What is an IT ticketing system?

Within an employee IT ticketing system, a ticket is a special document or record that represents an incident, alert, request or event that requires action from the IT department. It often contains additional contextual details and may also include relevant contact information of the individual who created the ticket.

Tickets are usually employee-generated, but automated tickets may also be created when specific incidents occur and are flagged. Once a ticket is created, it is assigned to an IT agent to be resolved. Effective ticketing systems allow tickets to be submitted via a variety of methods. These include submissions through virtual agents, phone, email, service portals, live agents, walk-up experience etc.

Effective IT ticketing systems incorporate many different components. These may include the following:

• A centralised requests repository
• 24/7 accessibility
• Ticket creation via web, mobile, virtual agents, service portals and more
• Automated responses and updates
• Communications tracking between employees and agents
• Employee visibility into status of requests
• Data for analytics and reporting

A robust ticketing system is an essential element of employee service and support, but it is still only one element. To provide employees with resilient solutions and amazing experiences, you need to go beyond ticketing.

IT service management (ITSM) is a framework that focuses on employee needs, offering planning, delivery and support of IT services through integrated people, process and technology. ITSM stresses continual improvement, with IT support delivered as a service. Compared to traditional ticketing systems, ITSM is more inclusive. It describes the processes and tools IT teams use to manage all IT services, end to end. It helps ensure that employees’ issues are being resolved quickly and effectively, while also aligning IT goals with overall business goals throughout an organisation.

In other words, ITSM is the power to put information technology fully to work to benefit your employees and your business.

There are many ways that an effective ticketing system benefits your organisation, or any organisation faced with a large number of IT help requests across various channels. The most advanced ticketing systems provide options for tracking tickets through their life cycles from request to resolution, and may incorporate automation to assist IT support teams in managing large volumes of help requests. But where ticketing stops, ITSM steps in, offering complete IT solutions for ticketing and more.

And with ServiceNow, ITSM becomes an essential tool for total digital transformation for any organisation.

ITSM promotes complete digital transformation, allowing organisations to increase visibility, scalability, productivity and efficiency along with employee satisfaction. It’s an agile approach to providing IT services, combining the advantages of optimal accessibility and mobility with advanced, AI-backed automation, delivering global IT services on a single, unified, cloud-native platform.

For employees who are in need of ticketing and support solutions, the benefits are clear:

• Omnichannel support
  Rather than forcing employees to communicate via one or two designated channels, or even allowing them to use a range of different channels, ServiceNow ITSM provides a true, fully integrated omnichannel solution. No matter how the employee wishes to reach out for support, all interactions occur within a single, unified system. All relevant data is collected and available in the system itself, and conversations can continue uninterrupted through any and all communication channels, and even through multiple contacts.
• Improved IT-service effectiveness
  Fully cloud native and accessible at any time, from any location, using any authorised device, ServiceNow ITSM empowers employees to receive essential IT support whenever and wherever they need it. IT agents can easily coordinate on cases, and AI-based virtual agents, chatbots and service portals provide employees with self-service options to locate solutions at the push of a button. ITSM likewise provides a clear picture of available IT services, and direction on who to get the most out of them for more-effective IT support.
• Increased satisfaction
  Faster, more accurate resolutions with minimal effort and fewer hurdles means that employees can get back to doing their jobs more quickly. And with ServiceNow ITSM, fully aligned business goals help support employee productivity across the entire organisation. This means increased employee satisfaction, for a happier, more engaged workforce.

While it has long been a focus for businesses across essentially every industry, digital transformation has taken on new significance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The abrupt shift to socially-distant and remote-work environments creates a need for more powerful automation capabilities able to support the ‘new normal’. Simply put, the success or failure of today’s businesses depends on how effectively they are able to embrace digital transformation.

Effective IT service management supports this transformation, not merely in terms of improved ticketing, but through advanced incident management, change and release management, problem management and more. Built on the Now Platform, ServiceNow ITSM uses intelligent automation and a single, silo-breaking data source across your entire organisation.

Additionally, AI applications in ServiceNow ITSM are creating opportunities for automation and intelligent self-service for employees. AI chat bots that utilise machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) technologies interact with end users while automating the delivery of service requests. AI analytics place network events, patterns and trends under a microscope, feeding insights directly to IT support teams and other relevant departments. Incident routing, patch management and software deployment are all applications where AI also plays a major role.

Together, these innovations are increasing productivity, improving the employee experience and redefining what ticketing systems mean for businesses. And ServiceNow is at the forefront. The end result is a better, more personalised user experience, improved IT productivity, increased analytical insights and a clearer focus on vital business objectives.

ServiceNow ITSM does ticketing right. And then it does so much more. Take your ticketing solutions further, and see just how digital transformation can lead your business into a brighter digital future.