[Guide] What is ITSM: how to enhance IT efficiency, security, and scale

ITSM is a very big business.

In 2023, the global ITSM market was estimated to be worth $10.5 billion. By 2028, it is projected to more than double to a value of $22.1 billion.

There is a good reason for such an incredible growth forecast.

Today, every organization relies on its IT department to keep business operations running smoothly. And every IT team needs ITSM practices and tools to deliver efficient and high-quality service and support.

What does good ITSM look like in the real world? What exactly is ITSM, and what are the ITSM best practices you should follow front and center?

Take a walk with us through the essentials in this ITSM guide.

What is ITSM?

IT service management (ITSM) is the planning, implementation, delivery, and management of IT service and support in an organization. It’s how IT teams provide end-to-end IT services to their clients, whether internally to the company’s employees, or externally to customers (in the case of MSPs or SaaS providers).

Essentially, ITSM is the set of practices, policies, and procedures that dictate the delivery of efficient IT services. IT departments typically implement ITSM with a tool or platform that is purpose-built for IT service management functions and customized to their organization’s needs.

The importance of ITSM in an organization can’t be overstated. Clearly, companies cannot operate if their technology is not well served. But the impact goes even further than day-to-day operations.

ITSM also provides a framework to ensure that IT services:

• Align with business needs and goals
• Are continuously improving
• Are cost effective 
• Enhance user/customer satisfaction

A robust approach to ITSM covers much more than just managing IT tickets. Let’s explore what is included in a complete ITSM solution.

Key components of ITSM solutions

There are five main components that make up a comprehensive ITSM framework. Each has a role to play in ensuring reliable and efficient IT services, whether minimizing downtime, enhancing service quality, or managing a post-incident recovery plan.

Let’s begin with the core component of ITSM, and probably the most well-known one: service desk management, also known as helpdesk or IT ticketing.

1. Service desk management

The service desk is the main point of contact for all IT issues in an organization. It ensures that all user queries and requests are recorded, tracked, and resolved efficiently. 

Users can submit tickets or queries via several channels, including email, portal, chat, or other messaging platforms. The service desk software then assigns the case to an IT team member, who takes the necessary action to handle the issue and close the request,

Helpdesks usually offer a self-service function, enabling customers to handle queries independently where possible. Self-service features include:

• Automated chatbots that use AI to resolve simple queries automatically
• Knowledge base with troubleshooting articles and videos
• Community forums, where users can interact and help one another to fix issues

Self-service tools such as these can significantly reduce the workload for the IT team.

2. Incident management

Incident management is a function that detects IT incidents, such as network outage or software glitches, and works to quickly restore operations after interruptions to minimize business impact.

Effective incident management is based on strategizing recovery plans in advance. This includes having the right technology, procedures, and training in place, ready to execute when incidents arise.

A key part of incident management is post-incident analysis. By examining the data behind the incident and response, IT teams can optimize their incident management strategy to improve performance and recover quicker in the future.

3. Problem management

Problem management aims to identify and address the root causes of recurring IT incidents to prevent their reoccurrence. This involves detecting, analyzing, and resolving underlying problems that cause disruptions in IT services. Problem management minimizes the impact of incidents by fixing issues before they lead to more significant outages or disruptions. 

An ITSM solution that includes AI-based predictive analytics enables IT teams to take a proactive approach to problem management. This is a key advantage, as the team can create action plans to mitigate risk in advance, helping them stay one step ahead of IT problems.

4. Change management

IT ecosystems are inherently dynamic, and always changing. 

Change management is a structured process for controlling and managing changes to IT systems, services, or configurations to minimize disruptions and risks. It ensures that any changes, whether related to software, hardware, or processes, are systematically evaluated, approved, implemented, and reviewed. 

The goal of change management is to implement the necessary updates or improvements to IT, without negatively impacting service quality and business continuity. This is achieved by assessing the potential impact, planning the rollout, and coordinating with relevant stakeholders. A solid change management strategy helps organizations avoid unnecessary downtime and ensures changes align with business objectives.

5. Configuration management

Configuration management is a crucial IT process for monitoring and controlling the configuration of system components, essentially serving as real-time asset control. For MSPs, it provides an up-to-date inventory and status of all managed assets, ensuring consistent performance and tracking changes over time.

By centralizing and organizing configuration data, IT professionals can maintain systems that are reliable, up-to-date, and well-documented. Automation plays a key role in configuration management, reducing human error and enabling the efficient deployment of updates, ensuring systems are always correctly configured and performing optimally.

What are the benefits of ITSM solutions?

An ITSM solution centralizes and optimizes all the processes involved in IT management, providing a one-stop hub that keeps the IT organization aligned.

Whichever ITSM platform you choose, there’s a long list of benefits that it can bring, including:

• Better efficiency: Streamlines IT processes, reducing manual tasks and increasing productivity.
• Improved service quality: Supports consistent and reliable IT service delivery with standardized and automated processes.
• Faster resolution time: More efficient resolution of IT issues and incidents, helping to minimize downtime.
• Reduced IT costs: Helps to track, optimize, and plan resource usage, reducing unnecessary expenses.
• Increased visibility of the IT environment: Provides real-time tracking and monitoring of IT operations and performance.
• Compliance and risk management: Helps IT teams adhere to regulatory standards and reduces the risk of non-compliance.
• User satisfaction: Enables faster, more reliable IT support that boosts the user experience and maximizes productivity.
• Automation: ITSM solutions with AI-based automation capabilities can streamline and automate many of the rote tasks of IT management, freeing up IT teams for more meaningful work.
• Scalability: An ITSM tool adapts to growing business needs, supporting future growth and expansion of IT and business operations.

ITSM pricing and savings

Implementing ITSM software helps IT teams to reduce downtime, optimize resource allocation, and improve overall operational efficiency. All of this can lead to significant cost savings over time.

While saving IT costs is a key benefit of an ITSM solution, not all ITSM platforms are created equal. If an ITSM product is not delivering on price efficiency, then it is simply not working for you.

One of the ‘traps’ of ITSM pricing is the pricing model. Many providers charge per endpoint, which means that the cost of using the software steadily increases when the company grows.

Atera pioneered a smarter, more cost-effective pricing model in the ITSM industry that organizations all over the world now enjoy: pay-per-technician.

Instead of paying per endpoint or device, you only pay per IT technician, no matter how many new devices are added. This is a highly competitive pricing structure that provides more flexibility to scale without having to worry about rising costs. Atera pricing for IT departments starts at $149 per month per technician, while pricing for MSPs starts at $129.

ITSM software frameworks

ITSM solutions are based on several popular ITSM frameworks that are industry standard. These include ITIL, COBIT and ISO/IEC 20000.

• ITIL is widely adopted, providing comprehensive guidelines for ITSM best practices, focusing on aligning IT services with business needs. 
• COBIT emphasizes governance and management of enterprise IT. It offers a framework that integrates with ITIL, but adds extra focus on control and policy.
• ISO/IEC 20000 is an international standard for ITSM that outlines best practices for delivering and managing IT services effectively. It provides a IT framework for organizations to establish, implement, maintain, and continuously improve their ITSM processes.

Each framework has unique strengths, making them suitable for different organizational needs and goals.

How does RMM software fit into ITSM solutions?

Remote management and monitoring (RMM) software  is a critical component of an ITSM solution, providing IT teams with the tools to proactively monitor and manage IT infrastructure remotely. It supports real-time tracking of network performance, system health, and security across all managed devices, enabling quick identification and resolution of issues before they impact end users. 

For MSPs, an RMM is at the core of IT service management, enabling service providers to maintain their clients’ IT infrastructure and systems in a remote delivery model, wherever they are located. Typically, this is done by installing an agent on the devices and systems that provides status information back to the MSP.

Integrated with ITSM, RMM enhances incident management by automatically generating tickets for detected issues and triggering automated workflows for resolution. It also supports asset management by providing detailed insights into the status and configuration of all IT assets.

ITSM implementation and best practices

ITSM is a complex function, made up of numerous processes that work together to streamline IT service delivery and performance. It also involves different technology integrations, and intensive collaboration between teams. The path to a successful ITSM implementation is possible when you follow these ITSM best practices:

Gain stakeholder support

Implementing ITSM, or taking it to the next level, requires a long term commitment from the organization. Ideally, try to gain support from a C-level leader who can be your champion along the ITSM journey. 

Once you have implemented ITSM software, it becomes much easier to justify the investment. Instead of constantly answering the question “Is ITSM worth it?”, you’ll be able to leverage data from your ITSM tool that shows how your IT service operations are helping the company become more efficient and productive.

At the same time, don’t forget the other stakeholders — IT colleagues, end users, and anyone else you can serve better with the right ITSM software. Enlist them in the process, and train them with the necessary knowledge and skills. Without all stakeholders on board, it can be challenging to get the results you want from ITSM.

Assess your current IT capabilities and needs

Assess the impact that your current IT service operations are having on productivity. This will help you understand your ITSM needs.

For example, you may discover that your team is constantly behind on fixing IT issues towards the end of the month, or that SLAs are not met during peak times. Or perhaps the same IT issues are constantly repeating, leading to burnout among the IT team and customers.

MSP businesses undergoing growth may be hampered by a shortage of IT staff.

To truly understand your company’s IT needs, follow these three steps:

• Consult with your team, management, and end users whose daily work is impacted by limited IT capabilities.
• Link each challenge or need to a potential business outcome.
• Prioritize the list to understand which challenges most need your attention and action.

Set goals and develop strategies

Now that you have prioritized your most urgent needs, set goals and strategies for change. Ensure your team is action-oriented — this will vastly impact your choice of ITSM software, because you’ll know what capabilities you need from the tool.

For example, if your goal is to support revenue-generating activities, you need ITSM software that helps solve more issues faster so your IT team is freer to pursue other projects. 

According to recent research, user satisfaction can be significantly increased by automating easy tickets, while making sure that sufficient resources are assigned to difficult tickets. If you choose a tool that integrates predictive analytics, you will gain the capability to forecast potential issues and take action in advance to prevent them or minimize the possible escalation, and boost user satisfaction at the same time.

If your goal is to scale your MSP without hiring new technicians, or you want to transition some technicians to do deeper work, you need an ITSM software that automates mundane tasks and allows for self service that actually works.

Execute your strategy diligently

All the planning won’t pay off if you don’t execute your ITSM implementation strategy exactly as planned.

When you arrive at the execution stage, make sure to include these critical aspects:

• Decide on your timeline for choosing an ITSM software, or how many tools you’re willing to test out before moving forward. This will help you avoid getting bogged down in the POC and decision-making process.
• Schedule time for the software implementation process, but don’t choose a tool that is complicated and time-consuming to integrate in your existing systems. Atera’s ITSM platform, for example, has a fast implementation flow. Don’t forget that your IT team still needs to perform all the usual IT tasks, so perhaps consider implementing your ITSM solution during slow times, such as over the summer, or before a long weekend.
• Provide training for all necessary parties. This is so important! You won’t get the maximum from your ITSM solution if your IT team and end users are not familiar with it or comfortable using it. 
• Document the implementation procedures to maintain consistency and ensure alignment with organizational objectives.

Continuously review and improve

Monitor performance metrics to see how your IT operations are performing after the ITSM implementation. This will help you identify what needs to be changed or adjusted. Set up your ITSM software to deliver real time alerts and proactive, data-based recommendations to take the most impactful actions forward.

Gather feedback from anyone involved with your ITSM activity, including IT staff, colleagues, end users/customers, and company management. Do your best to get specific feedback that complements the data collected by your ITSM tool to round out the picture more fully.

A robust ITSM solution provides a range of data-based reports that you should review regularly and align with your KPIs. With all this information and data at hand, you can adjust your strategy to optimize your IT service delivery in the most effective way possible.

Emerging trends in ITSM

Emerging trends in IT service management are reshaping how organizations deliver and manage IT services, driven by advancements in technology and evolving business needs. 

A key trend is the integration of AI and automation into ITSM tools, supporting predictive analytics, automated incident resolution, and smart chatbots that enhance service desk efficiency and improve the self-service experience. AI-driven automation is reducing the manual workload on IT teams, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Another trend is the shift towards Enterprise Service Management (ESM), where ITSM principles are applied beyond IT to other business functions like HR, finance, and facilities management. This broadens the scope of service management and promotes a unified approach to delivering services across the organization.

The rise of cloud-based ITSM solutions is also significant, offering greater scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Cloud platforms enable seamless integration with other business applications and support remote work environments, which are becoming increasingly important in hybrid workplaces.

Atera is already ahead of the game, with an advanced integrated AI function built into the platform. The Atera Copilot feature is designed to proactively predict IT issues, and provide suggestions to IT teams about how to handle them or prevent them. With the Copilot by your side, the future of ITSM is far more automated, efficient, and productive.