GuideUC&C22 Jul 2019 · 5 min read

A Roadmap to Service Management Software

ITSM software is one of the many pieces to the puzzle of being proactive, rather than reactive - Patrice Bramat of Bicom Systems gives us his thoughts

Guest Blogger

Service Management Software, also known as Information Technology Service Management, IT Service Management and/or ITSM, is basically everything involving IT services in an organisation. It allows companies to properly manage and optimise their business technology and the services they provide to their customers.

Being an IT person for a company can be a thankless position. They carry a lot of responsibility and are often the person to blame when something breaks. When you are the dedicated “IT Guy,” you must have visibility on everything that is going on in an organisation. This way you can be proactive instead of reactive to issues that may arise. ITSM software is one of the many pieces to the puzzle of being proactive.

ITSM may sound like a simple, four-letter acronym, but what it can do is huge! It encompasses everything from security, a ticketing system, user access control, user device management and more.

Unfortunately, not one software does everything. However, many ITSMs have one thing in common, LDAP. Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, also known as LDAP, is an open-source protocol that is used to look up information like AD (Active Directory) from a server. It is a powerful tool that can be attached to an organisation's directory services database through one single point of contact.

How to Use Service Management Software

[caption id="attachment_21247" align="alignright" width="200"] Patrice Bramat[/caption]

Setting up a new user on your company’s system can take a lot of time. You must create the employee an email account, add them to group emails, assign them permission to certain folders, printers, drives, grant access to the building and the list goes on. ITSM Software simplifies this process!

Now all the IT person needs to do is create the email account and attach it to the correct organisational unit. This will circulate everything based on a predefined set of rules. For example, say you hired Elvis as an Accounting Assistant in the Finance Department. You would create an email for Elvis and attach that account to the Finance Department. Elvis now has access to the printers on the Finance floor, the appropriate folders on the server and has been added to the "finance@" email chain. Elvis can also be added to other OUs and have access to other drives, floors or even offices in other locations.

Why Your Company Needs Service Management Software

Your IT team will thank you for installing ITSM Software. As mentioned earlier, there is not one software that will do everything, however some key pieces exist to help your IT department.

Ticketing: Any organisation with an IT department should have a ticketing system. If an employee is facing a problem or has a request, they can fill out a ticket submission form. The IT employee can prioritise the ticket and react accordingly. Life is full of distractions, humans can only remember so much and emails can get lost. A ticketing process allows you to stay organised and prioritise your day.

User Management:Allow the IT team to set up permissions and policies through Active Directory (AD). This is extremely important for the IT department to have, especially when a new employee is hired. User management allows you to attach new employees and give them access to the group(s) they belong to. Here they will have particular system access control and building access control. Permissions and policies can be modified at any time for users and they can be added to multiple groups.

This is important to ensure only authorised personnel have access to certain documents or the building outside of office hours.

Asset Management: This updates you on the status of assets in the company. The software will scan the network once a week and report what computers are on the network, their disk space, the warranty, brand, etc. Asset Management will let you know who needs an upgrade and when, plus which employees have what. For example, if an employee leaves the company, you will know they had a cellphone, laptop, and tablet assigned to them.

Security Software: Securing and managing your IT infrastructure is extremely important. Security software will back up all your servers to the cloud or an on-premise solution. If an employee encounters a virus or tries to access a blocked site, the software will automatically notify the IT department.

License Management: Software tracking can be used to manage the number of licenses in your organisation. In large companies, each employee may require their own license agreement. If your organisation got audited, you will need to know which computers have which license.

Network Monitoring Software: This constantly monitors the network and notifies the IT staff when your servers or your customer's servers are down. If there are problems on the network, they can react accordingly.

The Benefits of Service Management Software

Service Management Software makes the lives of your IT staff so much easier! It will keep them organised and give them better visibility of day-to-day operations. ITSM will allow your organisation to react efficiently, effectively and promptly. This will provide better service to you and your customers.

How UC and ITSM Work Together

Essentially, ITSM has the ability to control the way UC is deployed and used within the organisation. ITSM assists in the way everyone interacts with technology and unified communications. For example, ITSM can be used on a departmental or individual level for the application of a feature. Individuals with different permissions may have limited chat functions or call responsibilities. When a new employee is hired, their UC application may differ from other employees based on their role in the company.

Before there were different teams dedicated to the different parts of ITSM. But now, the IT department is responsible for all ITSM, unified communications and more. Integrating UC and ITSM will leverage what already exists and better the service of communications within the organisation.

Guest Blog by Patrice Bramat, Business Success Manager at Bicom Systems Patrice has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and management. Upon recently joining the Bicom Systems team, he came from large corporations like Akzo Nobel, Rexel, and Xerox. As Bicom Systems Business Success Manager, Patrice is tasked with providing partners with resources in sales and marketing to further their business needs. Bicom Systems is the only unified communications provider with all of the pieces to start and grow a telephony company. They offer seven highly-featured products integrated seamlessly to boost sales, growth, and profit.