The world of IT networking has countless acronyms for every component, metric, technology, function, and so on. ITOM, or IT operations management, is a function that encapsulates the administration of all network infrastructure components within an organization. ITOM is a critical function that can directly determine the fortunes of the company. It is for the same reason that we should clearly understand what it stands for, why it's needed, and what its benefits are. Let's dive in. 

What is ITOM?

ITOM as a function entails allocating network resources judiciously to ensure uninterrupted, optimal network performance and enhanced capacity planning.

With an effective ITOM strategy in place, an organization's network health, performance, and service delivery stays top-notch, positively impacting the quality of business service offered by the organization and making sure it stays ahead of competition.

The key to ITOM is efficiency—less wasted time, effort, and money. A unified tool can execute tasks effortlessly in multiple layers and functions while offering deep visibility into various parts of the network.

What are the benefits of unified ITOM?

An established ITOM platform is pivotal to an organization's efforts to resolve network bottlenecks. A comprehensive network monitoring solution can:

Improve capacity planning and provisioning: Storage monitoring and automated reports help you notice trends and patterns in network resource utilization. Historical trends and metrics in reports can help you plan storage needs in advance and scale the network according to business requirements.

Simplify IT resource management: Using a central console, you can oversee an organization's entire network. You get a bird's-eye view of the whole network, which lets you allocate resources and coordinate seamlessly with IT help desk activities.

• Monitor the health and performance of devices: Run routine checks for network health and performance, including that of different individual physical and virtual network components. Constant performance checks help ensure full availability and reliability of network components.

• Monitor and manage network traffic: This facilitates optimum bandwidth consumption and traffic shaping according to your network infrastructure capabilities so that bandwidth-related bottlenecks can be avoided.

• Meet global compliance standards: Ensure all devices are compliant with the latest security standards. Automatic and periodic backups safeguard data in the event of network downtime.

• Avoid prolonged downtime: Downtime is inevitable. An ITOM team tries to predict downtime well in advance and reduce the damage without disrupting the IT infrastructure. Configuration changes can be tracked to prevent misconfigurations, and periodic backups ensure quicker incident response. All in all, this contributes to creating an effective disaster recovery strategy.

• Minimize the impact on end users: Irrespective of whether network downtime happens or doesn't, the end user should be the least affected. Business-critical applications and servers are monitored, including vulnerable endpoints, helping keep the network safe. This contributes to achieving a hassle-free end-user experience.

Challenges in ITOM: Why do you need a unified ITOM solution?

Efficient ITOM best practices go a long way in ensuring that network admins gain deep network visibility and can continuously modernize the IT infrastructure with automated processes. But in an age where networks are relentlessly pushing the boundaries and growing in complexity, only a unified IT operations management solution can demystify network management for you. The challenges introduced by new-age hybrid, distributed, and dynamic networks are:

• Limited visibility: Network admins require constant complete visibility into the organization’s IT infrastructure across multiple layers: the physical layer, the application layer, the security layer, and the transmission layer. However, legacy ITOM tools are outdated and can't ensure visibility into modern IT infrastructures.

• Disparate tools and data sources: ITOM processes can be varied, and IT admins make the mistake of relying on stand-alone tools for independent tasks. While such an approach may get the tasks done, this also translates into having disparate sources of data. A unified approach to network management can reduce loopholes and other complications.

• Lack of integrations: Apart from day-to-day network operations, ITOM also involves inter-team communication and collaboration. Critically, with IT now relying on ticketing and help desk software for smooth functioning, without integrating with required tools, ITOM can be tedious.

• Scalability, high costs, and budget constraints: Using different tools for ITOM can get expensive. Each network management tool also comes with different licensing and pricing models with hidden costs. Eventually, this increases the expenses and puts pressure on your IT budget, making network scaling a difficult proposition.

Presenting OpManager Plus, a unified solution with capabilities built to simplify your entire ITOM cycle

ManageEngine OpManager Plus is a unified ITOM solution trusted by network admins worldwide. This integrated IT operations management tool is packed with advanced IT operations monitoring capabilities that ensure optimal performance for your organization's IT infrastructure.

Optimize your ITOM processes with:

• Effective network performance and availability monitoring.
• Real-time server and application monitoring.
• Reduced downtime with effective configuration management options.
• A powerful console to monitor firewalls, bandwidth, and the network address space.
• Efficient fault management with in-depth insights, alerts, and reports.
• Insightful metrics for advanced IT operations analytics.

Powerful network monitoring

Enable proactive network monitoring over crucial network components such as servers, routers, storage, applications, firewalls, interfaces, switch ports, device configurations, and network bandwidth. A single web console allows you to comprehensively track your IT with its diverse range of built-in monitors.

Holistic discovery and mapping

Experience seamless network discovery with OpManager Plus' flexible and holistic network discovery, rediscovery, and mapping capabilities. Built to manage even the most complex IT infrastructures, OpManager Plus offers enhanced visibility into your monitored components within minutes of setup.

Multilevel thresholds and instantaneous alerts

Stay abreast of your network's critical components and their performance with just a glance using OpManager Plus' multilevel thresholds. They instantly alert whenever your devices show even the slightest signs of trouble, helping you effectively throttle cascading network issues that can paralyze your entire network.

Effective automations with OpManager Plus' Workflows

Make ITOM leaner by cutting down on costs, time, and resources with OpManager Plus' drag-and-drop automation workflow builder. Deploy OpManager Plus' effective workflows to automate monotonous, by-the-book tasks and L1 and L2 fault management activities.

Customize how you manage your IT operations

Want to be alerted through specific channels or set up network maps? OpManager Plus enables you to customize your IT operations management. Utilize diverse network visualization options including Business Views, 3D Floor Views, and Rack Views. Configure alert escalation rules, and choose between different channels such as SMS, email, syslog, and console alerts. Customize User Roles, and experience more customizations that help you with hassle-free ITOM.

Integrations: Extend the scope of your ITOM capabilities

Make ITOM holistic, smart, and seamless by integrating with different ManageEngine applications and the third-party tools of your choice.

Get started with OpManager Plus, and optimize your ITOM processes today!

OpManager Plus seamlessly integrates with your existing IT infrastructure with no additional requirements, enabling you to get started in minutes! Experience all the advanced features OpManager Plus provides by downloading a free, 30-day trial. You can also schedule a personalized demo with our product experts to learn how OpManager Plus can help you meet your ITOM requirements