Using ITSM and Knowledge Management to Empower Organizations

Dealing with issues in an IT environment is about getting answers for the customer as quickly as possible. One way to see that responses to problems will be expedited is to utilize an IT service management system to verify that the goals of the business align with the goals of the IT services being provided. This typically means building an Information Technology Infrastructure Library that allows the company to keep track of issues and solutions in a structured fashion. On the help desk end, it also likely entails putting in place a knowledge management system to see that users can be quickly connected with answers.

A lack of a meaningful ITSM policy can be costly for an organization. The skills needed to handle IT work within any given operation are changing at a rapid pace, and it can be challenging to see that current employees and new hires are being paired with tasks according to their abilities. Putting an ITSM framework in place will permit your company to stay ahead of developments within the industry and get the most for every IT dollar you have to spend.

Imposing Structure

IT management issues tend to cost more than they should. This can be especially the case in companies that don’t see themselves as IT-centric. If you’re inclined to build an in-house IT department to handle such work, that build-out can be expensive in its own right. If you’re looking to an outside services provider, for help, it’s still important to have processes in place for handling problems and seeing that everyone is on the same page.

More than anything else, ITSM imposes structure upon an organization. For example, a company migrating to a cloud-based approach for obtaining services might wish to utilize ITSM to keep stakeholders and users informed about the state of the migration. This will also allow folks to see where things are headed and prepare accordingly. Savvy users and IT department members will be able to read up on new requirements and ready themselves better for the transition. They should be able to obtain end-of-life information, such as specific dates, for systems that are being retired.

Knowledge Management

Within most operations, there are a lot of common questions that IT help desk providers often have to answer. While some of the answers may be unique to a particular organization or even department, they tend to have a degree of repetition and rhyme to them. Having a knowledge management system in place will make it easier for users to check for commonly answered questions. This can speed things up significantly. If someone merely needs to look up the name of a particular application to use for a job, it saves an incredible amount of time to simply query the system rather than calling the help desk. Even in instances where a call is made to the help desk, assistants can speed the process up by pointing users toward the correct solution.

The better-integrated knowledge management is in an ITSM system, the simpler it will be for everyone at a company to stay abreast of developments and to get help. A self-service portal, like SysAid knowledge management, provides 24/7 availability of end-user support within the ITSM framework. Users will be presented with FAQs that allow them to quickly hunt down answers. They’ll also have access to a clear navigation structure that’ll direct them to do self-guided research for less commonly encountered issues. In addition to improving speed and efficiency, this approach also ensures that users will have out-of-hours support.

A good system should also have some way to handle the reporting and closure of incidents. These reports ought to be readily accessible to help desk staff, so they can be used to quickly generate new entries for the knowledge base. There should also be an administrative system in place to ensure that editorial discretion is employed in order to discourage bloat. Your goal should always be to produce the most streamlined and efficient solution possible.

Conclusion

Keeping your IT systems organized is a big task, especially in a world where operations’ needs are constantly changing. The primary goal of using an ITSM framework is to see that your IT infrastructure aligns with what your business is doing. As adjustments are made, you’ll doubtlessly have to provide information to users within your organization. This means that the strength of any ITSM system is ultimately the set of knowledge management tools that comes along with it.

The objective is not to eliminate help desk request. Instead, your goal is to see that less time is spent on questions that are consistently asked and more time solving serious problems. Within a good ITSM structure, the knowledge base should grow as incidents are reported and addressed. With a competently implemented knowledge management system in place, you’ll see that lessons learned from specific incidents are quickly converted into institutional knowledge that everyone has access to.