What to Consider When Choosing an IT Service Management Package

Users increasingly demand a frictionless user environment. Here are some tips to find an IT service management solution that meets expectations.

Your users will utilize tools and applications that enrich their work lives. They are starving for technology that looks, feels and acts similarly to technology in their personal lives. “A key indicator of the future of enterprise mobility is the use of this technology by consumers. More and more consumers are dependent on mobile for commerce. A strong user experience is a key driver for adoption here. A strong experience for enterprise mobility technologies and services will drive future success for IT. Unlike any other enterprise technology, mobility is in the hands of users. Because of this, employees get to decide what they will use, adopt and shelve.” —”2016 Trends in Enterprise Mobility,” 451 Research

Limiting your thinking of “mobile-first” to the device limits thinking on how to support your organization now and in the future. The device should be a key consideration. According to ComScore, 2015 marked the first time mobile-only Internet use surpassed desktop-only Internet use. When shopping for applications that will support the mobile enterprise, choosing solutions built for mobile is the key to success.

Delivering value to the organization easily and rapidly while being agile as the business expands and changes is the goal—and all without paying sky-high service costs. Upgrading to SaaS doesn’t always mean lower costs. Issues with cost overruns, limited feature sets and slow deployments are common unanticipated problems. Make sure that there are predefined or preconfigured processes so there is ease in creating customized services.

Traditional ITSM solutions are not natively built to deliver services from the cloud or to the enterprise mobile users. They lack in their ability to design, manage and enhance integrated services. Modern service management can allow multiple organizations the flexibility to create services governed by IT. This includes service templates, an intuitive service workflow tool and a service catalog. The service created must be device-agnostic and share a common experience with other services within the company.

Underlying business processes, from purchase orders to employee onboarding and travel, are critical to business success. These processes are increasingly managed by disparate tools in different departments. They create technology silos and islands of data. Also challenging is the Internet of things (IoT), allowing smart devices and non-IT assets to connect to the Internet and creating an explosion in the number of company-owned or -controlled assets that must be tracked, inventoried and managed. As smart devices come online, they become available to integrate with new IT services, increasing the amount of data collected, managed and analyzed.

Just as our workforce is more mobile, our companies have become more mobile. IT faces a significant challenge to unify operations, support and service management across a diverse and mobile environment. Scalability and integrating newly acquired organizations around the globe are also common challenges requiring support of employees anywhere, anytime. A service management tool that was never built to do this will take significant time, work and resources to get it there. Find the solution that is natively built and mobile-first to support your mobile workforce around the world.

Integration is no longer an afterthought with technical solutions—it is an imperative. Most providers focus R&D on automation of software and systems, ultimately driving up the total cost of ownership of a solution. Find out how the solution is able to be integrated. Which APIs do they support? Know how data and functions can be leveraged outside the platform. Have any functions been discontinued?

CIOs are becoming CSPs (chief service providers). This means they must move beyond thinking “total cost of ownership” and move toward “total cost of service.” To predict technology costs, consider the full costs, including acquiring, integrating and support services. Don’t forget service volume, vendor management, and ease of function and data integration. Many vendors hide this by offering a low initial price. Predicting and controlling costs mean you move from budget analysis and line items to managing the full life cycle services, including integration costs between services.

Service and support are critical to any successful project. However, IT administrators are often surprised at the lack of service and support after a major software purchase or the additional costs that soar unexpectedly. Check references with long-term customers ahead of time to find out if the vendor operates as a true partner in its customers’ success. Find out what “trust” features it offers. Advanced service and support, ease of engagement, plain-language contracts, accessibility of leadership and transparent monitoring of the cloud center where your SaaS application runs are all hallmarks of a vendor that believes in long-term partnerships, not a quick sale.

Success partnering with a traditional ITIL-based, world-class ITSM solution that also can enable enterprise mobility is imperative to ensure business success. Be wary of solutions that are cobbled together through mergers and acquisitions. These companies boast functionality by buying pieces along the way, such as configuration management or service catalog, or even the ability to deploy their solution from the cloud. But customers are often left stranded when the previous core functionality is not kept up to date or revised.

1. Designed for the end user-centric experience
2. Purpose-built as a mobile-first experience
3. Easy to deliver with codeless configuration
4. Comprehensive, flexible workflow design
5. Broad service management capabilities
6. Support for a global, multicultural and diverse workforce
7. Seamless integration
8. Controls for total cost of service delivery
9. Complete service and support, including a trust program
10. Proven track record in ITSM and enterprise mobility