Comparison of ITSM systems
As they develop, companies need to develop and adapt their IT structure. And the logical question arises: “What is needed for this?” Or “Where to start?” And then ITIL and ITSM come to the rescue.
ITSM is an approach to the management and organization of IT services aimed at meeting the needs of a business. The introduction of the ITSM system is an important task, the solution of which will significantly optimize the activity of the company's IT structure, and will also generally contribute to a more competent distribution of labor, information and economic resources.
There are many ITSM systems on the market that can be divided into 2 groups:
- Open-source solutions (free open source solution);
- Commercial solutions.
Consider the features and functionality of some ITSM systems. For analysis, I selected popular solutions in the Russian market, with which I worked closely:
- Bpm`online;
- OTRS;
- Naumen SD;
- Omnitracker.
I will analyze these systems according to the following criteria:
- complexity of implementation;
- ITIL Compliance;
- usability and design.
All decisions are considered from the point of view of "boxed" solutions. So, let's begin.
About systems, ITIL implementation complexity and compliance
1. Bpm`online Service
In the beginning I will tell a little about systems. And the first in line is bpm`online. The system for our company is new and is only starting up on one of the projects. But now you can share your impressions.
This is a system from the Ukrainian-Russian developer. In total, the vendor offers three solutions: Marketing, Sales and Service Enterprise. Just the latter is responsible for the automation of ITIL processes, but is not limited to it. Contact Center add-ons and part of the CRM functionality are already included in the system, which extends the capabilities of the ITSM system, there is no “fat” client and all interaction takes place via the web interface, which in turn makes it possible to access your personal account from any device. The interface is very friendly both for the user and for specialists. The system allows you to submit applications not only through the self-service portal, but also through chat bots. Thanks to the simple and flexible configuration of the solution, a new non-complex business process can be built in just 2 hours. Out of the box, it already supports 8 ITIL processes:
a) Incident and service request management;
b) change management;
c) Service level management;
d) problem management;
e) knowledge management;
f) release management;
g) configuration management;
h) Service portfolio management.
2. Omnitracker
The second solution is the brainchild of the German developer Omninet. The system appeared on the Russian market in 2009. ITSM has both “thick” and “thin”. The system can be fully customized for itself, both independently and through a vendor, but if you do it yourself, you will need highly qualified specialists and, accordingly, additional implementation costs. For our internal needs, we just use Omnitracker, but customized by our specialists, for our process and completely for ourselves. We will consider the ready-made ITSM Center solution, which is important, certified by ITIL v3. This assembly implements 15 main ITIL processes:
a) incident management;
a) problem management;
b) change management;
c) Service Request Management;
d) event management;
e) Asset and configuration management;
f) Identification and access control;
g) Release and deployment management;
h) service level management;
i) Service catalog management;
j) capacity management;
k) Availability Management;
l) knowledge management;
m) Management of reference data and addresses;
n) The ability to integrate the process of payment for services.
The reporting system here is an external Crystal report, which again entails additional costs for the purchase of this product. There is no mobile version, there is an adapted web interface, which on the one hand can be considered a plus, because no installation is required, but also a minus due to the inability to work offline or with unstable internet.
3. Naumen Service Desk
The third system is again Russian. Naumen is a rather interesting domestic development in the market since 2001.
It has the same web interface as bpm`online service. At the moment, it is considered a leader in the Russian market of ITSM systems according to customer reviews. The flexible system interface allows you to configure 12 ITIL processes out of the box:
a) Incident management;
b) Service Request Management;
c) problem management;
d) Service asset and configuration management;
e) change management;
f) Service catalog management;
g) service level management;
h) event management;
i) knowledge management;
j) Management of approvals and access;
k) task / work order management;
l) Financial management.
4. OTRS
And the last representative is the free open-source OTRS system. And again, the system has only a thin client. The boxed solution presents the main ITIL processes, in this version there are 6 of them:
a) Incident management;
a) problem management;
b) Asset and configuration management;
c) change management;
d) Service Request Management;
e) Knowledge management.
This “boxed" solution is not free, unlike the system itself, and is supplied so far by the only integrator in Russia. The list of processes can be expanded independently by refinement, since the shell allows you to customize the system to your needs as you like. Our experts can deploy the solution in 2 hours. But there is one big minus - we need highly qualified programmers to support and develop.
Convenience and Design
- In terms of design and convenience, based on experience in various ITSM systems, bpm`online outperforms its competitors by half a cabinet.
The ergonomics of the interface allows you to quickly access all the necessary tools for handling calls, even without any experience in the system. The specialist can get information about the user, see the entire list of his calls: open or closed, and will be able to form a new call. When processing it, you can visually view the entire life cycle of the request and quickly proceed to the next stage. For the leader there is a large set of dashboards for controlling metrics, both ready-made and with the possibility of personalization. - The second place was shared by Naumen SD and Omnitracker. Both systems are easy to use and have an intuitive interface that allows you to quickly get to work, having passed a minimum briefing. When forming an appeal, following the links, you can view information about the user or related appeals.
- And the fourth place is occupied by OTRS. The web interface of the system is convenient, but is overloaded with information, which can render a “bearish” service for the employee receiving the appeal. It takes time to navigate the interface and form an appeal or find an existing application. But there are pluses: when you open an already generated appeal, you can see all the information on the appeal in one window.
Summary
And what do we have in the end? All four systems have in their arsenal the main ITIL processes, as they say, a “gentlemanly” set and a unique and inimitable interface. But as my research showed, ITSM bpm`online turned out to be more friendly and flexible in configuration.