Innovating IT Service Management

Innovating IT Service Management

Company background

Since its founding by CEO Tasos Symeonides in 1988, Axios Systems lives and breathes innovation through the creation and rapid deployment of service management software.

Available via on-premise and SaaS-based models, the company’s enterprise software, assyst, transforms IT departments from tech-focused cost centers into profitable and business-focused customer service teams.

What makes the assyst platform unique?

“Our service management software, assyst, has always been developed in line with ITIL best practices for service management,” says Glyn Yates, who serves as the company’s Middle East regional director.

“Indeed, assyst became the first service management solution to be accredited for all 15 PinkVERIFY ITIL processes within a single solution.”

He continues: “assyst is designed specially to support large enterprise customers. More than 1,000 public and private sector customers around the globe — including many governments and publicly traded companies such as FedEx Express — use it to improve IT service delivery within their organisations. For them, this translates into reduced costs, faster incident resolution and a more satisfied user base.”

Expanding into the Middle East

Since establishing a local presence in 2004, Axios has invested significantly in its expansion across the Middle East. The company now operates from three regional offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Yates says: “Since 2004, we’ve developed a loyal customer base and strong core verticals throughout the region. We have customers across the entire Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Within the GCC, it’s phenomenally impressive how organisations such as Qatar Petroleum, Arab Bank, Gulf News, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Saudi Investment Bank and others have used assyst to achieve their business objectives. The IT departments of these organisations support a range of business-critical functions, and depend heavily on the reliability of their chosen service management solution.” 

Customer care has played a major role in achieving regional success.

Yates says: “Our focus on IT Service Management, allied to our global customer base and GCC operations, has given our local team unique insights into the region’s specific requirements. This ensures that our customers receive unparalleled support. It’s a privilege to work with dedicated IT professionals who understand the unique challenges and opportunities of this complex market.”

Research and development

Behind the scenes, the development team at Axios remains 100 percent focussed on research and development for service management technology. Axios has the highest R&D spend in the industry, and considers itself to have a duty of innovation to push the market forward.

Yates says: “Our research shows that operational efficiency is the industry’s key priority, so this is something we are very responsive to. Unlike other organisations, which are often forced to allocate limited resources across a wide variety of products or services, all of our research goes into service management.

“The expertise we have within the organisation is second to none. If you do one thing every day, you become an expert at it very quickly and very assuredly. After 28 years of dedicated focus on ITSM, it is no surprise we are the acknowledged visionaries.”

He adds: “We have complete control over the shape of deployment. The way that the solution integrates together is key. In recognition of this challenge, we’ve sponsored multiple research projects over the last year, revealing key challenges in the market. We continue to act upon these insights in terms of product development and consultancy.”

Industry growth fuelled by innovation

ITSM powered by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is currently one of the fastest-growing areas of the market, Yates says.

“That market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 16 percent by 2019,” he says. “At Axios, we ensure our customers can move to the cloud with zero compromise on functionality.”

Axios has also identified the integration of ITSM and IT Asset Management (ITAM) to be a key market driver.

Yates says: “ITSM and ITAM integration allows organisations to deliver a more consistent standard of services within an optimised framework, and at a reduced cost.

“Not only has this insight fed back into our research, it has also been a core driver in our own innovation strategy. Our solution, assyst ITAM Suite, aligns with the assyst service management offering. More customers are acknowledging the importance of ITAM in achieving network security, lower energy consumption and other organisational benefits. That awareness synchs with assyst ITAM Suite being one of our key focus areas this year.”

As IT departments reach higher levels of maturity, the next step is for them to share best practices across other service-led departments. This is known as service management beyond IT.

Yates says: “Put simply, service management beyond IT can be used in departments such as HR, Facilities, Finance and others. It can help departments standardise service delivery, resulting in a better customer experience, while also ‘doing more with less’. This model of implementation also allows the organisation to achieve a higher ROI on their service management investment.”

In light of these trends, the Axios team has been energised by progressive adoption of ITSM best practices and steady growth, particularly throughout the Middle East region.

“It’s quite fortunate that the Middle East region doesn’t have as many constraints as other parts of the world,” Yates says. “Our customers are the driving force behind our strategy for innovation, and that’s why we champion flexible, intuitive solutions for service management.”

The ITSM market is undergoing significant expansion, with annual global growth compounding in excess of eight percent.

 “With additional IT growth comes the greater need for optimisation of operations within an organisation,” Yates says. “We have been at the forefront of this evolution in the IT service market, and we are passionate about supporting IT’s transition from enabling operational support to delivering true service across all aspects of an organisation.”

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Axios Systems
Executives
Glyn Yates