What is ITOM? ITOM vs ITSM vs ITAM

What is ITOM?

What does ITOM stand for? ITOM stands for IT Operations Management and relates to the administration of application requirements and technology within a company. It includes capacity management, IT infrastructure, security management, availability management, performance management, and cost-control functions.

By providing a way to administer and manage your company’s applications, hardware, data centers, and network needs, IT Operations Management is a must-have capability rather than a merely nice-to-have capability. You can also look at ITOM as a service-focused approach to IT networking, IT infrastructure, IT support operations, and end-user support for resolving issues.

Did you know that the information technology operations management (ITOM) software market was, according to IDC, reportedly worth up to $14.7 billion last year?

The market intelligence firm adds that it expects double-digit growth over the 2022 to 2026 forecast period due to what an IDC research vice president calls “needs to support highly available and performant environments for digital commerce and remote work.”

When the best practices embedded within the IT Operations management concept are understood and carried out correctly, your IT department will provide greater value to your company and help it accomplish business objectives.

Challenges to ITOM include but are not limited to, incomplete IT architecture visibility and increasingly disparate systems and technology. On the one hand, your IT team needs to gain an unobstructed view of the entire IT architecture to make sound decisions on allocating resources and addressing security problems. On the other hand, your IT team must address any issues involving processes, technologies, and tools independently of each other.

Failing to gain control can negatively impact the corporate IT infrastructure. And with the threat landscape, IT teams face these days, the last thing you need is to be at a competitive disadvantage.

With that said, keep reading to learn about the specific benefits an artificial intelligence-powered ITOM platform (AIOps) offers your IT team.

ITOM vs ITSM

What are ITOM and ITSM similarities and differences? Service Management & Operations Management comparisons.

IT Service Management (ITSM) is simply how IT teams manage the end-to-end delivery of IT services to customers. This includes all the processes and activities to design, create, deliver, and support IT services. The core concept of ITSM is the belief that IT should be delivered as a service. Cloud-based IT Service Management can bring millions of dollars in cost savings and increase productivity by 60%.

ITOM refers to the services and processes performed by IT operations teams to facilitate a business’ availability, operation, and efficiency. So, it’s the sort of thing IT departments should take seriously. Since ITOM involves strategies IT teams use to manage provisioning, networking, computing availability, root cause analysis, and performance, understanding the benefits that ITSM and ITOM offer is critical for business services continuity.

ITOM vs ITAM

ITAM stands for IT Asset Management and it answers a few important questions at the IT help desk, including:

What assets are you out of?

Are your warranties intact?

What do those assets cost?

An IT asset management tool will track software (software asset management, SAM), hardware, licensing compliance, and license expiration and will integrate with IT service management activities. An example of this is when a laptop is checked out to an employee who moves to another work location. Effective ITAM tools will also allow you to track service delivery, repairs, and replacements of hardware and software.

Benefits of ITOM

If you’re part of your business’s IT operations management team, you’ll want to keep reading to see six specific ITOM benefits that you can’t afford to do without. But before that, it makes sense to dig deeper into what ITOM is and why it matters to you and your IT department.

1. Reduce Downtime

ITOM can help cut down on any unplanned downtime. If your network crashes and your clients can’t get in touch or buy your products and services, there’s no guarantee they’ll wait it out. Consumers these days want what they want when they want it. E-commerce means they don’t have to go to brick-and-mortar retail outlets during regular business hours. They can get what they want when they want it. Rather than waiting until your IT department identifies the cause of the disruption and fixes the problem, your customers might find another company offering products and services similar to what your company sells.

When your IT team is on top of IT Operations Management best practices, your infrastructure will be adequately maintained and safeguarded. It’ll be easier to manage the threat landscape when you have the right tools and processes in place, which will minimize risks associated with downtime.

2. Boost Profits

Another benefit ITOM offers is the potential for higher corporate profits. Consider the threat landscape with cybercriminals who often appear to be one step ahead of their targets. But by adopting ITOM, your business will naturally perform better. You’ll have heightened external and internal security as well as top-of-the-line configuration management. The better prepared your company is to thwart cybercriminals, the fewer problems you’ll encounter. And if you can prevent cyberattacks that lead to downtime and lost sales, corporate profits will be higher.

3. Increase Customer Satisfaction

When your IT department’s ITOM strategy is operating correctly, clients will have a better end-user experience. Consistency is important. So, any interruptions in service are bound to impact customer satisfaction levels negatively. And, as was mentioned above, consumers know they have options and won’t continue to patronize businesses that let them down. ITOM will give your IT team the tools to manage availability and capacity performance.

4. Improve Worker Productivity

Are you interested in increasing employee productivity? ITOM is one way to accomplish this. Leveraging ITOM, your company can maintain a well-performing help desk that can resolve workers’ problems sooner rather than later. Only the most serious of issues will be referred to the IT team while other issues will be directed to the help desk or service desk. This will boost productivity.

5. Lower Operational Cost

Adopting the ITOM methodology means you can keep on top of your company’s provisioning capacity to ensure you’re getting the most out of your technology and systems. You might find that you can leverage better configuration management to better use, for instance, cloud service and servers. And by doing so, you won’t necessarily have to spend more. Many IT departments, including those using Generative AI for IT, spend more than they need to since they buy new equipment rather than optimize the use of what they do have.

6. Enhance Disaster Recovery Efforts

No company wants to deal with a situation where disaster recovery is necessary. But things happen, and you’ll want your company to be prepared for the worst-case scenarios. With ITOM, your IT department can help your company cope with and rebound from any issues. ITOM will help your company protect sensitive data and deal with server failure and data breach issues. Following the IT Operations Management methodology, your IT department will back up everything routinely. Backup measures won’t be done haphazardly. It will be done on a set schedule, which will minimize risk.

As you can see, ITOM is an essential tool in any IT department’s arsenal. The threat landscape is fraught with dangers. While you won’t be able to avoid all of them, leveraging ITOM means you’ll be prepared to deal with threats as they present themselves. And, more importantly, you’ll be able to avoid many problems when using ITOM. Your company’s department has a lot to deal with, so it makes sense to leverage the right tools.

Are you ready to take your IT department’s capabilities to another level with the right AIOps solution? Aisera has what you need to support your digital transformation. Request a demo today!