As businesses increasingly rely on digital services, ensuring seamless IT operations is more critical than ever. Alongside IT Service Management (ITSM), IT Operations Management (ITOM) is another vital solution to help IT teams maintain efficiency and reliability.
While these two frameworks overlap, they serve distinct purposes. ITSM focuses on delivering IT services to end-users, while ITOM ensures the smooth running of the underlying infrastructure and operations.
But how exactly do ITSM and ITOM differ, and why can businesses benefit from both? This guide highlights their unique roles, key differences, and how they work together to create a more efficient IT environment.
What is ITSM?
Managing IT services for optimal user experience
ITSM is the structured approach to delivering and managing IT services. It includes the processes, policies, and tools that ensure users receive the IT support they need, from software installations to resolving system outages.
Key ITSM processes include:
- Incident management: Addressing IT issues quickly to minimise downtime.
- Request management: Handling service requests, such as software access or equipment setup.
- Change management: Ensuring system updates and modifications don’t disrupt business operations.
- Problem management: Identifying and addressing root causes of recurring IT issues.
- Service level management: Defining and meeting service quality expectations through SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
Why ITSM matters
- Improves IT efficiency and response times.
- Enhances user experience and employee productivity.
- Standardises IT support processes for consistency.
- Aligns IT services with business goals.
Explore how Starhive simplifies ITSM processes.
What is ITOM?
Ensuring IT infrastructure operates smoothly
ITOM focuses on the back-end IT infrastructure and services that keep systems running efficiently. ITOM ensures IT resources like servers, networks, applications, and cloud services operate optimally without disruption.
Key ITOM processes include:
- Event management: Monitoring IT systems to detect and respond to performance issues.
- Infrastructure & cloud management: Ensuring servers, databases, and cloud platforms run smoothly.
- Automated remediation: Proactively resolving incidents before they impact users.
- Performance & capacity management: Monitoring system usage to prevent overloads and outages.
- IT asset & configuration management: Tracking IT infrastructure components and their dependencies.
Why ITOM matters
- Ensures IT services remain available and high-performing.
- Reduces downtime by proactively identifying and fixing infrastructure issues.
- Optimises IT resources to prevent performance bottlenecks.
- Supports ITSM practices by providing operational stability.
ITSM vs ITOM: Key differences
While ITSM and ITOM both play crucial roles in IT efficiency, they focus on different areas:
|
Aspect |
ITSM |
ITOM |
|
Primary focus |
Managing IT services and support |
Managing IT infrastructure and operations |
|
Processes |
Incident, request, change, and problem management |
Event, performance, capacity, and asset management |
|
Objective |
Ensuring smooth service delivery and user experience |
Maintaining system availability and performance |
|
Users |
All IT team and business users |
IT operations teams, system administrators, network engineers |
How ITSM and ITOM work together
While ITSM and ITOM have distinct functions, they’re most effective when integrated. ITOM provides the backend stability and information needed for ITSM to deliver a seamless user experience.
1. Faster incident resolution with ITOM insights
When an IT issue arises, ITOM monitoring tools detect the problem before users even report it.
This allows relevant team members to respond faster and minimise downtime. Especially if a CMDB (Configuration Management Database) has been implemented as part of ITSM.
2. Proactive problem management
ITOM uses event correlation and automation to identify patterns in system failures.
The ITSM problem management process can then use this data to prevent recurring incidents and enhance long-term stability.
3. Efficient change management
IT teams use the ITSM change process and ITOM data to assess risks and dependencies before rolling out system updates or software changes.
This prevents unexpected outages or disruptions.
4. Optimised IT resource allocation
Together, ITOM and ITSM ensures the efficient allocation of IT resources. ITSM practices (through IT asset management) will ensure hardware is deployed and retired on time, while ITOM ensures resources are running well while deployed.
Choosing the right ITSM and ITOM solutions
When it comes to managing ITSM and ITOM, businesses have two main choices.
Use an integrated ITSM/ITOM platform: This offers seamless handovers between service management and operations but often comes at the cost of flexibility, slower innovation, and higher costs. These platforms bundle a wide range of features, but many businesses may not use them all.
Use separate, but connected ITSM and ITOM solutions: This approach allows organisations to choose best-in-class tools for each function, ensuring greater flexibility and faster innovation. However, it requires effective integration management to ensure smooth communication between systems.
Starhive is designed for teams that value flexibility. While we are not an integrated ITSM/ITOM solution, our platform connects seamlessly with ITOM tools, allowing businesses to maintain operational efficiency without sacrificing agility.
By choosing the right approach for your organisation (whether integrated or separate) you can optimise service delivery, minimise downtime, and ensure IT resources are managed effectively.
Let’s discuss how you can benefit today.
Go beyond the basics
Want to stay ahead of the latest developments and changes in IT? Download Starhive’s ITSM Trends Report for expert insight on what’s happening in the space, and how businesses and IT teams can benefit.
