Buyer’s guide: The best IT change management tools for effective IT operations
Table of Contents
- What are IT change management tools?
- How to choose the best IT change management tools?
- 6 best IT change management tools for enterprises
- Choose the best IT change management tools and integrate with Virima now!
Change drives progress in organizations, especially when adopting new systems and practices. For example, transitioning from traditional servers to a cloud-based infrastructure can be challenging. Using IT change management tools enhances this process effectively by providing structured decision-making, promoting collaboration, and ensuring clear communication as well.
Additionally, these IT change management tools streamline complex transitions, reducing implementation time by 33%. Subsequently, adopting change management best practices helps to maintain business strength and boost productivity as well.
In contrast, selecting the right change management software from numerous options can be significantly overwhelming. Indeed, not every change management software will meet your unique needs.
In this blog, you will discover how these best IT change management tools help manage change seamlessly. Let’s start.
What are IT change management tools?
IT change management tools are digital applications or software that effectively plan, monitor, and implement organizational changes. In fact, they optimize the process of switching to new systems, and processes or introducing new technology into employee workflows. Additionally, these change management software offer data-driven strategies to identify potential roadblocks and minimize disruptions and risks.
Unquestionably, top-notch IT change management tools make switching to new processes effortless by ensuring structured planning and execution. Moreover, these IT change management tools enhance collaboration and communication, making it easier for teams to adapt to changes. By leveraging the best IT change management tools, organizations can significantly achieve smoother transitions and maintain productivity as well.
How to choose the best IT change management tools?
Choosing the best IT change management tools is pivotal for ensuring efficient and secure organizational transitions. So, here’s a refined guide to help you select the right change management software for your company’s specific needs:
Time to value
Using your change management software sooner helps you see a return on investment (ROI) faster. In addition, the time to achieve value varies significantly among vendors when you choose your best IT change management tools. However, the factors depend on solution complexity, deployment backlog, and the level of training and support offered.
Key questions to ask yourself
- Is it a plug-and-play solution, or in contrast will we need to hire a coding expert?
- What is the required time and training for our team?
- When is the typical time to value this solution?
- What level of support and training does the vendor offer during and after deployment?
Business size
There is no universal solution in ITSM or change management software. However, each organization must carefully assess its needs while choosing the best IT change management tools. Subsequently, large enterprises often require features that small to midsize businesses (SMBs) do not. Hence, it’s essential to find a change management software that fits your current needs and can scale with your business.
Key questions to ask yourself
- Does the solution encompass all essential features both now and in the foreseeable future?
- Should we deactivate unused features, or will we incur charges for unnecessary extras?
- Will the change management software accommodate changes in our business size over time?
Workflow automation and AI capabilities
Not all IT change management tools incorporate AI or workflow automation. In contrast, some reserve these features exclusively for enterprise-level users.
Key questions to ask yourself
- Which parts of the change management process can automation handle?
- How intricate is the process of setting up automation?
- Are there additional costs associated with automation features?
Integration ability
The utility of IT change management tools hinges on their ability to integrate seamlessly with other systems. Additionally, it must facilitate smooth interaction between different platforms. Besides, this includes project management, engineering, and configuration management tools as well.
Key questions to ask yourself
- Do the IT change management tools integrate smoothly with automated deployment systems? Unlike, will we have to handle production changes manually?
- Can the change management software provide status updates to product management and engineering systems as well?
- Can change management software handle errors detected during deployment?
6 best IT change management tools for enterprises
These 6 best IT change management tools ensure a seamless transition from planning to execution. Explore these change management software’s features, pros, and cons before you start implementing any one of them.
1. ServiceNow® change management software
ServiceNow is one of the best IT change management tools designed to help organizations manage and control the lifecycle of changes to their IT infrastructure. It provides a structured process for handling change requests. It also ensures that changes are systematically managed to minimize risks and disruptions to IT services.
On the other hand, Virima plays a crucial role in boosting the effectiveness of change impact analysis on a wide range of platforms like ServiceNow. It offers a clear view of the IT landscape, ensuring that changes made via ServiceNow are precisely tracked and managed within the larger IT environment. This integration guarantees that changes are implemented efficiently, well-documented, and compliant, thereby reducing risk.
In addition, Virima Visual Impact Display (ViVID) turns complex data in the ServiceNow change management module into easy-to-understand visuals. As a result, stakeholders can quickly see how a proposed change might affect applications, infrastructure, and business services.
Also read: Revolutionizing change management with ServiceNow and Virima
Alt text: Integration of ViVIDTM with IT change management tools for better visibility
Features of ServiceNow®
- Comprehensive change management: The integration of ServiceNow discovery provides a full set of tools to manage IT changes. These include handling requests, setting up approval processes, and assessing risks are also involved.
- Change Advisory Board (CAB) workbench: Facilitate efficient and effective CAB meetings with a digital workspace.
- Real-time analytics and reporting: Access detailed reports and dashboards to monitor change processes and outcomes too.
- Integration capabilities: Integrate seamlessly with other IT and business systems for unified operations.
- Mobile usage: Manage changes on the go with mobile apps.
- Incident and problem management: Link changes to incidents and problems to ensure a holistic approach to problem management.
Pros of ServiceNow®
- Efficiency: Streamlines processes, thereby reducing time and effort as well.
- Scale level: Moreover, it easily scales for large organizations.
- Visibility: Offers clear insights into change impacts.
- Data-driven decisions: Utilizes real-time analytics.
- Security: Furthermore, it ensures high security and compliance.
Cons of ServiceNow®
- Cost: Expensive for smaller organizations.
- Complexity: Steep learning curve for new users.
- Implementation time: Time-consuming and resource-intensive too.
- Ability to customize: Maintenance challenges with extensive tailoring.
- Performance: Issues may arise with large datasets.
2. Jira Service Management change management software
Jira Service Management change management software helps organizations manage changes to their IT infrastructure and services more effectively. As well as that it simplifies the process of suggesting, reviewing, and making changes. This change management software ensures consistency and transparency effectively throughout the entire change management process.
Additionally, when integrated with Virima, Jira Service Management provides improved visibility of change management activities. Virima’s approach to change impact analysis in JSM integrates thorough service mapping and ViVID’s visualization tools to evaluate how proposed changes could affect operations. This detailed analysis focuses on understanding dependencies and relationships within the IT infrastructure, allowing change managers to anticipate and address risks early on.
Hence, these top-tier IT change management tools ensure all team members stay informed about changes within the company’s IT environment.
Also read: Leveraging Virima for Optimal Change Management in Jira Service Management
Features of Jira Service Management
- Integrated service desk: Provides a unified platform for handling service requests, incidents, and changes.
- Automation: Streamlines repetitive tasks and processes with tailored automation rules.
- Asset management: Furthermore, it tracks and manages assets and configuration items significantly with integrated visual CMDB (Configuration Management Database).
- Change management: Moreover, it manages change requests effectively, with detailed tracking and approvals.
- SLAs and metrics: Monitoring and reporting features effectively ensure that service level agreements (SLAs) meet their targets.
- Integration capabilities: In addition, it integrates seamlessly with various third-party tools and existing IT infrastructure.
Pros of Jira Service Management
- User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate and use.
- Comprehensive automation: Reduces manual effort and boosts efficiency.
- Ability to customize: Moreover, it adapts to specific business needs effectively.
- Robust reporting: Aids in decision-making with detailed insights above all.
- Effective incident management: Furthermore, it minimizes IT downtime and service disruptions during incident management.
Cons of Jira Service Management
- Complex setup: Time-consuming initial setup and configuration.
- Steep learning curve: In addition, it requires significant training for new users.
- Limited mobile functionality: Less comprehensive mobile app features.
- Dependency on Atlassian ecosystem: Best used with other Atlassian products, requiring additional investments.
- Ability to customize: Moreover, managing extensive tailoring can be significantly burdensome.
3. Ivanti change management software
Ivanti is one of the best IT change management tools that specializes in automating IT processes. Therefore, it’s a great choice for businesses that want to simplify their change management procedures. Moreover, its change management software provides a unified platform that manages services, assets, and IT security. Altogether, it improves the efficiency of change management operations.
Moreover, Ivanti has partnered with Virima to improve the effectiveness of change management impact analysis. By integrating Virima into Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, a thorough analysis is enabled, helping to minimize the effects of changes in IT operations.
In addition, Virima’s ViVID technology, incorporated within Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, provides dynamic visualization and service mapping. This enhances the visibility of potential impacts and simplifies the complexity of analyzing interconnected IT assets.
Features of Ivanti
- Change request management: Facilitates the creation, review, and approval of change requests.
- Change Advisory Board (CAB) collaboration: In addition, it enables effective communication and decision-making among stakeholders.
- Planning and scheduling: Helps in planning and scheduling changes significantly to minimize disruptions.
- Risk assessment and impact analysis: Assesses potential risks and impacts before implementing changes.
- Change implementation tracking: Moreover, it tracks the progress of change implementation effectively in real time.
- Change documentation: Furthermore, it provides comprehensive documentation of all changes made.
Pros of Ivanti
- User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate and use for IT professionals.
- Integration capabilities: Moreover, it integrates well with other IT service management tools.
- Robust reporting: Furthermore, it generates detailed reports for analysis and audit purposes as well.
- Automation: In addition, it automates routine tasks, thereby reducing manual effort and errors.
- Compliance: Helps in maintaining compliance effectively with IT policies and regulations.
Cons of Ivanti
- Complex configuration: Setting up configurations can be complex initially.
- Cost: Higher cost compared to some competing tools.
- Learning curve: Moreover, it requires training to fully utilize its features.
- Ability to customize limitations: Limited flexibility in tailoring for specific organizational needs.
4. 4Me change management software
4Me is one of the best IT change management tools that focuses on IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM). It ensures a smooth experience when dealing with changes in the IT environment. It stands out for its ability to allow internal and external service providers to collaborate effectively. The IT change management tools follow ITIL best practices and various departments like IT, HR, Facilities, and Finance can utilize it effectively.
Integration with Virima service mapping and ViVID™ visualization tools helps 4me assess proposed changes more thoroughly and accurately. Moreover, this integration allows 4me to understand the potential impact of proposed changes better. In addition, this change management software also helps you to minimize disruptions and risks.
Features of 4me
- Workflow automation: Streamlines change request processes from start to approval.
- Collaboration tools: Moreover, it facilitates communication among stakeholders to ensure transparency.
- Configuration management: Furthermore, it tracks and manages IT assets affected by changes.
- Audit trail: It also provides a detailed history of all change activities for compliance purposes.
- Reporting and analytics: In addition, it generates insights into change management performance and trends.
Pros of 4me
- User-friendly interface: Simplifies navigation and usability as well.
- Integration capabilities: Moreover, you can connect this tool with other IT systems for seamless operations.
- Real-time notifications: It also alerts stakeholders about change status updates promptly.
- Scale level: Furthermore, it scales effectively with growing organizational needs.
Cons of 4me
- Initial learning curve: Requires training for effective use.
- Dependency on internet connectivity: Furthermore, this may hinder usage in low-connectivity environments.
- Cost: Pricing structures can be significantly expensive for smaller organizations.
- Complex configurations: Tailoring may demand dedicated administrative efforts.
- Technical support challenges: In addition, there are some issues with timely and effective support responses.
5. Whatfix change management software
Whatfix is a cloud-based platform that helps organizations manage and encourage users to adopt new software and processes. Providing a comprehensive solution for managing organizational transformation initiatives, these IT change management tools allow companies to effectively implement changes.
Features of Whatfix
- In-App guidance: Whatfix offers step-by-step guides and workflows that help employees learn new software faster. As a result, this reduces the time it takes to onboard new team members and boosts productivity.
- Behavior analytics: Moreover, Whatfix offers insights into user engagement to refine change strategies.
- Scalable content creation: Furthermore, teams can create and deploy training content easily across the organization.
- Contextual support: In addition, users receive in-app guidance for seamless transitions.
- Feedback and surveys: Organizations gather user feedback through in-app surveys.
- Integration and automation: Whatfix integrates with systems and automates change tasks as well.
Pros of Whatfix
- Ease of use: Intuitive interface for easy guide creation.
- Ability to customize: Tailor guides to match branding and UI too.
- Scale level: Moreover, it scales well with organizational growth.
- Integration: Seamless integration with IT systems.
- Analytics: Furthermore, it provides valuable insights into user behavior.
- Cost-effective: Reduces support costs with self-service options.
Cons of Whatfix
- Initial setup: Time-consuming setup and configuration.
- Complexity: Moreover, advanced features may need technical expertise.
- User adoption: Success hinges on effective user engagement.
- Maintenance: Indeed, you need to update to stay relevant regularly.
6. Freshservice change management software
Freshservice is one of the most widely used best IT service management tools that tracks changes throughout its lifecycle, automates approvals, and sends notifications. Additionally, it includes a calendar for scheduling meetings with the project’s change advisory board, streamlining communication. Moreover, a dashboard allows monitoring of changes post-implementation for review and improvement.
Features of Freshservice
- Structured change management process: Ensures standardized and automated change control effectively.
- Visual change tracking: Furthermore, it allows users to visually track changes throughout their lifecycle.
- Automated approvals and notifications: Automates change approvals and notifies agents and end-users as well.
- Calendar integration: Moreover, it automatically adds changes to agents’ calendars for easy planning.
- Hierarchical approvals: Significantly supports hierarchical approvals, including notifications to the Change Advisory Board.
- Post-Implementation Monitoring: Enables monitoring of changes post-implementation and review of rollout processes.
Pros of Freshservice
- Improved visibility and control: Provides better oversight and control with visual tracking and automated workflows too.
- Enhanced collaboration: Furthermore, it facilitates seamless collaboration among IT teams and departments.
- Data-driven decisions: Empowers organizations with insightful reporting and analytics capabilities significantly.
Cons of Freshservice
- Limited ability to customize: IT change management tools like JSM, ServiceNow®, and Ivanti meticulously oversee transformations across the entire IT infrastructure.
- Integration challenges: Integrating with existing IT systems may require additional effort.
- Learning curve: Moreover, users may experience a learning curve when first using Freshservice for change management.
Choose the best IT change management tools and integrate with Virima now!
Virima revolutionizes IT change management tools by offering unparalleled insights into the IT landscape. This guarantees that transformations orchestrated through tools like JSM, ServiceNow®, and Ivanti are meticulously overseen across the entire IT infrastructure. Moreover, through seamless integration with Virima, enterprises can execute changes swiftly, ensuring adherence to regulations and risk management.
Indeed, in the fast-evolving landscape of digital transformation strategies, choosing a resilient change management platform is pivotal. In contrast, aligning with robust IT management solutions such as Virima becomes imperative for adapting promptly, safeguarding operational resilience, and securing a decisive market advantage.
Explore how Virima can significantly transform your IT change management tools and strategy today! Request a demo today!
