ITSM Automation: How to Automate Your IT Service Management

1. Service Desk Automation

To implement this, follow these easy steps:

• Kick off the automation with tools like SolarWinds® Service Desk. It smartly assigns tickets to the most relevant expert.
• Utilize its robust AI capabilities to appropriately categorize incoming tickets, reducing your workload.
• Automate mundane tasks like ticket assignments and sending out notifications. This allows your team to focus on resolving more crucial issues.
• Leverage intelligent chatbots and AI-based FAQs for quicker resolutions.
• Use automated surveys for instant feedback and constant improvement.

In no time, you'll experience improved customer experiences, faster turnaround times, and significant cost savings.

2. IT Service Management

Automate certain aspects of IT Service Management (ITSM) to improve efficiency and save your people from performing mundane tasks. This modern solution lets your team focus on the bigger, more challenging issues.

• Identify the routine tasks such as incident creation and tracking or provide automated responses via a self-service portal.
• Prioritize automating functions like password resets which can cut down service desk calls by over 40%.
• Keep metrics in place to measure and track your progress.

3. Customer Experience Management

Here's how ITSM automation helps with customer experience management:

• You interact with a chatbot integrated with conversational AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP).
• The chatbot quickly comprehends your issue.
• It either solves your problem immediately or rapidly routes you to the right expert, saving valuable time on both ends.

4. IT Process Automation

IT Process Automation, often paired with Artificial Intelligence, aims to replace or amplify manual Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) processes. Its main purpose involves eradicating inefficient, costly, and error-prone manual methods.

Here's where automation comes to the rescue.

• Step 1: Implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
• Step 2: Automation of service desk ticketing, from creation to routing
• Step 3: Optimal assignment to service agents and closure, all through unattended automation

In this way, IT Process Automation can streamline ITSM delivery, drastically reducing manual intervention, and consequently improving efficiency, accuracy, and productivity.

5. IT Service Catalog

Here's a quick guide on how you can implement ITSM Automation in your IT Service Catalog:

• Identify all IT assets in your organization, like hardware devices and software applications.
• Note down specifics like versions, locations, and dependencies.
• Now define and automate the request fulfillment process for these listed services with Virima’s Service Catalog Automation feature.
• Once automated, the fulfillment process is triggered automatically, ensuring prompt service delivery.

6. Service Request Fulfillment Process

Here's how you can automate your Service Request Fulfillment Process in IT Service Management:

• Review your service desk queries and identify repetitive ones.
• If it is, that's your perfect starting point for automation.
• Utilize software like Virima's Service Catalog Automation. It allows you to define and automate the request fulfillment process.
• Opt for software with features like ServiceDesk Plus automation. These ensure all tickets are resolved consistently and reduce technician errors.
• Automate ticket routing. This leads to efficient conflict resolution and a better service experience.

7. IT Incident Management

ITSM automation ensures your team swiftly identifies, triages, and addresses incidents, minimizing any downtime.

• Upon system failure, ITSM automation triggers an immediate alert to your support desks.
• It goes further to route these alerts precisely to the right personnel or group.
• The incident is then diligently tracked until a resolution is achieved.
• Once resolved and things are back to normal, automated notification alerts are sent to customers, keeping them in the loop.
• It uses AI to offer possible fixes for urgent incidents, hastening resolution and ultimately minimizing impact. It also correlates similar incidents, consolidating resolution efforts to avoid recurring instances.

8. Service Level Management

Service Level Management (SLM) is a critical branch of IT Service Management that defines the quality and timelines of service delivery. Now, here's how you can automate it:

• Identify distinct types of tickets and assign unique resolution times.
• Utilize a robust service desk tool for creating multiple Service Level Agreements (SLAs) explicitly tailored for each ticket type.
• Introduce proactive and reactive SLA notifications to keep you updated on ticket statuses.
• Implement escalation processes up to four levels to ensure every ticket gets the required attention.
• Leverage machine learning and AI to predict potential issues, improving your services over time.

9. Change Management

Change Management in IT Service Management (ITSM) is all about controlling, scheduling, and implementing changes to IT configurations and systems effectively. Here's how you can leverage automation in this process:

• Have a detailed understanding of your current team operations and how these changes can affect your organizational structure.
• Solidify your collaboration with stakeholders to establish clear business workflows, outcomes, and expectations.
• Ensure you have an adequate skill set before getting started with automation.
• Engage a supportive vendor or supplier who can provide expert guidance throughout.
• Use an automated tool like EV Service Manager to manage and oversee change requests, auto-approve changes, and monitor IT health status in real time.
• Implement metrics that will help measure your progress quantitively.

10. Requestor Experience

Here's how to enhance requestor experience with ITSM automation:

• Leverage ServiceDesk Plus features like the Request Life Cycle (RLC) and mandatory fields. This reduces technician slip-ups, ensuring a smooth, error-free ticket progression.
• Understand and prioritize improvements based on feedback. Implementing a mechanism to collect anonymous feedback helps bridge gaps, allowing for constant enhancement.
• Personalize the experience. Define and understand the customer journey to offer a catered IT service.

11. Knowledge Management

Consider the application of ITSM automation in knowledge management.

• With the help of AI and machine learning, ITSM automation can manage and organize databases, culminating in effective knowledge management. When you use a chatbot for customer service, the AI can select appropriate knowledge articles, guiding the user through the correct workflow and streamlining the service delivery process.
• The use of ITSM automation minimizes repetitive tasks and makes the administration process seamless, which leads to substantial cost reduction.

12. Service Request

A Service Request is a formal demand from a user for specific services or information, like resetting a password or setting up a new workstation. Automation in Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) can significantly streamline and enhance this process. ITSM automation can:

• Automatically route service requests to a pre-designated support agent or team based on the type of task, ensuring it gets to the professional with the right skillset.
• Reduce technician errors with mandatory fields in the Request Life Cycle (RLC), improving ticket progression and resolutions.
• Utilize artificial intelligence to identify incidents and service requests within a category, simplifying form completion and expediting request handling.
• Enhance the overall customer experience with service-level agreements (SLAs) and timely automated updates, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

13. Project management

Here's how to use ITSM automation in project management effectively:

• Understand Your Team's Workflows: Gauge the recurring tasks that are time-consuming yet essential for your team. Automation thrives on routine.
• Identify the Suitable ITSM Tool: Based on your team's needs, choose an ITSM tool that can handle your specific tasks. Remember, there are over 300 built-in tasks an automation tool can manage.
• Involve Stakeholders in the Process: Incorporate business workflows, outcomes, and expectations in consultation with your stakeholders. They're allies to ensure the system works for everyone.
• Ensure Team Preparedness and Vendor Support: Prior to implementation, make sure your team has the necessary skill set, and your vendor is prepared to provide expert guidance. Measure your progress using metrics.
• Communicate Roles Clearly: Post-implementation, familiarize your agents with their new roles. Clarity will help avoid challenges down the line.
• Constant Evaluation and Optimization: Just like any process, regular evaluation and tweaks are needed to fit changing scenarios.

14. Asset Management and Tracking Automation

Asset Management and Tracking Automation in IT Service Management handles tracking and managing assets throughout their lifecycle. Here's a simplified step-by-step guide to how it works:

• Step 1: Integrate automation tools into your ITSM software. Depending on the tool, it can track assets, manage licenses, and evaluate asset lifecycles.
• Step 2: Use these tools to keep tabs on your assets. This could include hardware inventory or software applications used across various devices.
• Step 3: Generate reports and analyze the results. This helps identify bottlenecks and improve service levels.