Ask any project manager about the dangers of not aligning IT services with business needs and you will most probably hear about the danger of a possible business failure. Designing, delivering, managing, and improving the way IT is used within an organization plays a key role as it plays a significant role in delivering value to the business and its customers.

Many organizations attempt to establish standard ITSM frameworks but still overlook some best practices. However, following some simple practices can completely transform the dynamics of any IT environment and organization.

1. Demanding Ownership of Service: In general, service ownership is invariably undefined in ITSM, and it is a generic issue in such systems. Being responsible for a service eradicates a lot of issues that crop up and it reduces confusion as to who does what, and so also controls expectations as to what will be done and when. Service owners are separate individuals between the IT department and the company; thus, the improvement of services and customers’ satisfaction is quantified more accurately.
2. Continuous improvement: However, many organizations will start implementing changes once in a while, even though that flexibility may be there. Using the plan-do-check-act cycle not only promotes change management in a plan do check and act type of approach, but also establishes the evaluation culture.  The enhancement of the quality of the service delivery is realized when the service delivery is studied, redesigned, and accumulated over processes, user feedback, and measurement.
3. Communication Strategies: Making public acquaintances usually translates into mainstream communication approaches that are effective. Of course, ITSM is effective when implemented under conditions characterized by proper interaction between the IT staff and the business side. It has been observed that in most cases, it is a general tendency of IT teams to avoid communicating with the non-IT staff regarding the changes, problems, and performance of service. With the institutionalization of routine updates and feedback, there is a possibility of reducing fully the gap that has been seen existing between IT and business units in order to have an effective and optimum collaboration as we position with the business needs.
4. Automation Support: Automation arises in conversation and in most areas, especially ITSM, it is rarely implemented. That is why, when multiple routine tasks, including ticket handling, incident escalation and routine reporting are automatized, the organizations can reduce possible manual errors of the working processes. Accepting automation assists the IT teams in executing these service delivery tasks while simultaneously seeking much more important projects.
5. Stakeholders’ Active Participation in Service Design: This is so because stakeholders are integral in the design of service delivery in that they are both willing to get involved as well as be full participants in the whole process. During the initiation of the IT service design, there are often no end-users as well as other internal or external. This leads to a gap in the delivery of the service to the clients’ expectations.” User stories and service blueprints should be used so people start to think creatively and describe real service requirements.
6.  Metrics that Can Be Useful: Finally, many organizations have a lot of data because they often fail to identify what to ‘reduce’ it into. This is important especially when ITSM and its evaluations are being done and the emphasis is on adequate measure instruments that support business practice. It’s not satisfactory enough to simply see what technically impressive numbers exist within an organization, such as system up time, but instead, organizations have to look at user satisfaction scores, time is taken to respond to incidents, and the effects their services have on enterprises if they are really keen on understanding how effective their said services are.

Popular ITSM tools

•  ServiceNow: Highly functional, powerful, and renowned details of the consolidative ITSM application instances.
• BMC Remedy: It is a solution and is developed for enterprise-level-framework especially.
• Cherwell: A cloud-based platform offering flexibility and ease of use through cloud capability.
• Zendesk: While Zendesk has many features, it is most famous as the help desk software.
• Freshservice: An easy to use, cost effective tool available as software as a service.
• Jira Service Desk: Jira is one of the most popular tools that can be used in conjunction with the project management tool.

Things to Ponder While Selecting an ITSM Tool

• Features and Functionality: You should be careful to only run the tool in places where features are available to run and even some companies that don’t have API.
• Scalability: Consider the types of growth organization-wise and then try to see a solution can handle that growth.
• Integration Capabilities: Ensure the tool meets your existing information technology system connections.
• Cost: It comes with free trial, a basic monthly fee, and then there are extra charges for getting more out of the tool.
• Ease of Use: How you are to measure the usability of the tool in relation to how your IT team is to use it and how easy it would be for them to understand the tool.
• Support and Training: The manner and extent to which services related to customer support and training service and their public availability are efficient.

Key ITSM frameworks

1- IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL):

• Most implemented ITSM frameworks all over the world.
• Contains a rich list of business processes and advice on how to manage IT services.
•  Includes concepts of planning, incident management, problem management, change management, and service level management.

2- CobiT:

• Conceptualized in terms of governance and control of enterprise IT.
•  Gives structure to the coordination of IT with the company’s objectives and a way to mitigate risk.

3- ISO/IEC 20000:

•  A best practice framework for IT service management from an international perspective.
•  Describes the criteria for a service management system that can undergo the process of certification.

4- Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI):

• A model of organizational change that is used to scope, plan, measure, control, and improve IT service management.
• Concentrates on the maturity of processes and offers direction for enhancements.

5- Microsoft Operations Framework:

• A system designed by Microsoft for the purpose of simplifying IT operations.
• Offers a set of practices and templates for the ITSM process implementation

Benefits of Adopting an ITSM Framework:

•  Improved efficiency: Increased productivity and effective harmony in work activities.
•  Enhanced customer satisfaction: Improve service delivery and also achieve far much better results than planned.
• Reduced costs: Optimal resource utilization accompanied by waste reduction.
• Enhanced risk management: Enhancement in the management of IT risks and their management.
•  Increased compliance: The extent to which the laid down practices and legal regulations have been complied with.

The implementation of these practices enables the movement towards a particular openness and adaptability of the IT environment, as well as has tangible value for the IT department and the organizational system in the context of improving service delivery and stakeholders’ satisfaction.

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