IT service management software encompasses a broad range of services and tools. As the name implies, the main goal of this type of software is to help you set up and manage your company’s IT systems.
In practice, this means monitoring networks and keeping track of IT assets and software. Arguably, ITSM software also covers service desk tools, internal analytics, collaboration features, and much more.
In this article, we’ll help you understand why your business needs an IT service management solution. Then we’ll talk about the three best ITSM software options to choose from.
Why Your Business Needs an IT Service Management Solution
Considering the broad set of features ITSM software offers, it’s difficult to find an online business that wouldn’t benefit from using one of these solutions. Here are some common scenarios where you can benefit from using IT service management software:
- You run a business with a complex IT infrastructure. In today’s world, this is most online businesses. You probably rely on a multitude of devices and software to get work done. ITSM software helps you keep track those assets.
- You use multiple online services. As a business, you probably juggle multiple software licenses on which your team relies. ITSM software helps you centralize them.
- You offer support services. Most ITSM software includes service desk functionality to help you tackle support requests.
Depending on what IT service management solution you use, it may help you reduce business costs. By having one central platform where you can keep track of your IT assets, you can spot redundancies and simplify both transitions and updates.
As we mentioned, ITSM software offers a broad range of functionality, making it hard to pin down a solution to fit every business. A lot of software in this field offers radically different functionality, and some options are designed for specific types of companies. Therefore, choosing the right solution is critical.
3 Best ITSM Software Solutions
We chose the three platforms below because they offer a versatile set of options that should suit a broad range of online businesses. They’re not in any particular order as we explore what each of them has to offer.
1. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform that enables you to manage incidents, updates, releases, and requests for your business through different modules.
With ServiceNow, you get access to several service desk features. Users can visit a customer portal to either self-solve their problems or contact an agent. There’s also access to an internal knowledge base you can build up over time.
The platform also helps you monitor your service’s performance, so you can minimize the impact of disruptions and downtimes. Those features pair with a powerful analytics system with reports on both system and business performance. The latter works because ServiceNow provides you with tools to map your business workflows—including approval and conflict detection functionality.
ServiceNow also integrates with multiple third-party online services, such as Azure, Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, and more. Beyond cloud providers, you also get access to integrations for performance monitoring and asset management software.
Price: ServiceNow offers scalable plans for new customers, and you can request a free quote at any time.
2. Freshservice
Freshservice is a cloud-based ITSM software solution. Just like our previous pick, Freshservice offers service desk functionality to help your business tackle support requests more efficiently. Users get access to a public customer portal, and they can also reach out to your team using a ticketing system.
With Freshservice, your IT team can assess changes to your infrastructure or internal processes before rolling them out company-wide. To achieve those seamless transitions or updates, you get a suite of tools to help you track IT assets ranging from hardware to software and licenses. This is in addition to contract management tools, so you can bring new projects into the fold with ease.
Other notable features include the option to set up custom agent roles with different levels of permissions. Plus, you get access to internal analytics reports, so you can monitor your team’s performance.
Price: To get access to the full suite of ITSM tools from Freshservice, you’ll need to opt for the Estate plan, which costs $79 per month per agent.
3. SolarWinds
SolarWinds offers a complete suite of tools for IT service management. As you might expect, one of those tools is a powerful service desk suite. Using SolarWinds® Service Desk, you can create customer-facing self-service portals and manage incoming requests by empowering agents with access to an internal knowledge base.
Beyond service desk functionality, SolarWinds Service Desk can help keep track of your company’s IT assets, covering both hardware and software. You can use the suite of tools to discover and manage assets, assess update costs, keep track of expiration dates for licenses and warranties, and much more. The platform can even help you identify illegal software within your network to minimize threats.
SolarWinds Service Desk also includes benchmarking and reporting tools you can use to track your team’s and your system’s performance. These reports help you prevent downtime and disruptions in your service.
Price: To get access to the full suite of ITSM features, you’ll need to opt for the Professional plan or upwards. This starts at $69 per month per user.
Conclusion
ITSM software can be the backbone of your online business. In a nutshell, it helps you centralize all your IT requirements. This includes network, hardware, and software monitoring. Depending on your business needs, you might also want to use an IT service management solution to help you tackle support services and work collaboration functionality.
Considering the broad range of functionality ITSM software offers, pinning down the best options is difficult. These three platforms offer some of the best features in the field:
- ServiceNow: You can request a custom quote for your business.
- Freshservice: The Estate plan costs $79 per month per agent.
- SolarWinds Service Desk: The Professional plan starts at $69 per month per user.
* As of August 7, 2020. Pricing shown in USD.