Are you sure that you’re getting the most out of your IT investments? No matter how well your business is running, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to IT operations. By fine-tuning your IT Operations Management (ITOM) practices, you can not only run your business more smoothly but also save money. But how? Let’s take a look at some data before we get to that.
The revenues from IT Operations and Service Management (ITOSM) tools, which help IT operations teams monitor, spot, and eliminate irregularities and anomalies in IT infrastructure and services, will reach $35.98 billion by 2025.
Gartner predicts that 60% of enterprise IT infrastructure will focus on ‘centers of data’, which will influence major IT operations workflows and decision making by 2022. In addition to these predictions, the COVID-19 pandemic brought many unusual and difficult challenges for organizations that have made ITOM a crucial part of the business.
Planning and working in the post-COVID world
Business planning in the post-pandemic world should address the critical elements of your business. The objective should be to protect your cash flow and your employees while finding ways to innovate and adjust to the ‘new normal’ way of working. While it is a time of disruptions and unique challenges, you’ll be surprised by the new opportunities that will come your way.
Having said that, you can’t keep relying on your traditional methods for planning and operations.
From identifying demand for your current products and services in the market to recognizing critical resources and mitigating risks, you need tools to monitor, identify, and alleviate bottlenecks as they occur.
With cost pressures rising, you need a smart system that can leverage emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), automation, predictive analytics, and more. This will not only help you streamline routine tasks and process massive amounts of data quickly but also provide a granular report of your business operations so that you can make fast decisions and stay competitive.
IT Operations Management – moving from traditional methods to active monitoring
It’s often difficult for companies to outgrow their traditional ways of calling upon IT only when necessary. There is a need to move from traditional tools to smart ones that help you detect, understand, and solve issues instantly.
By implementing an ITOM best practice approach to your infrastructure, you move on from the IT model of fixing problems only once they have occurred to 24×7 real-time monitoring using ITOM tools like ServiceNow. These tools help you detect problems before they occur and reduce downtime.
With AI-powered systems, your IT operation managers can detect issues early, predict them before they occur, reduce alert noise, locate the specific application or component responsible for the issue, determine the scope of impact, and recommend swift actions without having to sift through huge chunks of data.
With real-time and up-to-date insights, incident resolution becomes easier and the system keeps learning using up-to-date data from the environment and helps you improve based on user feedback.
Considering the crucial role IT plays in your business, how you perceive your IT can make all the difference. With the right ITOM processes and practices, you can develop a keen understanding of your infrastructure and run your business in a cost-effective way. Let us tell you about the 7 best IT operations management practices that can drive your business.
1. Analyze your current processes and define your goals
To optimize your IT operations, you need handy knowledge of IT operational processes and robust solutions to map your IT landscape. If your business doesn’t have these in place, your ITOM goals need to be redefined to include them.
By manually auditing your environment and processes, depending on the complexity and size of your IT landscape, you need to determine the scope of compulsory processes and available management resources.
Based on this audit, you will have to define and prioritize your goals and build a project plan. With a step-by-step plan of action, you can easily achieve your desired business goals. As you acquire new technologies, the goals will have to be redefined and prioritized accordingly.
2. Select your deployment methods
Once you define your goals, it’s important to determine your management methods. If you decide to choose multiple management methods, you will also need to consider multiple ways to deploy. You can either have a dedicated team to manage your deployment or you can connect with reliable consultants and vendors. If you’re considering employing external expertise, make sure you pay attention to relevant experience in the field and transparency in costs.
3. Align your ITOM to business goals and conduct a data audit
This is one of the crucial practices to follow. Just defining ITOM goals and choosing a deployment method isn’t enough. You must ensure that the goals and deployment are aligned and should include inputs and feedback from your stakeholders and consultants.
Before moving forward with the deployment, make sure that you have enough current and accurate data across different platforms so that you can easily communicate with your chosen ITOM solution.
4. Automate tasks judiciously
ITOM tools like ServiceNow help you easily automate mundane tasks so that you and your team can focus on what matters. But automation doesn’t mean you completely do away with human intervention. Analyze your processes that need to be made more consistent and eliminate errors. Automating such tasks will free your workforce for more valuable tasks.
5. Follow an integrated approach
The days of the silos are over. Integrate your ITOM solution with other IT management functions, especially with ITSM and ITAM. Use a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to consolidate IT management data, ITOM, and other IT processes for transparency and ease of management.
6. Align your ITOM with service delivery
It is crucial that you integrate your ITOM with service delivery for better ROI and customer satisfaction. With advanced ITOM processes, you no longer have to manage your infrastructure in a vacuum. ITOM develops a keen understanding of your service delivery as its processes and workflows are often designed around customer experience, so you can derive higher ROI and ensure a seamless delivery experience.
7. Connect with a reliable consultant/partner
To ensure sustained benefits to your business, it’s important that you partner carefully. Your chosen solution and partner must be equally committed to the goals of your business. They must be able to provide a range of ServiceNow services including consulting, implementation, enhancement, and support. A partner with strong and relevant experience in ITOM will make sure you get the best out of your ITOM investment while keeping your costs low.
Looking for a reliable ITOM partner?
Look no further than Nous Infosystems, your trusted ServiceNow Premier Partner. Nous’ ServiceNow ITOM tools can help you implement holistic processes, automate workflows efficiently, and ensure agility across all your IT processes.
The ITOM experts at Nous have deep domain expertise in deploying the ServiceNow ITOM application suite to reduce IT costs and enhance service availability. Their years of experience in working with enterprises across the world makes them a trusted ServiceNow implementation partners. The team of Nous Infosystems can help you create an accelerated cloud strategy and get the highest ROI on your ITOM.
Find out all about ServiceNow ITOM features from experts. Get in touch with Nous Infosystems today!
