New IT Services Features in Alloy Navigator 7
The quality of work of IT departments of companies plays a significant role in the modern conditions of conducting a successful business - and one cannot disagree with this.
At the same time, one should always take into account that users always have the opportunity to choose the best service and put forward such requirements as:
This means that specialists in the field of IT services will have a demand for their services only if they are able to fully satisfy customer requests.
And here the task of the service company is to competently organize the work and management of its IT service. How to achieve this?
To ensure a professional approach, appropriate professional tools are needed, in particular, such as Alloy Navigator, a software package from Alloy Software. I’ll share my impressions about him today.
And there is a reason. It is being prepared for release and very soon a new release of the version of Alloy Navigator Enterprise 7 will take place .
Let me remind you that Alloy Navigator is a modern software package for managing IT assets and IT services, developed in accordance with the ITIL standard and taking into account the needs of real consumers of IT services.
It is designed to automate business processes and provides a sufficient list of tools to solve the full range of tasks for the provision of IT services.
A high level of flexibility and wide customization capabilities provide this software package with excellent ability to adapt the entire workflow to the specific needs and priorities of the professional activities of clients of a fairly wide range - from the hotel business, the tourism and entertainment industry to design, production, state and financial enterprises.
I really want to get to the point, and here I suggest getting a closer look at the functionality of Alloy Navigator 7.
Of course, to list in full all the features of a large software package in one post is simply impossible. I bring here only the most important and useful, in my opinion, from the point of view of a specialist in the field of IT services.
Alloy Navigator 7 provides tools for organizing the rational process of providing IT services, for convenient and accurate management of them, as well as for managing all changes in accordance with constantly emerging new requirements.
Here, customizable automation tools for work processes and business processes come to the rescue, avoiding excess manual water and speeding up routine operations.
Due to this, overhead costs for management are reduced, reliable processes for the exchange of knowledge are established, and the interaction of technical specialists within the company and with external customers is improved.
This is an integral part of the operational control of the quality of service and a means of improving it. About each service provided to external and internal customers, the system allows you to register and store fairly detailed information.
Also, to control and improve the quality of the service provided, it is possible to flexibly configure service levels, including the setting of services, functions and processes associated with a particular service.
Alloy Navigator 7 provides a convenient, customizable mechanism for managing and monitoring changes in the IT infrastructure. It helps to significantly increase the transparency and ease of tracking of each change. Thus, the risks of an adverse effect on the quality of the provision of IT services arising from such changes are minimized.
An important role in managing the work of the IT department is played by managing the full life cycle of the equipment, hardware and software licenses used.
Accounting also applies to purchase contracts, warranty and service contracts, as well as to all related tasks and incidents, from the time the assets are acquired until the day they are written off.
This gives a complete picture of the current financial situation of the company, taking into account such significant aspects as, for example, amortization of existing assets.
Alloy Navigator Enterprise 7 includes an integrated network inventory tool Alloy Discovery 7.
Alloy Discovery 7 makes it easy to thoroughly inventory all devices on the network. At the same time, there is no need to install audit software agents or reconfigure remote computers.
Alloy Discovery 7 provides a wide range of diverse audit methods, using which you can get the most complete data about corporate computers, network equipment and installed software, as well as about all changes in the hardware or software configuration of the machines.
Remote audit is provided: workstations running Windows (starting from Windows 2000 and higher), Linux (most common versions, including Debian / Ubuntu, Red Hat / Fedora and Slackware / SUSE) and Mac OS (from 10.3 and higher), virtual machines and hypervisors (on Microsoft Hyper ‐ V, VMware ESX, VMware ESXi, Xen, Citrix XenServer platforms), servers and network devices (SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, SNMPv3).
All audit takes place in real time, and all collected information is regularly synchronized with Alloy Navigator 7 data.
Timely accounting of all kinds of warranty, service and other types of contracts helps to track not only the costs associated with them, but also to have an idea of what specific contracts apply to, their validity period and in whose area of responsibility they are located.
To ensure that important contracts are renewed in a timely manner and to avoid unwanted automatic renewal of unnecessary contracts, Alloy Navigator 7 provides a warning mechanism for upcoming expiration and renewal dates.
For convenient tracking of the sources of applications to the technical support service, on the progress of the services provided and on the owners of the assets, the system provides access to such important customer data as contact information and a description of their organizations. Contact lists can be imported from external sources or synchronized with Active Directory. All these data are the basis for effective interaction of specialists, assignment of tasks to them and request the necessary permissions for execution.
With its help, all customers using any web browser have convenient round-the-clock access to the technical support service and knowledge base. Clients can leave their applications here in self-service mode, track their progress, if necessary, interact with technical support specialists, and even evaluate the quality of application execution.
And in the knowledge base, they can find answers to frequently asked questions and, thus, solve part of their problems on their own. So, the money and time of the support service will be saved.
In addition, portal users have access to browse the catalog of available services and place service requests; to view and order the use of available equipment; to view acquired hardware and software assets and related incidents and service requests.
In addition, as part of the internal use of the portal, managers and leaders of working groups get an idea of the volume and success of their units.
To improve the quality of internal work and customer service, technical support staff is able to constantly stay in touch using access through a mobile portal.
The appearance of the application automatically adapts to the type of specific device, whether it is a mobile phone or tablet computer.
Compatibility of most modern devices is supported, including Apple iPad and iPhone, BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung Galaxy, HTC Desire, etc. It is worth noting that the new version 7 also introduced support for Windows Phone 8 with Internet Explorer 10 or 11.
Thus, in the Alloy Navigator version 7, the self-service portal is equally convenient to use both from stationary computers with wide-resolution monitors and from small portable devices.
And, finally, it should be noted that for the convenience of Russian users of self-service portals, it is possible to configure the Russian-language interface.
Based on the existing budget of the company, principles and mode of operation, in the new version 7, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of licensing users.
So, for example, if the technical support service works in several shifts, then you can license only the number of users simultaneously working with the application, and not the total number of user places. In addition to them, you can acquire named licenses for specific employees.
Each technician can customize the dashboards convenient for his work. Visual load and performance diagrams, links to key workspaces within the Alloy Navigator 7 package and other elements help you quickly assess your work situation and respond quickly to problems.
Alloy Navigator 7 provides a wide selection of predefined charts and reports for widespread use. In accordance with the specific needs of customers, you can both adjust the settings of existing reports, and, using the open architecture of the Alloy Navigator 7 database, it is easy to create new ones. Work with reports is supported in the most common specialized systems Microsoft Reporting Services and Crystal Reports.
The functionality of the Alloy Navigator 7 package can be expanded through easy integration with third-party software products, tools and scripts.
In particular, Alloy Navigator 7 comes with predefined integration profiles with Remote Desktop and other applications that are often used to administer and manage computers, diagnose and troubleshoot computer networks.
Also in the new version 7 there is support for integration with Microsoft Outlook. And this means that now all the tasks and events planned in Alloy Navigator can be coordinated depending on meetings, visits and other events from Microsoft Outlook, and more accurately assess and distribute working hours.
In addition to all of the above, the application provides many auxiliary functions. Among them:
On behalf of Alloy Software, I would like to wish you good luck and high professional achievements, regardless of whether you choose Alloy Navigator as a reliable assistant in organizing and managing your IT service.
And let daily work always bring success, satisfaction of ambitions, material well-being and simply positive impressions.
See you soon!
At the same time, one should always take into account that users always have the opportunity to choose the best service and put forward such requirements as:
- uninterrupted work of technical support services;
- simple registration and the ability to independently submit maintenance requests;
- fast loading of web applications;
- safe and error-free processing of transmitted data;
- the ability to track the processing of abandoned applications and evaluate the quality of work.
This means that specialists in the field of IT services will have a demand for their services only if they are able to fully satisfy customer requests.
And here the task of the service company is to competently organize the work and management of its IT service. How to achieve this?
To ensure a professional approach, appropriate professional tools are needed, in particular, such as Alloy Navigator, a software package from Alloy Software. I’ll share my impressions about him today.
And there is a reason. It is being prepared for release and very soon a new release of the version of Alloy Navigator Enterprise 7 will take place .
Let me remind you that Alloy Navigator is a modern software package for managing IT assets and IT services, developed in accordance with the ITIL standard and taking into account the needs of real consumers of IT services.
It is designed to automate business processes and provides a sufficient list of tools to solve the full range of tasks for the provision of IT services.
A high level of flexibility and wide customization capabilities provide this software package with excellent ability to adapt the entire workflow to the specific needs and priorities of the professional activities of clients of a fairly wide range - from the hotel business, the tourism and entertainment industry to design, production, state and financial enterprises.
I really want to get to the point, and here I suggest getting a closer look at the functionality of Alloy Navigator 7.
Of course, to list in full all the features of a large software package in one post is simply impossible. I bring here only the most important and useful, in my opinion, from the point of view of a specialist in the field of IT services.
IT Service Support
Alloy Navigator 7 provides tools for organizing the rational process of providing IT services, for convenient and accurate management of them, as well as for managing all changes in accordance with constantly emerging new requirements.
Here, customizable automation tools for work processes and business processes come to the rescue, avoiding excess manual water and speeding up routine operations.
Due to this, overhead costs for management are reduced, reliable processes for the exchange of knowledge are established, and the interaction of technical specialists within the company and with external customers is improved.
Service Level Management
This is an integral part of the operational control of the quality of service and a means of improving it. About each service provided to external and internal customers, the system allows you to register and store fairly detailed information.
Also, to control and improve the quality of the service provided, it is possible to flexibly configure service levels, including the setting of services, functions and processes associated with a particular service.
Change management
Alloy Navigator 7 provides a convenient, customizable mechanism for managing and monitoring changes in the IT infrastructure. It helps to significantly increase the transparency and ease of tracking of each change. Thus, the risks of an adverse effect on the quality of the provision of IT services arising from such changes are minimized.
Asset Management
An important role in managing the work of the IT department is played by managing the full life cycle of the equipment, hardware and software licenses used.
Accounting also applies to purchase contracts, warranty and service contracts, as well as to all related tasks and incidents, from the time the assets are acquired until the day they are written off.
This gives a complete picture of the current financial situation of the company, taking into account such significant aspects as, for example, amortization of existing assets.
Network inventory
Alloy Navigator Enterprise 7 includes an integrated network inventory tool Alloy Discovery 7.
Alloy Discovery 7 makes it easy to thoroughly inventory all devices on the network. At the same time, there is no need to install audit software agents or reconfigure remote computers.
Alloy Discovery 7 provides a wide range of diverse audit methods, using which you can get the most complete data about corporate computers, network equipment and installed software, as well as about all changes in the hardware or software configuration of the machines.
Remote audit is provided: workstations running Windows (starting from Windows 2000 and higher), Linux (most common versions, including Debian / Ubuntu, Red Hat / Fedora and Slackware / SUSE) and Mac OS (from 10.3 and higher), virtual machines and hypervisors (on Microsoft Hyper ‐ V, VMware ESX, VMware ESXi, Xen, Citrix XenServer platforms), servers and network devices (SNMPv1, SNMPv2c, SNMPv3).
All audit takes place in real time, and all collected information is regularly synchronized with Alloy Navigator 7 data.
Contract Accounting
Timely accounting of all kinds of warranty, service and other types of contracts helps to track not only the costs associated with them, but also to have an idea of what specific contracts apply to, their validity period and in whose area of responsibility they are located.
To ensure that important contracts are renewed in a timely manner and to avoid unwanted automatic renewal of unnecessary contracts, Alloy Navigator 7 provides a warning mechanism for upcoming expiration and renewal dates.
Contact management
For convenient tracking of the sources of applications to the technical support service, on the progress of the services provided and on the owners of the assets, the system provides access to such important customer data as contact information and a description of their organizations. Contact lists can be imported from external sources or synchronized with Active Directory. All these data are the basis for effective interaction of specialists, assignment of tasks to them and request the necessary permissions for execution.
Self Service Portal
With its help, all customers using any web browser have convenient round-the-clock access to the technical support service and knowledge base. Clients can leave their applications here in self-service mode, track their progress, if necessary, interact with technical support specialists, and even evaluate the quality of application execution.
And in the knowledge base, they can find answers to frequently asked questions and, thus, solve part of their problems on their own. So, the money and time of the support service will be saved.
In addition, portal users have access to browse the catalog of available services and place service requests; to view and order the use of available equipment; to view acquired hardware and software assets and related incidents and service requests.
In addition, as part of the internal use of the portal, managers and leaders of working groups get an idea of the volume and success of their units.
Mobile portal
To improve the quality of internal work and customer service, technical support staff is able to constantly stay in touch using access through a mobile portal.
The appearance of the application automatically adapts to the type of specific device, whether it is a mobile phone or tablet computer.
Compatibility of most modern devices is supported, including Apple iPad and iPhone, BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung Galaxy, HTC Desire, etc. It is worth noting that the new version 7 also introduced support for Windows Phone 8 with Internet Explorer 10 or 11.
Thus, in the Alloy Navigator version 7, the self-service portal is equally convenient to use both from stationary computers with wide-resolution monitors and from small portable devices.
Russification of the self-service portal
And, finally, it should be noted that for the convenience of Russian users of self-service portals, it is possible to configure the Russian-language interface.
New user licensing model
Based on the existing budget of the company, principles and mode of operation, in the new version 7, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of licensing users.
So, for example, if the technical support service works in several shifts, then you can license only the number of users simultaneously working with the application, and not the total number of user places. In addition to them, you can acquire named licenses for specific employees.
Custom dashboards
Each technician can customize the dashboards convenient for his work. Visual load and performance diagrams, links to key workspaces within the Alloy Navigator 7 package and other elements help you quickly assess your work situation and respond quickly to problems.
Integrated Reporting System
Alloy Navigator 7 provides a wide selection of predefined charts and reports for widespread use. In accordance with the specific needs of customers, you can both adjust the settings of existing reports, and, using the open architecture of the Alloy Navigator 7 database, it is easy to create new ones. Work with reports is supported in the most common specialized systems Microsoft Reporting Services and Crystal Reports.
Integration with third-party applications
The functionality of the Alloy Navigator 7 package can be expanded through easy integration with third-party software products, tools and scripts.
In particular, Alloy Navigator 7 comes with predefined integration profiles with Remote Desktop and other applications that are often used to administer and manage computers, diagnose and troubleshoot computer networks.
Also in the new version 7 there is support for integration with Microsoft Outlook. And this means that now all the tasks and events planned in Alloy Navigator can be coordinated depending on meetings, visits and other events from Microsoft Outlook, and more accurately assess and distribute working hours.
Additional features
In addition to all of the above, the application provides many auxiliary functions. Among them:
- customizable tables for displaying important data with convenient filtering and grouping by key parameters (you can view only the data from the many available and only in the form in which it is required);
- announcements for customers and technical specialists about planned software updates, interruptions in work and outages (you can avoid a flurry of identical applications about already known problems);
- notifications and reminders by e-mail (configuration and administration of messages sent allows you to control all outgoing e-mail notifications);
- and many other additional features for the convenience of IT staff, their managers and, of course, for your favorite customers.
On behalf of Alloy Software, I would like to wish you good luck and high professional achievements, regardless of whether you choose Alloy Navigator as a reliable assistant in organizing and managing your IT service.
And let daily work always bring success, satisfaction of ambitions, material well-being and simply positive impressions.
See you soon!