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Businesses depend on technology for the seamless functioning of their business, which is all taken care of by IT service management. At its core, it is a holistic approach that ensures IT services align with the organization’s needs and supports its overarching goals. It brings a structured approach to designing, delivering, managing and improving IT services. 

Given its important role, finding the right tool becomes primal to efficiency. But does it have to come at a huge cost? 

This guide will shed light on the complexities of ITSM cost to help make an informed decision when choosing a tool. We will also help you understand what to consider when you choose a tool. 

Understanding ITSM Costs

ITSM ensures the delivery of IT services efficiently and cost-effectively. It involves implementing and managing quality IT services by creating streamlined processes, frameworks and methodologies. 

The ITSM cost encompasses a financial investment to implement and maintain an effective ITSM framework. The ITSM cost goes beyond just monetary considerations, extending to resource allocation and consistent efforts to ensure the seamless functioning of IT services. 

Components of ITSM costs

The cost of an ITSM includes the following components: 

1. Software costs: Software forms the technological backbone of an ITSM. This includes expenses for acquiring, licensing, and customizing software solutions to your needs. 

2. Hardware costs: This includes the infrastructure cost associated with your ITSM, like procurement and maintenance of servers, computers, networking equipment and other physical components essential to deploying the ITSM solution. 

3. Personnel costs: This cost includes salaries and benefits, training expenses for the individuals, administrators, technicians, support staff, etc,  involved in the ITSM solution implementation and maintenance. 

4. Training and education costs: The successful implementation of the ITSM hinges on the skills and knowledge of the workforce. This includes investment in training programs and resources that help keep the ITSM team abreast of evolving technologies, best practices, and methodologies. 

5. Maintenance and support costs: Maintenance and support ensures longevity of the ITSM system and its optimal performance. This cost includes routine updates, bug fixes and support services to address issues that arise.

Focus on the Features You Need!

To make a judicious choice, you must focus on specific functions that align with your organization’s needs. Here are a few features that you must look for in a tool. 

• Intelligent no-code automation to streamline your routine tasks, ensuring optimal utilization of resources and reducing manual interventions that are prone to errors. 
• Incident management, problem management, change management and SLA management
• GenAI-powered service desk that delivers a proactive and intelligent service desk experience. 
• Agile knowledge management to ensure up-to-date documentation and promote self-service among users
• Process orchestration to enhance overall operational efficiency
• Desktop automation to elevate and automate desktop management for higher accuracy and reduced manual efforts.
• Conversational ticketing that is intuitive and enables users to submit, track and resolve tickets seamlessly using the power of artificial intelligence
• Robust reporting and analytics for monitoring and improving ITSM processes
• User-friendly interface for easy adoption and higher productivity; prefer something that embeds into your existing channels like MS Teams.
• Offers multi-channel support across various channels to ensure consistent support irrespective of platform.

Factors to Consider Before Choosing a Tool

When choosing an ITSM tool, fixating on the initial price is tempting. However, to ensure that the ITSM tool pays you back more than the investment, you need to see beyond just cost. 

Why? 

• Because initial pricing is not often what you see, there are often hidden costs, for example, paying per asset or ticket. 
• This also means that you have to sacrifice a lot of benefits and features like user-friendliness, maintenance, flexibility, security, capacity, etc. You might pay extra for these in the end.
• ITSM is a long investment that is supposed to solve your and your IT team's problems. Going for the cheapest service provider without checking their offer and comparing it with others can land you a poor deal. 

What Should You Consider When Choosing a Tool along with Cost?

• How many individuals/users/technicians/devices need to utilize this software?
• How would you categorize your enterprise—small, medium, or large?
• What specific features does your business necessitate in its software: fundamental functionalities such as asset tracking, maintenance, and reporting, or more sophisticated features like purchase orders, scheduled services, and custom integrations?
• Is the tool scalable to accommodate your growing business?
• How well does it integrate with your existing systems and applications? Does it support integrations or offer APIs for custom integrations?
• How user-friendly is the interface?
• Which pricing structure aligns best with your business type?
• Is free or open-source software a viable option for fulfilling your business requirements?
• Are there any associated costs for software installation and training?
• Does the software provide additional modules or add-ons (e.g., an extra network device priced at extra cost), and do any of these augmentations meet your business needs?
• What do users say about the tool? How satisfied are they with the tool?

Pricing of Different ITSM Tools

To give you a brief idea about how an ideal ITSM tool looks like, these solutions are the best examples. 

1. Rezolve.ai

A GenAI-powered AITSM solution that integrates with MS Teams seamlessly and allows you to use the product from your friendly MS Teams interface. It uses the power of GenAI to provide excellent employee support services and enhances the overall user experience. Rezolve.ai offers conversational ticketing, robust and modern reporting and analytics, desktop automation, agile knowledge management that trains from various sources like SharePoint folders, offline documents, etc. and many other features. 

Pricing

Contact the sales team for pricing.

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2. Freshservice

Freshservice is a cloud-based ITSM tool that offers robust features like ticketing, asset management, incident tracking, etc. 

Pricing

• Starter Plan: ₹1,399/agent/month (billed annually) or ₹2,099/agent/month (billed monthly). Includes Incident Management, Knowledge Base, Self Service Portal, and more.
• Growth Plan: ₹3,599/agent/month (billed annually) or ₹4,299/agent/month (billed monthly). Everything in Starter plus Service Catalog, Asset Management, and more.‍
• Pro (Popular) Plan: ₹6,999/agent/month (billed annually) or ₹8,599/agent/month (billed monthly). Everything in Growth plus Freddy Copilot, Problem Management, and more.‍
• Enterprise Plan: ₹8,799/agent/month (billed annually) or ₹10,799/agent/month (billed monthly). Everything in Pro plus additional advanced features.

3. TOPdesk

TOPdesk boasts streamlined service delivery, enhanced collaboration along with features like incident management, self-service portal and good reporting tools. 

Pricing

Contact the sales team for pricing.

4. Moveworks

Moveworks uses NLP for conversational ticketing, automating tasks, and providing users with seamless ticketing experience. 

Pricing

‍Contact the sales team for pricing.

5. Jira Service Management

This is a versatile tool that excellently integrates with the broader Jira ecosystem and offers a suite of tools to manage IT services and other organizational requirements. 

Pricing 

• Free Plan: Allows Up to 3 agents, unlimited customers, 2 GB file storage, and 100 email notifications per day.
• Standard Plan: Priced at $49.35/ agent with a monthly total of $66.15. Includes all features from the Free plan, support for up to 10,000 agents, 250 GB file storage, business hour support, and unlimited email notifications.
• Premium Plan: Priced at $22.05/ agent with a monthly total of $148.05. Includes all features from the standard plan, advanced incident management, unlimited file storage, asset and configuration management, 24/7 support for critical issues
• Enterprise Plan: Contact sales team.

Conclusion

It is evident that looking beyond cost is crucial if you want a solution that helps your business operations. Emphasis should be placed on prioritizing features aligned with your specific business needs and how well it optimizes business efficiency. 

Remember that the right tool will be an investment and a strategic partner for your growth.

Take a demo here to see how a good ITSM tool will revolutionize your business!

FAQs

1. What does ITSM stand for?

ITSM stands for Information Technology Service Management. It refers to a set of processes, practices and policies that help design, deliver, manage, and improve IT services within an organization.

2. Is ServiceNow costly?

ServiceNow cost varies based on the needs and scale of the organization. Its pricing depends on what module you choose, the number of users and the customization you need. 

3. How much does ServiceNow cost per user?

ServiceNow cost per user is not fixed. It varies based on factors like modules, licensing agreements, and any additional customization requirements. You will have to request a quote from the ServiceNow sales team for accurate pricing details.

4. Is Jira an ITSM tool?

Jira is primarily a project management and issue-tracking tool. Jira Service Management offers functionalities for IT service management that integrate well with the overall Jira ecosystem. However, organizations often integrate Jira with other better ITSM tools for a holistic solution.

5. Is agile part of ITSM?

Yes, Agile methodologies can be part of IT Service Management. Organizations adopt Agile principles to enhance flexibility and responsiveness into their ITSM processes. 

6. What are ITSM ticketing tools?

ITSM ticketing tool is a software solution designed to manage and track IT service requests, offer support in incident management, IT problems, and other support-related issues. It facilitates the management–creation, tracking, and resolution of tickets by creating a centralized system for efficient issue resolution and communication within the organization.