the ad hoc nature of older
IT strategies. Standardization allows for the easier and more precise creation
of a knowledge base and helps employees learn and use a common
language that can be extended to any IT-related tasks.
Improves visibility
By using real-time dashboards and management platforms, ITSM promotes
transparency and gives stakeholders greater visibility into IT processes.
Many platforms include self-service features that provide stakeholders with
the information and tools needed to resolve issues without assistance from IT
personnel.
Drives process efficiency

Imagine that a client needs something that falls under the service desk’s
bailiwick, such as a new laptop. ITSM provides a well-established, easy-to-
follow procedure for such requests.

The exact workflow varies due to an organization’s specific needs, but the
idea is to make service desk requests trackable through request tickets,
which are then routed to the appropriate team, istead of being handled on
an ad hoc case-by-case basis. This improves service delivery by reducing
uncertainty: the customer or client who needs a new laptop knows exactly
what to do to secure their new equipment and where in the process their
request stands.
Accelerates response times
ITSM systems use automation to process and assign requests, check for
errors in the resolution process and even resolve more straightforward
requests that don’t necessarily require employee attention. By eliminating
repetitive and administrative tasks from workflows, ITSM systems can
streamline IT service delivery, accelerate response and resolution times and
increase customer satisfaction.
What are important ITSM frameworks?
ITSM is an approach aimed at improving the way IT operations are
conducted. Because it’s more of a conceptual goal than a specific program,
there’s no “right” way to approach the task. However, that very flexibility
can make it difficult to know where to start. Luckily, there are a few existing
frameworks that can help guide an organization as it begins the task of
modernizing, optimizing and streamlining IT.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
ITIL is the most widely adopted framework for implementing and
documenting ITSM. It consists of a highly detailed library of processes that
cover functional areas such as service strategy, service design, service
transition, service operation and continual service improvement.

Originally created in the 1980s by a UK government agency, it initially took

the form of a series of physical books. The ITIL framework is periodically
updated to reflect the evolving IT needs of modern businesses; the latest
version of ITIL processes, ITIL 4, focuses on digital transformation and was
released in 2019.
DevOps
More than a framework, DevOps is a methodology designed to help
development and IT operations teams work together more efficiently to
create, test and deliver software. In some organizations, DevOps is used in
place of or as an alternative to ITSM. But many organizations see DevOps
and ITSM as complementary: DevOps focuses primarily on speed and agility
and ITSM focuses on user and customer satisfaction.
COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies)
COBIT is an IT governance framework created in 1996 by the Information
Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). It provides guidance for
businesses that seek to use IT services to minimize risk, help ensure
compliance with regulatory mandates and achieve better business outcomes
and can be especially useful for organizations that have significant
interactions with governance.
ISO/IEC 20000
The first international standard for service management, ISO/IEC 20000
was created in 2005 and is used by organizations around the world. ISO
20000 is a formal specification and provides requirements for things like
terms and definitions, leadership structures, planning and evaluation. It’s
essentially a way to certify ITIL compliance.
Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF)
MOF was created in 2008 as a management system for implementing and
optimizing IT services that use Microsoft technologies and products. Because
many of Microsoft’s products, from Outlook to Word to Excel, are such
important parts of many businesses, having a tailored system from Microsoft
can really come in handy. MOF is usually used alongside other frameworks,
such as ITIL.
ITSM processes and practices
ITSM is much more than reaction, repair and support—it provides a holistic
view and plan for the management of information technology resources and
processes. ITSM processes are designed to work together with the rest of the
business to achieve an organization’s objectives. These processes include:

Incident management
In ITSM, an incident is an unplanned outage or interruption in
service. Incident management is the process of responding to an incident
with the goal of restoring the service with minimal impact to users and
business processes.

Problem management
Problem management takes place when multiple incidents are related to the
same root cause. ITSM defines how the IT department investigates, analyzes
and eliminates the problem so it does not happen again.
Change management
Change management is the establishment of protocols to minimize IT service
disruptions, compliance issues and other risks that might result from
changes made to critical systems.

Configuration management
Configuration management is the process of tracking configuration items for
hardware and software components. A tool such as a configuration
management database can serve as a central repository of all IT assets and
the relationships between them.

Service request management

Service requests for new assets, permissions or licenses can come from
employees, customers or partners. Service request management defines the
most efficient and accurate method for granting or denying these requests,
often by using a combination of automation and self-service capabilities.

Service catalog
A service catalog is a directory that can be integrated with service request
management. Accessed through a menu or portal, it lists the IT services that
are available to users across the organization.

Knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the process of identifying, organizing,
storing and disseminating information within an organization. A searchable,
self-service knowledge base is a core KM tool. It gives users across the
organization easy access to IT service-related issues and resolutions,
metrics, documentation, tech topics and other resources.

Service level management

Service level management is the process of creating, tracking and
administering the lifecycle of a service level agreement (SLA). An SLA is a
contract between a service provider and a customer that defines the level of
service to be provided and the consequences for not meeting that threshold.

IT service desk
In ITSM, the IT service desk is the central point of contact for fielding and
managing all incidents, problems and requests. More than a simple help
desk, some service desks also handle software licensing, service providers,
pricing and third-party contracts and maintain self-service portals and
knowledge bases.

IT asset management
IT asset management, or ITAM, is the process of ensuring that an
organization’s assets are fully tracked, up to date and operational. These
assets can include hardware such as laptops and monitors as well as non-
physical assets such as software licenses. It’s vital that all these assets be
collected under a centralized IT department to avoid redundancy and
inefficiency.
AI and ITSM
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues its breakneck evolution, there are
many potential opportunities for it to optimize ITSM tools and service
delivery by increasing efficiency, improving end user experience and
strengthening IT security. Areas of overlap between AI and ITSM include:

IT security: AI can be used to monitor huge networks in real-time, looking

for any potential security risks and performing vulnerability assessments
Beyond detection, AI can be used to help resolve security issues, for
example, triaging events and AI can be used to automate responses to
common issues. AI is used for user authentication, phishing prevention, fraud
analysis and any other IT security functions.

Issue resolution: AI and automation can be used to build faster, more

consistent issue resolution processes, directing tickets to the appropriate
team and reducing manual effort and error.

Prediction: Through machine learning, AI systems can predict potential

issues by analyzing historical data. These systems can be designed to alert
IT workers to possible vulnerabilities.

Knowledge base improvement: Maintaining a thorough knowledge base

is vital for any organization’s operations, but that maintenance can be
tedious and difficult. AI can identify topics to add to a knowledge base and
consistently contribute to the knowledge base without human intervention.

Chatbot support: AI-powered chatbots can be used to communicate with

stakeholders in real-time and advanced language processing capabilities and
the ability to index internal documents can facilitate and accelerate the
resolution of IT issues.
GuideThe Enterprise Guide to AI and IT Automation
With genAI in the spotlight, it’s time for IT—powered by AI—to take center stage.
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