What is IT Service Management and How to Optimize | Flexera Blog

We hope you enjoy this sixth installment in our blog series highlighting the questions that must be answered when planning your organization’s IT for 2022. The better your visibility across your entire IT estate, the more effective your planning will become—as the ROI of your IT continues to accelerate.

Why your ITSM and ITFM platforms don’t deliver as advertised

Like many organizations, you’ve invested substantial sums in IT service management (ITSM) and IT financial management (ITFM) solutions—as you should in many cases to streamline your organizational effectiveness.

These tools, however, don’t deliver the entire IT service or finance picture, so fully understanding what ITSM is and where it is used can help you identify the gaps in your asset data.

The answers you get aren’t the answers you need

For example, your ITFM platform can highlight that you spend $100 million annually on software, and specifically $10 million with IBM.

Your ITSM solution can tell you that employees are requesting specific applications (e.g., Adobe Illustrator) and the number of incidents you’ve had around that application.

You now know how much you’re spending overall and by vendor, and you can drill into applications from vendors to know how many are being requested.

However, what your ITSM and ITFM platforms can’t tell you is:

• Will you be out of compliance if an IT request is fulfilled? And do you have available licenses in a different version or for a comparable product?
• Are the applications requested at end of life or support? If so, what are the costs associated with extended support? What are the vulnerabilities attached to said applications? Is your organization at risk?
• What percentage of your spend is on databases and with which vendors? Which databases are more expensive? Can you reduce spend on one over the other?
• Could you reallocate your licenses more effectively or save money on underused licenses?
• It looks like your organization has $10 million in duplicative software; could you rationalize your applications?
• …and an endless list of questions that would help you rightsize across your estate, reallocate funds more effectively and reduce risk

The missing ingredient: current and enriched IT asset data

If you want to see your investments in ITSM and ITFM pay dividends, you need to fuel these platforms with the accurate and comprehensive IT asset data provided by Flexera One’s IT Visibility application.

But don’t expect miracles from your ITSM and ITFM platforms alone. Flexera One’s IT asset data helps ITSM and ITFM tools work better, with accurate asset inventory information that’s critical to maintaining clean configuration management databases (CMDB), data for building sound financial management with cost optimization and enrichment with intelligence for prioritization and risk mitigation.

Here’s a simple way of illustrating the comparison:

• ITSM shows you what assets you have; Flexera One shows you if you have the right assets
• ITFM shows you your IT spend; Flexera One shows you if you’re spending smart

Now you can get the answers you need

Find out how to optimize your ITSM and ITFM tools by registering now for a free consultation with one of our business value advisors. You’ll see your way to getting the answers that will fuel better-informed decisions and a more effective strategic plan for your organization’s IT.

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