What Is IT Service Management (ITSM)?
IT service management, or ITSM, refers to the strategy behind how an organization delivers IT services to their end users. Technologies, processes, and people are all important parts of ITSM.
ITSM focuses on understanding and meeting end user needs. This ranges from designing IT systems with effective demand management to deploying processes, hardware, and software that improve services. ITSM activities make it possible to grow and develop IT systems to accommodate evolving expectations and technologies.
When organizations use ITSM effectively, they can provide more-responsive services with more availability, at a low cost. ITSM can also improve employee productivity and customer experience, as well as make it easier to analyze and enhance services in the future.
What Is the Difference Between ITSM and ITIL?
ITIL, or the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a best practices framework for ITSM used by organizations worldwide. The most current version of ITIL is ITIL 4, released in 2019. Compared with previous versions, ITIL 4 emphasizes a collaborative approach that breaks free from silos to maintain an agile, flexible IT organization.
ITIL 4 is centered on a six-activity service value chain model. These six ITIL processes are:
- Plan: Strategic planning must take user needs, organizational constraints, and future directions into account.
- Engage: To ensure success, IT needs to understand the needs of all stakeholders. This activity involves taking a deep dive into user experience needs to keep users satisfied with new IT services.
- Design and transition: Before implementing new services, ITIL calls for a solid foundation of user-centric design. Decisions are based on stakeholder expectations and organizational strategy.
- Obtain and build: Organizations can develop a new service in-house or purchase a solution from a vendor, depending on user needs and available technologies.
- Deliver and support: After solutions are built or obtained, they are deployed into the IT environment and made available to users. People and processes will require support from IT to make effective use of services.
- Improve: No IT system is simply finished and complete. Effectively managing IT services requires a commitment to continuous improvement.
Using the ITIL framework can make it easier for organizations to understand the strengths and weaknesses of current IT strategies and build a strong foundation for the future.
When organizations use ITSM effectively, they can provide responsive services with high availability, at a low cost.
ITSM Processes Supported by the Intel vPro® Platform
Intel is committed to improving the delivery of IT services and helping organizations drive more value from IT. The Intel vPro® platform, designed for the needs of businesses, makes several steps of ITSM easier, from planning to service delivery and improvement.
Incident Management
With Intel® Active Management Technology, part of the Intel vPro® platform, incident management is simplified and improved with easy remote access capabilities. IT departments can control any device with a power source and network connection—even if the machine is unattended or no one is logged in.
Problem Management
Intel® Active Management Technology also makes it easier for IT departments and help desks to manage basic problems by allowing full remote diagnosis and configuration for both on-site and remote employees.
Change Management
Making sure every employee updates their configuration is easier with Intel® Active Management Technology.
Implement global changes remotely for all employees and simplify change management across the organization.
Deployment Management
Deploy and configure new software and services during off-hours with Intel® Active Management Technology to help maximize uptime.
IT Service Continuity Management
Hardware changes can disrupt the flow of business. The Intel® Stable IT Platform Program (Intel® SIPP), included as part of the Intel vPro® platform, validates hardware and software to aim for no hardware changes throughout the buying cycle. This translates to fewer interruptions and easier continuity management for IT.
Information Security Management
Today, cyberattacks can target not only software, but also firmware. With Intel® Hardware Shield, a component of the Intel vPro® platform, hardware-based security features help reduce risks from attacks without adding IT infrastructure. It also provides hardware-to-software security visibility. With memory lockdown features to prevent malicious code injection, Intel® Hardware Shield helps organizations navigate a complex threat landscape.
Using the full capabilities of the Intel vPro® platform, organizations can implement ITSM strategies designed around an agile, flexible approach to IT processes.