Introduction

ITSM in simple terms is- how the IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services to customers. This includes all the processes and activities to design, create, deliver, and support IT services. 

The core concept of ITSM is the belief that- IT should be delivered as a service.

ITIL or Information Technology Infrastructure library is the most widely accepted approach to ITSM along with DevOps. ITIL focuses on practices for aligning IT services with business needs, while DevOps emphasizes accelerated IT service delivery enabled by agile and lean practices.

Basically, it implies that both ITIL and DevOps are the leading frameworks that guide the IT teams to tackle any kind of situation that occurs, while they deliver IT services to customers.

ITIL 4 is the most recent update to the ITIL standards, and it has forever changed how IT teams operate in any given situation. The ITIL 4 Guiding Principles promote collaboration, simplicity, and feedback.

Now that we have a basic understanding of ITSM and its frameworks, let us understand the significance of ITSM and its related softwares or tools at this moment in time.

ITSM Benefits for the Professionals

ITSM benefits your IT team, and its service management principles can improve your entire organization. It is focused on improving the productivity and efficiency of the organization as well as the IT teams within it.

The most common benefits of ITSM includes the following:

1. Aligning IT teams with business priorities tracked through success metrics

Aligning your teams with the business goals that are based on the ITSM frameworks can help in boosting the productivity of your team and eventually your organization. The ITSM frameworks operate on the principles of flexibility and efficiency. This helps the IT teams following its guidance to secure an elevated chance of success.

2. Enabling cross-department collaboration

One of the principles of the framework promotes collaboration amongst different departments of an organization. This ensures the smooth working of the operations within and between the departments.

3. Empowering IT teams to share knowledge and continuously improve

The framework allows a professional to exchange information with his team and other departments present in the organization. This provides the professional with a healthy competition, boosting his productivity within the organization.

4. Improving request coordination for more efficient service

ITSM frameworks provide the flexibility required to handle unexpected requests from the customers end. This helps improve the quality of service provided by an organization as a whole.

5. Promoting customer-centricity with self-service and better processes

Providing customers with the best IT service possible is one of the goals of various ITSM frameworks. The frameworks help the customers by simplifying the entire process of providing IT services and saving the customer's valuable time.

6. All of which decrease costs and lead to better service.

ITSM’s major goal is to improve their efficiency and decrease the costs of the IT organization’s services.

The points mentioned above are some of the major benefits that ITSM provides to their customers. Next in line are some of the popular ITSM tools of recent times.

Top 5 IT Service Management Tools

There are a number of ITSM tools that you should use according to the requirements of your company. Let us dive into the critical capabilities of IT service management tools.

Here is the list of the top 5 ITSM tools or softwares that are commonly used by IT organizations and professionals:

NinjaOne

• This ITSM tool is the used by small-scale and large-scale organizations.
• NinjaOne offers a free trial of the platform. It has a pay-per-device pricing model. As per reviews, the price of the platform is $3 per device per month.

Some of the features of NinjaOne are:

• NinjaOne offers features for installing, uninstalling, and managing the software individually or at a scale.
• The platform lets you take control of attended and unattended devices securely.
• Its backup feature protects critical business data from ransomware attacks.

SuperOps.ai

• This tool is suitable for small to medium scaled organizations.
• ai’s pricing is fully transparent and affordable, with a 21-day free trial that lets you explore all the features that the platform has to offer.

Some of the features of SuperOps.ai are:

• Small and large-scale incident and service management through tickets and projects.
• Simplified service catalog to inventory and manage all your offerings.
• Client tickets are connected to the respective assets for better context and issue resolution.
• Event and time triggers to automate your workflows.

Jira Service Management

• This tool is for small to large scaled organizations.
• Jira offers a free trial for 7 days. There are two pricing plans i.e., Small team plan will cost $10 per month and a Growing team plan will cost $20 per agent per month.

Some of the features of Jira Service Management are:

• It will allow the team members to create a change request without approval.
• The self-service portal will be powered by machine learning.
• It provides reports that will help you to improve performance.

Salesforce

• This tool also is best for small to large scaled organizations.
• The different plans available are: Essentials plan: $25/user/month, Professional Plan: $75/user/month, Enterprise Plan: $150/user/month, Unlimited plan: $300/user/month. A 30-day free trial is also available.

Some of the features of Salesforce are:

• Workflow automation
• Offer instant customer support with a self-service option.
• Strengthen customer engagement with Appointment assistant.
• Automatic call routing.

 Zendesk ITSM

• This tool is also suited for small to large scaled organizations.
• A free trial is available. It has three pricing plans i.e., Support, Suite, and a plan to build your own solution. The price starts at $5 per agent.

Some of the features of Zendesk ITSM are:

• It has features for Knowledgebase.
• It can be used for self-service and internal self-service.
• It provides virtual customer assistance.

With these tools, different types of organizations are able to provide their services to their customers in the most efficient way possible.

Now that we have come to the end of this article, let us take a look at what we learned from this article.

Conclusion

This article has taught you about the ITSM industry and its frameworks that help IT Professionals provide seamless service to customers. You have learned about the benefits that ITSM principles provide an organization or business.

At last, you were informed about some of the tools that help ITSM professionals in providing quality service to their customers.

Now you are fully equipped to decide whether your organization needs the above-mentioned ITSM tools, or not.

Learn about some of the related courses that we offer in the ITSM category, like-

ITIL® V4 Foundation Training and ITIL® V4 Foundation Training.

Also, learn about the other courses that we provide at Sprintzeal.