Date:
19 Jan 2024
Author:
PREO AG
Used software
How companies are making IT service management more efficient
The ongoing digitalisation of the working world is placing increasing demands on IT service in all areas. The larger a company, organisation or public administration is and the more complex the production, work and administrative processes are, the more diverse the challenges for user support are. The IT applications required for day-to-day work should be available at all times and ideally function at 100%. It almost goes without saying that this is rarely the case with complex systems, such as a multi-site IT landscape with hundreds or even thousands of hardware and software components that have countless system interfaces. In business practice, the mere occurrence of different support requests - from trivial to complex - often ties up high technical and human resources, which can place an above-average burden on the IT budget.
In this blog post, we show why the efficiency factor in IT service management, or ITSM for short, is particularly important to ensure that the costs for user support do not explode and what contribution the integration of used software can make.
IT Service Management - Why is efficiency in user support crucial?
ITSM is a continuous process for planning, implementing and managing IT applications, such as programmes and services, in a company in order to ensure functional and efficient provision. IT services should fulfil business requirements and offer added value for internal and external stakeholders, such as employees, customers or business partners. ITSM therefore encompasses a wide range of practices, processes and tools that help to provide IT applications in an organised and effective manner and ensure their functionality on an ongoing basis. The most important objectives can be summarised as follows:
Higher service quality
ITSM helps organisations to improve the quality of their IT services by introducing best practices and processes. This leads to more reliable and consistent IT services that are optimised to meet the requirements of day-to-day business.
Increasing efficiency
ITSM practices aim to increase the efficiency of the IT organisation. By automating tasks, standardising processes and optimising the use of resources, companies can increase their efficiency and reduce costs.
More satisfaction through high user orientation
ITSM places a strong focus on the satisfaction of internal and external users. By improving communication, providing information, simplifying and organising support requests and taking into account the needs of employees or customers, companies ensure that expectations of the IT service are met and satisfaction increases.
Microsoft Sharepoint platform solution - more efficiency in ITSM
Efficient IT service management in larger companies can hardly be organised without a cross-departmental platform solution. Microsoft, for example, offers such a solution with Sharepoint, which integrates a wide range of functions and options for organising, documenting and optimising IT services. The advantages of such an ITSM platform solution are obvious:
1. Improvement of documentation and transparency
The centralised storage and management of documents, policies, procedures and other ITSM-relevant content facilitates access to important information and documentation, increases efficiency and supports adherence to compliance rules.
2. Increased efficiency
Various collaboration and workflow automation tools enable teams to work on projects and tasks in real time, track tasks and automate approval processes, which promotes more efficient collaboration between business units and organisational units. In the IT area, for example, an automated ticket system that allows users to report support and service requests or faults ensures more effective task management and generally reduces the workload on IT staff.
3. Higher user satisfaction
The creation and provision of a comprehensive knowledge database containing frequently asked questions, solutions to recurring problems and proven best practices supports IT staff in solving problems quickly and can also be used as an effective self-help resource that allows users to deal with all or part of their concerns themselves.
4. More in-depth analyses and a basis for decision-making
The continuous creation of reports and dashboards for monitoring and analysing ITSM performance and metrics supports management in making decisions and identifying potential for optimisation.
PREO tip: Buy used Microsoft licences and reduce costs sustainably
PREO offers a comprehensive range of used software licences from Microsoft. In addition to applications and operating systems, this also includes server licences, such as Microsoft Sharepoint, with which companies can not only optimise their IT service management and make it more efficient, but also significantly reduce their licence costs. The PREO licence experts will be happy to advise you personally, calculate an estimated savings potential based on your existing requirements and prepare a non-binding offer.
Less user support and more efficiency through used software
More and more IT managers and SA managers are discovering the advantages of used software. In addition to high savings on ongoing licence costs, the relief of internal and external user support and greater efficiency in IT service management are important goals. The following four arguments are particularly convincing:
- Older software is generally more mature. It has already been updated several times and is therefore more stable.
- The implementation of used software is much easier as, for example, interface problems or security risks within the existing IT architecture are known or have already been resolved.
- Users, such as employees, are generally familiar with the application options of the software. Compared to new software versions, this eliminates a large part of the internal training requirements or at least significantly reduces them.
- A company-wide rollout of new software that is often overloaded with superfluous functions is unnecessary if, for example, previous versions are more than sufficient for the existing software requirements.
Hotel industry example - high licence cost savings and more efficient ITSM
The IT manager at E&P Service GmbH, who is responsible for the software equipment at Dorint GmbH, one of Germany's leading hotel chains, is also convinced by the arguments listed above. In this customer case, you can read why he relies on used software from PREO, especially for smaller hotels with a limited financial budget, while also focussing on the efficiency of internal user support and the reduced need for training.
Convincing advantages - why used software from PREO is worthwhile
We are one of the pioneers in the European trade in used software licences and the market leader in Germany. We offer companies, organisations and public administrations a large selection of used volume licences at all times, especially from major providers such as Microsoft or Adobe, with which they can sustainably optimise their licence costs and benefit in several ways:
- High savings on ongoing licence costs of up to 70 percent compared to the respective new version.
- Greater sustainability in the IT sector by promoting an active circular economy and reducing the company's CO2 footprint.
- 100 per cent legally compliant and audit-proof licence acquisition with maximum transparency in all processing steps, including complete documentation in the PREO licence portal "Easy Compliance".
- Many years of expertise in the integration of used software licences into classic network structures or hybrid licence models.
- Detailed market knowledge and extensive experience through the audit-proof transfer of over one million used software licences.
- Existing software licence management capacities for large IT infrastructure projects with thousands of workstations and cross-border locations.
- Convincing reference projects for numerous medium-sized and large companies from a wide range of industries.
