Can free php helpdesk software stand up to vendor bought ITIL 3 compatible heat help desk? We will compare them in this help desk resume. Help desk management software is under fire these days. Large enterprise companies are changing to ITIL 3 and vendors are standing in line to sell their software solutions for supporting the IT service management framework, ITIL.
ITIL – Only for large companies (wrong)
While the large organizations are struggling with enterprise products for millions of dollars, the small or midsize companies are trying to find an help desk solutions suitable and affordable for them to implement. It was not long ago ITIL version 2 was dominating the market and the framework was only used by large companies with thousands of clients to support. Today, the market has changed and even relative small companies with less than hundred employees, has open their eye for what ITIL can bring in value. If only the help desk solutions were not that expensive.
The basic ITIL processes
Small or midsized companies can gain a lot by looking as the basic processes like Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management and Configuration Management. These processes might seem very complex if you read the ITIL books (which are only guidelines) but if you design your processes to fit your company, they can be very simple to understand and implement.
Service Management Software Experience
I have been technical lead, service management software responsible, on a huge ITIL version 2 implementation, in a company supporting more than 50.000 end-users and more than 200.000 identified CI’s. We implemented the basic processes as mentioned above within 3 years with great success. At the moment we are, as anyone else, moving to ITIL 3 and implementing the necessary changes.
Before my current job position, I implemented basic ITIL framework in several smaller companies. I had great success with using php helpdesk software just for registering changes and approvals but for a full, even small scale, ITIL implementation I would absolutely choose heat help desk. This help desk management software can be managed by a single user and with limited ITIL experience. ITIL can be implemented in a few basic steps to get your started thinking about your future processes, but more about that in a later post.
Help Desk Software and ITIL processes – Where to start
From my experience and help desk resume, you should, even if you are only a small company, implement the basic ITIL processes and start registering incidents, changes and problems as soon as possible. For this purpose, I suggest you use heat helpdesk as your first help desk management software solution, both because of the cost and the easy of implementation, and develop your more complex processes at a later stage. Remember it is absolutely vital that you have designed your basic processes before starting to configure your selected tool. One of the biggest mistakes is to let the ITIL software limitations dictate how your processes are designed (this counts for tiny to large enterprise businesses).