If you only had a few moments to explain IT service management (ITSM) to someone, what would your “elevator pitch” be?

In an EMA Research report, industry analyst Dennis Drogseth defines it this way:

“Based on ongoing dialogs and readings outside of this research, perhaps the most frequent industry answer is that ITSM is a process-based practice designed to align the delivery of information technology services with the needs of the enterprise and IT customers.

“However, this (EMA) research approached ITSM via a triangle of vectors recognizing the importance of technology and organization, as well as process (including dialog and communication). We believe that ITSM has evolved to reflect multiple interdependencies that can only be understood by this multifaceted approach—and that this approach is also the best way to understand future ITSM directions.”

Dennis Nils Drogseth, What Is the Future of IT Service Management? Enterprise Management Associates Research Report, March 2017

ITSM’s “Multiple Interdependencies” 

Latching onto the notion that “ITSM has evolved to reflect multiple interdependencies,” it’s safe to say that, traditionally, a divide has existed between business units and IT operations in many organizations—where the latter group isn’t always aware of the business impact of its actions, while the former is frustrated about the lack of responsiveness, accuracy, and efficiency when it comes to IT service delivery.

IT operations must understand that deploying and managing 1) software and hardware assets; 2) storage, network, and servers; and 3) operating systems, middleware, and applications all serve specific business tasks and processes. Examples include helping sales gain access to customer information, handling HR onboarding service requests, or the change management of upgrading to Windows 10.

Truth is, only if the IT department is aware of the business impact of failing to support a certain business task or process can IT investment decisions, IT staff allocations, and issue-resolution efforts be optimized.

Technology Silos and Inefficient IT Service Delivery

The core reason for inefficient IT service delivery is often a lack of integration and communication between IT systems, software, and hardware. Over the years, proprietary network, storage, and server hardware has piled up within the corporate data center—with numerous subject matter experts responsible for each technology. Business processes that span these multiple silos are fragile and difficult to monitor.

In addition, business priorities frequently don’t guide root cause analysis, which lengthens remediation times. When evaluating new software and hardware solutions, IT executives must focus on how these tools integrate with existing technologies and how they can help improve business processes across the entire organization.

Choose United IT over Divided IT

Ivanti Unified IT Service, Asset, and Endpoint Management solutions help organizations fully automate their IT service delivery. The platform enables you to:

  • Free up the IT service desk and increase customer satisfaction and productivity with engaging self-service
  • Eliminate errors with zero-touch deployment
  • Optimize license spend by reclaiming unused software
  • Employ zero-touch deployment processes

Free up the IT service desk and increase customer satisfaction and productivity with engaging self-service

Business users are accustomed to monitoring, provisioning, managing, and retiring their personal IT services—Google, Facebook, Dropbox, etc.—via smartphone and tablet. They also expect the same type of access from their corporate applications, data, and services.

Business resources, applications, and services must be pre-packaged and centrally delivered automatically. Users must be able to select the services they require from a comprehensive service catalog. Unified solutions from Ivanti can help, enabling you to IT transform business tasks, make them more efficient, and improve the entire organization’s operational excellence.

Eliminate errors with zero-touch deployment

With Ivanti Unified IT, you can automate software requests organization-wide through self-service, leveraging integrated approval workflows and license compliance checks, and deploying software automatically to the user’s devices while reducing audit risk.

Optimize license spend by reclaiming unused software

Organizations employing traditional solutions have disparate IT service, endpoint, security, and asset processes. The IT service desk can’t see what applications are available and how they’re used, causing spending on unneeded software. In contrast, with Ivanti Unified IT you can reclaim or claw back unused software to cut cost and optimize existing asset performance. You can manage everything automatically through Service Management, leveraging approvals and reducing the risk of non-compliance and overspend.

Employ zero-touch deployment processes

Automating provisioning processes enables fast, reliable, cost-effective service implementation. You can standardize deployments on known reliable states and reduce human error during their execution. Automated change and deployment processes are virtually instantaneous, helping you meet business requirements.

If an employee’s mobile device is lost or stolen, he or she simply submits a theft or loss case in self-service to kick off the automated processes to locate and wipe the lost device, trigger auto order of a new device, provision the new device with the correct applications, and get it delivered—all done swiftly without exposing critical information.

Ivanti enables fast, reliable, automated change and provisioning processes that translate directly into reduced operational costs. You employ software and hardware infrastructure with greater efficiency, and IT support staff can focus on other business improvements and strategic initiatives.

Taking a few minutes to explore specific Ivanti Service, Asset, and Endpoint Management solutions that help you establish a cost-effective, unified approach to IT.