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Table of Contents
ITSM
ITSM (IT Service Management) Definition
IT Service Management, or ITSM (Information Technology Service Management), includes processes aimed at designing, delivering, and improving how a company’s IT services are used. ITSM aims to provide both effective and efficient information services, aligned with the company’s technological objectives and operational needs.
Importance of ITSM for a Business
ITSM is strategically important for businesses. It improves operational efficiency through optimized IT process management. ITSM reduces downtime, improves service quality, while reducing management costs.
In summary, ITSM becomes strategic as it impacts risk management by improving incident management processes. It also improves user satisfaction by enhancing information service quality and availability.
Why Migrate to a New ITSM Service?
While ITSM systems are strategic for businesses, it’s essential to use the right tool for IT service management. Implementing a change to a more performant ITSM service helps resolve operational or data management issues. Implementing a migration to a new ITSM service that will be more practical and better equipped helps reduce costs while increasing user and/or customer satisfaction.
We will explain how to implement the migration of your ITSM services to a new system better suited to managing your processes. The goal is to guide you so you can gain efficiency and not waste time in production processes.
Understanding ITSM
Before considering migrating ITSM systems, it’s necessary to understand everything these services encompass. Indeed, the changes brought by this migration undoubtedly include the transmission of important, sometimes sensitive, data within the company. It’s also a key service in the company’s service management. It is therefore essential to anticipate operations and the level of involvement for each user as much as possible before implementing a change to a new data management service.
Main ITSM Processes
Incident Management Incident management is a key process in ITSM systems. Its objective is to restore services as quickly as possible after an interruption. It comprises six phases, from automated detection and classification to incident closure in the management service, generating a post-incident resource for continuous improvement.
Problem Management When incidents repeat, they become problematic for the organization. ITSM systems are also there for managing these problems and implementing change measures. Just like incident management processes, problem management is resolved in six phases in automation. A data management service facilitates processing and engages a continuous improvement process.
Change Management Changes within companies’ IT services carry significant risks for service organization. The implementation of these changes must therefore be managed to minimize problems. Change is also an opportunity to improve work quality and production efficiency.
When a change request is made, it’s important to have the necessary tools for planning and implementing it, but also to be able to conduct an impact assessment on operations.Service Request Management Standard service request management concerns all daily requests found in the workflow. These support services are often known by the IT department that handles them on demand in a standardized way. The contribution of an ITSM tool is to organize all workflows to enable their automation across your entire work platform.
IT Asset Management Finally, IT asset management allows for automated tracking and management of assets, how to optimize them, and minimize costs. This includes hardware assets, such as computers and peripherals, but also software licenses and other intangible IT assets. By optimizing maintenance cycles and with inventory automation, risks are reduced and production efficiency is increased.
Obviously, having an ITSM system in place within your IT infrastructure allows for a unified and interconnected service system, contributing to effective data management and company performance.
ITIL and ITSM
ITIL Definition
ITIL, or Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a reference framework for IT Service Management (ITSM). Developed by the UK Government’s Office of Commerce, ITIL provides guidelines for IT systems to meet business objectives. ITIL covers all practical aspects of ITSM and additionally includes processes for service design, changes, and continuous improvement, aiming to optimize information service quality and minimize risks to your data.
How ITIL is Used in ITSM
ITIL is widely used within ITSM. It provides best practices and standardized processes. This allows organizations to improve the quality and efficiency of their information services while perfectly aligning with the company’s strategic objectives. ITIL is also a good starting point for diagnosing current ITSM performance, as IT management processes that don’t meet ITIL standards are obsolete. With tools having evolved in an optimized and maximally automated way, service management is facilitated. If you’re considering implementing changes in modern ITSM management services, basing yourself on ITIL principles is a relevant quality benchmark.
Preparing for Migration
Needs assessment
Analyze current processes before considering implementing ITSM service changes, it’s first recommended to evaluate and analyze the processes at work within the organization. Each company has its own way of operating, specific needs, and objectives. There’s no single method for conducting a perfect assessment. However, a structured analysis allows for a comprehensive review of ongoing processes. Also know that as an ITSM change partner, many companies have found that an external and specialized approach from this needs assessment stage generally leads to superior results once data migration is completed.
The Five Steps to Follow to Structure Your ITSM Process Analysis:
Data Collection: You’ll first need to gather all information about currently implemented ITSM management processes. A good solution for effective data feedback is to involve different departments, or at least management executives, in this first step of a significant change for your company.
Process Mapping: The second step involves mapping all your processes to clearly and visually identify all management flows that make up your ITSM infrastructure. This step has two major objectives: the first allows you to understand how operations are performed, by whom, and what tools are used; the second is to begin observing optimization possibilities once migration to new ITSM software is completed.
Performance Evaluation: You’ll need to analyze your process performance, using all available data and your KPIs, such as success rate and customer satisfaction.
Identify Your Gaps: Using your data and mapping, compare your processes to existing ITIL best practices to easily optimize your workflows that need better management or improved support level, for example.
- Analysis of Improvement Opportunities: You’ll need to identify areas for improvement, automation, and how to improve support within your information systems. The goal is to anticipate as best and completely as possible to choose the right software for your ITSM migration. This step is extremely important for identifying new needs in your ITSM systems. As an external consultant, SMC Consulting supports you in implementing your changes and advises you on planning and improving your ITSM services.
Choosing the ITSM Solution
Once the diagnosis and analysis of your data are completed, you’ll need to move to the selection phase among available ITSM solutions in the market. Understand how this choice will impact all services, whether users, employees, or customers. You’ll need to be efficient in finding the best platform.
Several selection criteria come into play among available solutions, such as functionality, ease of use, cost, or compatibility. Don’t hesitate to compare available solutions to access all software resources necessary for implementing your ITSM service.
SMC Consulting has been supporting numerous companies for over 20 years in their solution choices. Our expert team supports you in implementing ITSM service changes, whose effectiveness is well-proven. If you wish to be supported for an ITSM change, don’t hesitate to use our services.
Migration Planning
Once you’ve chosen your ITSM platform for data migration, you should establish a detailed migration schedule. Indeed, depending on your activity and the complexity of each service, it’s necessary to anticipate issues related to change to ensure work continuity and make this migration invisible to your customers.
As each solution has its complexity and each case is unique, it’s difficult to provide a typical schedule for your migration, but you should include key milestones, software documentation within your service platform, and clear delivery deadlines.
It’s also necessary to anticipate all resources that will need to be mobilized during this migration. Indeed, implementing such a significant change requires, beyond a budget, the involvement of certain personnel and tools to ensure service continuity for your customers.
SMC Consulting supports each client by establishing alongside them a clear retroplanning during ITSM change implementation, managing necessary resources, and providing assistance throughout the migration process.
Implementing the New ITSM Platform
Installation and Configuration
We arrive at a crucial step: installing your ITSM platform and operationally implementing changes to new software. Before starting installation, it’s important to anticipate service platform preparation. Don’t forget to anticipate all data export from your current software. This is to avoid service interruption for your customers. You can then begin configuring your new ITSM solution and starting services.
Data Migration
Data extraction from your current ITSM software to your new platform must be anticipated and planned as well as possible. It’s the complete migration of all this data that will allow your users to resume work immediately, thus avoiding too significant an interruption for your customers.
The data will then enter your new ITSM platform. Each IT system will then be managed by your new infrastructure. It sometimes takes very long to extract and process this data to make it ready for implementation in the new system. Don’t hesitate to make data backups to limit risks.
SMC Consulting’s specialty is implementing adapted tools for each client. Our team implements our 25 years of experience in the field to assist you in managing each service and your users and how to optimize it in the most refined way possible.
User Training
User training in ITSM is essential for successful change implementation. To conduct these trainings, you’ll need to mobilize resources to optimize the learning curve for new management processes.
Conducting online training sessions, such as webinars or self-managed training courses, is a good way to optimize this learning. Indeed, a digital training service allows including quizzes and practical exercises to maximize the integration of your new ITSM platform. In-person workshops are also possible with practical workshops that accelerate new skill acquisition through supervision by experienced trainers.
Videos are also very popular with users as they allow for continuous training. Complete documentation with guides and specific procedure sheets ahead of your migration also allows your employees to anticipate changes. Continuous support through the online help center, exchange forums, or technical support helps accelerate the resolution of change-related incidents. Q sessions were once a very good way to promote learning, but this practice is declining with the advent of AI and chatbots.
Successfully Migrating ITSM Systems: Key Points to Remember
Preparing Your Migration:
It is essential to prepare for ITSM service changes to anticipate issues and optimize the efficiency of migrating to more performant services. To achieve this, it’s important to follow a structured analysis of your processes by collecting data, mapping existing services, evaluating your performance, and identifying gaps that cause problems within information services. This will allow you to quickly conduct an analysis of improvement opportunities for your ITSM platform.
Choosing ITSM Software:
Once your data analysis is complete, you can then choose a solution adapted to your needs, to reduce the duration of incidents or problems on your infrastructure and improve the efficiency of your services and your organization’s perception by the client.
Planning Your Migration:
Once the ITSM platform is chosen, it’s important to anticipate your migration, particularly by considering the complexity of data to be transferred to the new services in order to implement this new data management service. It’s crucial that you are equipped with the necessary resources to achieve a high level of satisfaction during data migration. The risk is seeing user assistance and support requests increase significantly and losing efficiency in your organization’s operations after going live, which would lead to decreased goal achievement and customer satisfaction.
Implementing Your New ITSM Platform:
Now that the anticipation phase is complete, it’s time to start the production phase by performing data migration, activation and configuration of newly installed ITSM services, as well as user or client training through resource utilization.
SMC Consulting: An Expert Team to Support You in Your Transitions to New ITSM Systems:
Are you considering migrating to a new ITSM system but don’t know where to start? SMC Consulting can help you. Our experts have been supporting business change for 25 years to assist them in implementing changes to new ITSM systems. As a certified partner of market-leading tools like Halo ITSM, we specialize in helping your teams migrate your infrastructures, ensuring a high level of operation for the new system. Initial assessment, detailed planning, secure data migration, or comprehensive training for your teams – we are by your side at every step of the process. Contact us to discover how we can assist you in transforming your IT service management and maximizing your organization’s efficiency.
