The must-haves of ITSM: asset, service request and incident management

Daily IT processes for business health and competitive advantage

The must-haves of ITSM: asset, service request and incident management
Updated on : 07/05/2025
Published on : 15/03/2025
1. What is IT Service Management?

IT Service Management (i.e. ITSM) is the discipline that focuses on planning, designing and managing an organization’s information technology systems.

Due to users’ daily interactions with IT, ITSM is often mistakenly interpreted as basic IT support.
In reality, IT Service Management encompasses several processes:

  • Asset management

    The process to ensure that valuable business assets, whether tangible or intangible, are tracked and used correctly.

  • Knowledge management

    An organization’s process for creating, curating, sharing and using knowledge, whether documented or tacit.

  • Service Request management

    The process for fulfilling user requests like device requests or password resets.

  • Incident management

    The process of managing IT service interruptions.

  • Problem management

    Process that involves identifying and managing the underlying causes of incidents and the best ways to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.

  • Change management

    Standardized procedures for the efficient and timely management of all changes to the IT infrastructure.

This management overview gives us further confirmation of how the role of IT has transformed over time, moving from being of mere assistance to the business, to being the generator of a competitive advantage. This is why ITSM is at the heart of the modernization of companies.

Here, we will focus on the ITSM processes that are essential for businesses of all sizes on a daily basis: specifically, asset management, service request management and incident management.

2. IT asset management

What is an IT asset?

An IT asset refers to the hardware, software systems, or any element that can generate, receive, or process digital information, supporting business operations.

What is IT asset management?

The process which guarantees that a company’s IT resources are tracked, managed and maintained, including proper disposal when necessary.

IT asset management is a fundamental process that IT teams conduct regularly. Consider these scenarios: “Two employees had their computers stolen at a restaurant” or “Next month, 15 laptops will be replaced.”


Furthermore, users’ expectations of customizing the tools they work with – through marketplaces and app stores – pose new challenges in terms of resource management.
So, how to effectively manage company assets (see Figure 1)?

  • Inventory

    The resources the company owns, their locations and their purchase price;

  • Life cycle costs

    During a resource’s life, capital costs and various additional costs, such as maintenance and disposal, should be considered. Calculating life cycle costs makes the inventory accurate and useful;

  • Tracking

    The goal is to continuously monitor resources, contracts, license and warranty expirations. Tracking is also functional for maintenance, to understand the overall performance of the resource;

  • Maintenance

    The repair and upgrading of resources.

  • Financial planning

    With an accurate picture of resources and costs, it’s possible to determine the budget needed to maintain or improve service levels provided by the IT team for the most important resources.
IT asset management process

Figure 1. IT asset management process

2.1 Why is IT asset management fundamental?

Asset management is an important part of the overall strategy. It provides up-to-date information on the total cost of ownership (TCO) and optimizes resource utilization. It also allows you to:

  • Making informed decisions

    Too often, no tool is used for information gathering and the result is chaos.
    Asset management provides a single, centralized repository that enables IT teams, executives, and the company as a whole to make informed decisions.

  • Optimizing costs and reducing risks

    Given companies’ increased reliance on cloud services and the expansion of phenomena such as Shadow IT, the risk of over-provisioning and inactive licenses is very high.
    By utilizing greater levels of control and visibility, teams can eliminate waste and strengthen compliance with legal and security policies, reducing the risks the company is exposed to.

  • Generating competitive advantage

    With the right data at their fingertips, IT teams can act quickly, anticipate the impact of changes, and generate a competitive advantage for the company.
3. Service request management

What is a service request?

A formal request from a user for a new device or service, such as the need for a new laptop or software license, password reset, or application access.

What is service request fulfillment?

It is the process of resolving a user’s service request. The goal is to provide users with access to the IT services they need to ensure their productivity while providing the highest level of service quality.

Service requests are often low-risk and recurring: efficient IT teams follow repeatable procedures to manage them (see Figure 2):

  • A user requests assistance through the dedicated portal or via email.
  • The support team qualifies and assigns the request. If necessary, it submits the request for business approval.
  • An IT technician handles the fulfillment of the request.
  • After fulfilling the request, the technician consults the user to ensure they are satisfied and closes the ticket.

Figure 2. Service Request Fulfillment Process

3.1 Benefits of an effective request fulfillment process

  • Improving operational efficiency

    Wait times are reduced and repetitive processes are automated: this translates into increased productivity for the IT team and therefore the company.

  • Increasing user satisfaction

    Service request management has an enabling value, being the process that connects people to tools.
    A smoother user experience, with quick responses and high-quality service, is a key point for overcoming the challenges of today’s market.

4. Incident management

What is an incident?

An event that interrupts business continuity or reduces the quality of an IT service, affecting an individual user or the entire company and requiring an emergency response.

What is incident management?

It is the process of managing disruptions and restoring services in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

The process ensures that any issue is resolved as quickly as possible and makes ticket management transparent. 
It can be summarized as follows (see Figure 3):

  • Incident logging

    Incident logging by the user through the communication channels authorized by the IT team. This action involves the automatic or manual creation of a ticket.

  • Incident prioritization

    This is a crucial step. The IT team analyzes the impact and urgency of the incident, determines its priority and applies the most appropriate SLA.
    The impact of an incident indicates the level of damage the issue will cause to the user or the company.
    Urgency indicates the period of time within which the incident should be resolved.
    Generally, severe incidents concern critical business services and require immediate resolutions. Minor incidents have an impact on the individual user.

  • Incident assignment

    Once the incident has been categorized and assigned a priority, it is directed to the most qualified technician or team to work on the problem.

  • Incident management

    The assigned technician handles the diagnosis of the problem.
    The incident can be divided into sub-activities if the resolution requires the contribution of multiple technicians or external parties (vendors, partners, etc.).

  • Incident resolution

    An incident is considered resolved when the technician has developed a temporary solution or a definitive solution to the problem.

  • Ticket closure

    It is possible to close an incident once the problem has been resolved and the user is satisfied with the solution.

Figure 3. Incident resolution process

4.1 Additional benefits of the incident management process

In addition to the clear value of incident resolution, the incident management process brings many other business benefits:

  • Faster resolution of known incidents

    due to shared documentation of solutions to known problems;

  • Performance evaluation

    reporting allows you to monitor recurring incidents and identify underlying problems, balance workloads within the IT team, and lay the foundation for continuous improvement;

  • Reduced risk of disruption to the business

    by quickly addressing and resolving incidents, the impact on overall operations is minimized.
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