IT Service Management (ITSM) tools enable enterprise IT teams to facilitate all the processes, services, and applications required for planning, managing, and delivering end-to-end IT services to customers, employees and other stakeholders. The goal of ITSM tools are to combine various processes and practices that align IT services with business needs, ensuring optimal performance and delivery. Efficient ITSM tools, as a result, are essential in helping companies maintain operational efficiency and improve user satisfaction, through the reliable fulfilment of IT services.
Key Functions of ITSM Tools
The key functions and capabilities of ITSM tools include the following:
Service Request Management: ITSM tools primarily offer service request management, which handles and fulfills service requests from customers, clients, or system users. Service requests can include tasks such as password resets, software installations, account creations and permissions, or service changes. Organizations can also streamline service requests by integrating with helpdesk software that they may already be using, to maintain familiarity among IT service teams.
Knowledge Management: ITSM software also includes knowledge management, which is important for creating and sharing information so that IT professionals and the organization’s users can easily find important data. Knowledge management helps improve decision-making within a company by improving collaboration, streamlining information-sharing, and quickening issue resolution.
Change Management: ITSM software includes change management processes that help control IT service lifecycles and make changes to essential systems in a controlled, systematic way, helping to minimize risk and business disruptions. Efficient change management, as a result, is a key component for companies looking to establish business continuity.
Incident Management: ITSM tools deliver efficient incident management, which restores normal system function and accessibility after an incident. Incident management includes identifying, logging, categorizing, and resolving incidents to promptly and efficiently minimize their impact on business operations. Incident management also leverages automated tools and workflows to make the resolution process more efficient, for optimal service quality and customer satisfaction.
Problem Management: Problem management is a core element of ITSM, and includes proactively identifying incident causes to quickly diagnose and resolve issues, implement fixes, and prevent future issues by maintaining a database of known issues, incident causes, and resolutions. Problem management fosters more stable and reliable IT services by reducing how often incidents occur, and helps minimize business downtime, further contributing towards enterprise business continuity.
Organizations can also integrate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their ITSM tools. RPA tools automate processes and workflows across core IT management functions to improve data accuracy, minimize manual tasks, and speed up issue resolution.
Top 10 IT Service Management (ITSM) Tools
Top 10 IT Service Management (ITSM) Tools sorted by Wheelhouse Score.
Zoho Desk / NinjaOne / TOPdesk / ServiceDesk Plus / Zendesk Suite / ClickUp / ServiceNow / Atera / Cisco Meraki / Citrix
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer support platform, furnishing an extensive toolkit to manage customer inquiries and support tickets adeptly. The platform's user-friendly interface and robust features position it as an optimal solution for businesses of diverse sizes aiming to streamline their cus...
NinjaOne is a comprehensive Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platform designed to empower IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) with efficient IT infrastructure management and monitoring capabilities. With a wide range of advanced features, NinjaOne simplifies the management of...
TOPdesk is an IT service management software that helps organizations streamline their service management processes. With TOPdesk, users can easily manage incidents, requests, changes, and problems within a single platform. The software features an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to navi...
ServiceDesk Plus is a comprehensive help desk software solution developed by ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation. It is an IT Service Management (ITSM) software that helps organizations of all sizes manage their IT assets, incidents, problems, changes, and knowledge base. One of the key fea...
Zendesk Suite is an end-to-end customer relationship platform that combines help desk, voice and CX capabilities into one powerful application. AI is a key capability at Zendesk, offering users the ability to infuse intelligent automation across a variety of areas, from customer interactions to inte...
ClickUp is a cloud-based project management tool designed for the sole purpose of streamlining team collaboration and productivity. What sets ClickUp apart is its flexibility, allowing users to customize the platform to their team's unique needs. With a wide array of customizable views, layouts, and...
ServiceNow helps enterprises to build cloud networks or software that can help them in administration, governance, or digital workflow management. ServiceNow has grown immensely popular because of all the talk that goes around business automation. ServiceNow is an American-based company operating fr...
BMC is a leading provider of innovative solutions for digital operations, AIOps, and service management. Their Helix platform offers a range of products designed to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall customer experience. One key feature of BMC Helix is its Connected Di...
Citrix is a cloud computing and virtualization company that provides secure networking, endpoint security, zero-trust access, and application, desktop, and server virtualization. Citrix helps companies protect sensitive business data, centralize and deliver critical applications, and create exceptio...
Cisco Meraki is a network management and security platform that leverages intuitive technologies to secure data networks, streamline and optimize IT, and securely connect data, people, and devices in one centralized solution. Serving over 800,000 companies and over 15 million devices around the worl...
Learn more about IT Service Management (ITSM) Software
Is ITSM the same as IT support?
No. While both are important for effective IT operations, ITSM (IT Service Management) involves the proactive planning, design, implementation, and continual improvement of IT services needed to support an organization’s specific business needs. IT support, on the other hand, involves reactive support and assistance with technical issues on a daily, case-by-case basis.
What’s the difference between ITSM and ERP?
ITSM focuses on managing IT services and support, which creates structured processes and systems to support effective, efficient IT services management. ERP, on the other hand, is a system that integrates, centralizes, and automates core business data and workflows to help organizations efficiently manage all of their key business processes in one system of record.
ITSM vs ITIL vs DevOps: what's the difference?
ITSM (IT Service Management) focuses on managing IT services to meet business needs efficiently and ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) provides a framework of best practices specifically for IT service management, ensuring alignment of IT services with business objectives and continual service improvement. DevOps, on the other hand, is more focused towards software development, and promotes collaboration between development and operations teams, aiming for faster and more reliable software delivery through automation and cultural alignment.
