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ITSM vs ITIL: What's the Difference Between ITIL and ITSM?

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 18:01:42 Z

For organizations that are building or expanding their IT Service Management offerings, it is important to understand the difference between ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) and ITSM (IT Service Management). And because ITIL and ITSM are constantly changing, it is critical to keep up with the latest technology.

Many years ago, I worked as an IT support analyst helping companies with a software product that managed their documents on the network. When customers called for help, I used a software program to open an incident that described:

The issue
The caller’s identity
The date and time the incident was opened

The IT department I worked for supported our organization and our customers with all their IT needs. This included helping customers with IT issues, creating knowledge articles, and providing assets to employees so they could do their jobs.

For those supporting IT, you often hear terms such as "ITIL" and "ITSM" when discussing IT Service Management.

So you might be wondering...

What is ITIL and ITSM?

Let's start here...

What is ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)?

In the 1980s, IT Service Management best practices emerged as most organizations were migrating or planning to migrate to digital technology. The term ITIL was later introduced to refer to these best practices.

Definition of ITIL:

IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) refers to a group of documents that provide a framework and best practices for building an IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. Organizations supporting an IT infrastructure can increase efficiency while reducing service management costs if they follow recommended ITIL processes.

In addition to best practices, ITIL provides common terminology, such as “Incident,” “Problem,” “Change,” “Configuration Item (CI),””Knowledge,” and “Configuration Management Database (CMDB),” all of which are examples of terms used by those who support IT.

Education that focuses on ITIL best practices is available for people who wish to gain a better understanding of ITIL. Furthermore, ITIL certifications can be valuable to have on a resume and are offered in a variety of areas (see below).

What is ITSM (IT Service Management)?

IT Service Management (ITSM) is sometimes mistaken as a software solution. In reality, ITSM is about process, people, and technology. Software is one component of an ITSM solution.

Definition of ITSM:

IT Service Management is a strategic approach for designing, delivering, managing, and improving the way information technology (IT) is used within an organization. The goal of IT Service Management is to ensure that the right processes, people, and technology are in place so that the organization can meet its business goals.

Components of ITSM Software

ITSM software tools usually come with several components such as:

Database
Business Objects (u, groups, roles, etc.)
Process Engine

These software solutions that support ITSM are typically designed to align with ITIL best practice recommendations.

ITIL & ITSM Certifications

Organizations such as Pink Elephant provide ITIL certification services for ITSM software providers.

Agile
Lean IT
ITIL® & ITSM
And more

Summary

IT support departments that only provide Incident Management are often referred to as a Help Desk or ticketing solution. IT support organizations that follow the majority of ITIL best practices are typically referred to as a Service Desk solution. Although some ITIL recommendations might not be practical for every organization, when building an IT Service Management solution, ITIL best practices are a good place to start.

Be sure to subscribe to news feeds and forums that discuss ITSM technology in order to stay informed about the latest technology updates and trends regarding ITIL and ITSM.

10 Reasons Why IT Asset Management is Key to Cybersecurity

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 19:01:46 Z

The foundation of an effective cybersecurity strategy is knowledge about the environment. IT asset management (ITAM) enables organizations to know what assets they have and where they are located, ensuring that all assets are tracked so they can be secured properly. Below are 10 reasons to include ITAM in your cybersecurity strategy:

1. Mitigates Risk

Uncertainty about security threats, legal liabilities, and unpredictable events are much worse for IT security administrators when they don’t know where assets are located, how they are managed, and if they are vulnerable. ITAM provides a picture of the IT assets being used in the common operating environment. When IT assets are properly tracked, administrators can lower the security risks that come from unknown, lost, or misconfigured IT assets.

2. Provides Software Asset Cost Control

When organizations know what software they have, they can reclaim unused software and reallocate it and avoid purchasing a new license for the requested software. Managing too many software applications increases the security risks that come from outdated software or software that hasn’t been patched. With proper IT asset management, organizations are better equipped to control software requests and software purchases.

3. Helps Ensure Software is Updated and Patched

Older versions of software, and software that isn’t properly patched can be a security risk for an organization. ITAM tracks assets in production and assets in storage. With accurate and complete inventory data, IT administrators can verify that all IT assets are counted and configured with the appropriate tools that will keep software applications up-to-date.

4. Provides Hardware Asset Control

Unauthorized or unknown IT assets can introduce a security risk to the network. ITAM along with network discovery tools will help IT administrators see all devices that connect to the network. When administrators know what is connecting to the network, they can put checks in place to verify that assets are compliant with security controls and updates.

Assets that don’t check into the network for a period of time can also introduce a security risk. With ITAM, administrators can be notified if an asset doesn’t report into the network, allowing them to investigate missing assets that have been stolen or lost. In addition to unexpected legal costs or fines, missing IT assets with sensitive data could become a public relations nightmare for an organization.

5. Locates IT Assets

ITAM helps IT administrators see where assets are physically located. It shows who is using the asset as well as the associated cost center or department where the asset is used. When IT assets don’t report into the network, or if they don’t respond properly to network security updates, it’s important to know where the asset is located so that technicians can quickly locate the asset to perform a visual inspection.

6. Maps the Purpose of IT Assets so that Appropriate Security Controls are Applied

ITAM enables administrators to document the purpose of an IT asset. ITAM solutions can associate IT assets to projects or to an IT service, providing security administrators the information they need to properly secure each asset. For example, servers purchased for a testing environment could require security controls that are much different than servers purchased to provide web services in a live environment.

7. Maps Software Assets

ITAM will report what software packages are licensed by the organization, in addition to what the software does for the organization. When software titles are mapped to software assets, IT administrators can avoid purchasing redundant software. Reducing the quantity of software applications that IT is required to support will lower security risk.

8. Sets Asset Priority by Categorizing IT Assets

Not all assets are equal in an IT environment. ITAM can categorize IT assets by their operational function. For example, an IT asset categorized as critical to IT service operations could be associated with a configuration item (CI), then managed in a configuration management database with configuration management processes to ensure that any changes, updates, or modifications are approved and scheduled using a change management process.

IT assets that contain sensitive or proprietary information should be categorized accordingly to ensure they are stored in a secure location and, if compromised, assigned to the appropriate incident-response process with the correct level of urgency. When properly categorized, IT assets with sensitive information can be assigned to relevant disposal processes that ensure data is properly removed from a device before it is discarded.

9. Improves Reporting Accuracy for Security Administrators

ITAM can improve the accuracy of reports created by security administrators. Consider using the IT asset management database as a source of truth to verify that each asset has been counted and configured with the appropriate security controls. Assets that go unnoticed might not get the proper security controls, creating a security risk to the network.

10. Tracks Non-traditional IT Components, Such as IoT

Non-traditional IT devices, such as IoT, continue to flood the network. IT administrators need to document all devices, both traditional and non-traditional, so they can assess the security risk accurately.

Although security risks associated with a smart lightbulb may seem minimal, software that controls the smart lightbulb could be compromised easily if not properly secured. ITAM keeps non-traditional IT devices visible to security administrators, ensuring that all devices, such as IoT hardware and its supporting software, are properly secured and kept current with the latest software and security updates.

UEM vs. ITAM – What’s the Difference?

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 18:59:14 Z

In 1996, Washington, DC and its surrounding communities were hit with a tremendous snow storm causing businesses to shut down across the entire region. Today, advances in technology allow people to work from almost anywhere, eliminating “snow day” shutdowns for most office workers.

Mobility solutions, cloud solutions, and light weight laptops have given employees access to the tools they need to do their jobs from almost any location. However, today’s technology advancements are straining IT departments as they try to support various IT solutions across multiple platforms.

Demands on IT administrators will not slow down this year as most organizations are driving their digital transformation strategy to keep up with competitors and customer demands. To achieve digital transformation, organizations are implementing Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solutions along with IT Asset Management (ITAM) solutions. Although both strategies are focused on IT assets, their objectives are not the same. What’s the difference?

Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)

To support IT assets, IT administrators have to maintain and configure devices to use VPN services, email services, and connectivity services such as Wi-Fi. However, maintaining devices requires administrators to enforce access policies, install updates, control applications, deploy and manage legacy applications, enforce encryption, manage printers, and to perform audits.

The challenge faced by administrators is to perform these tasks across a diverse environment with multiple platforms and operating systems. The objective of UEM is to simplify the process of managing a diverse set of IT assets through a single interface.

According to Gartner, “UEM refers to a new class of tools that can act as a single management interface for mobile, PC, and other devices.”

UEM solutions are vital for IT departments trying to manage the influx of IT assets coming on to the network. Without a UEM solution, IT administrators would have to learn and understand multiple tools in order to complete a single task. For this reason, many organizations are turning to UEM solutions as a way to deploy, manage, and a secure their IT assets across multiple platforms.

Gartner claims that “I&O leaders should expect and plan to replace enterprise mobility management and client management tools with UEM to support modern OS’s.”

To achieve endpoint management from a single console, UEM solutions typically require four key components:

Discovery

Because IT assets need to be discovered and documented into the UEM solution, discovery tools are essential. UEM discovery tools work across multiple platforms and operating systems.

Security

UEM solutions need to secure the IT assets they manage. To secure IT assets, UEM solutions ensure that applications are kept up to date, that proper security controls are installed, and that policies are applied.

Integration

Integration is a key component for UEM solutions. This gives administrators the ability to see and manage all IT assets from a single console, thus eliminating endpoint silos. Without integration, administrators would be required to learn and use multiple management interfaces to manage IT assets across platforms.

Automation

When UEM solutions are integrated with other solutions on the network, automation can drastically reduce overhead by automating tasks that are typically performed by a human. For example, when a new employee comes on to the network, a UEM automated task could be triggered by a Human Resource (HR) application to automatically deliver software packages required for the new employee.

It is important to note that Process Automation is a key component of digital transformation. Ashish Deshpande writes about this on Forbes.com: "Ultimately, people — not technology — drive change. When your people aren’t wasting time on non-core activities or manual workarounds, they can do more of what’s important."

IT Asset Management (ITAM)

An IT asset refers to both hardware and software used to support an organization’s business objectives. IT Asset Management (ITAM) provides standards, processes, policies, and measurements for the purpose of increasing IT asset control and compliance in addition to reducing risk and costs. Ultimately, ITAM provides organizations with accurate inventory reports.

With accurate inventory reports, organizations are able to make informed IT purchase decisions. The challenge with managing IT assets is that IT assets are often updated, moved, and refreshed, which makes it difficult to maintain up to date asset information.

Inaccurate IT asset reports expose organizations to unnecessary IT purchases, software audits, and security breaches. ITAM best practices include processes that map IT assets to their contractual and financial information which enables organizations to track the overall cost associated with each IT asset.

With ITAM, IT assets are tracked from purchase to disposal which is referred to as IT asset lifecycle management. Lifecycle management ensures that when hardware is refreshed, software licenses are properly harvested from decommissioned devices, so they can be redeployed to new devices.

According to Gartner, “IT asset management (ITAM) provides an accurate account of technology asset lifecycle costs and risks to maximize the business value of technology strategy, architecture, funding, contractual and sourcing decisions.”

To achieve asset management objectives, ITAM solutions require three key components:

Discovery

IT assets need to be documented into the ITAM database when they are acquired and when they change. Without efficient discovery services, IT assets can go unnoticed or get lost, which increases an organization’s security risk

Integration

Integration gives administrators the ability to see and manage all IT assets from a single solution. Without integration, asset administrators would have to use additional tools, such as spreadsheets to obtain and maintain accurate inventory information.

Automation

Automation reduces human error. Mistakes can lead to inaccurate inventory information which increases risk and costs associated with IT assets. ITAM solutions often use automation tools for asset requests.

With regards to digital transformation, Deshpande recommends the following: “You don't have to automate every process at once. Start with something that's fairly common, involves multiple stakeholders and is performed reasonably often, like a purchase order”

Summary

UEM and ITAM are important to any organization heavily dependent on technology to achieve business objectives. UEM simplifies endpoint management with a single interface while ITAM reduces IT asset costs by keeping decision-makers informed. Furthermore, both UEM and ITAM are critical for those organizations trying to achieve digital transformation.