Battle of the Best ITSMs, Training AI Against Bias & More in this Week’s Top Reads

Emerging hybrid work environments have necessitated the need for robust IT service management solutions to minimize downtime and make IT personnel more productive. We compared some top ITSM solutions to gauge how they support the modern workplace. Ricardo Amper Founder & CEO, Incode Technologies, also explores how AI-based systems can be continually improved while freeing them of inherent biases. 

Paolo Avagliano, the VP of Delivery And Customer Success at Bright Machines, reveals five areas of change manufacturers should consider when adopting modern tech solutions, and we gauge from experts whether paying a ransom is a bright idea.

Here’s a look at this week’s top reads from Spiceworks News & Insights.

Battle of the ITSM Giants: ZenDesk vs. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk vs. N-Able

The increasing number of tools and solutions in an organization’s technology stack necessitates the use of modern IT service management solutions that enable users to manage service catalogs, troubleshoot problems or incidents, configure inventory management, log performance metrics in reports and dashboards, set up knowledge management repositories, manage ticket workflows, and implement processes for change management.

The demand for IT service management solutions is such that organizations spent $31.2 billion in 2021 on these solutions and the spending will rise 9.7% annually until 2026. However, what organizations need to keep in mind is that every solution in the market won’t meet all of their needs. They need to consider the advantages and drawbacks of each solution, the use cases they do or do not support, their pricing models, and feedback from existing users. Other factors to remember are how flexible, and customizable these solutions are to business needs, their user-friendliness, and long-term upgrade costs.

Keeping these factors in mind, we looked at three of the best ITSM solutions in the market today: ZenDesk, Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk, and N-Able. We look at their key features, USPs, and the latest updates which help them meet the emerging requirements of today’s IT support teams. 

Read our in-depth coverage of these three leading ITSM solutions.

Eliminating bias in AI: Is it possible?

With facial recognition powered by artificial intelligence (AI) becoming more commonplace, from confirming a bank customer’s identity when accessing a bank account to providing employee access to a secure location, it has come under fire for what critics call “natural” biases. However, the silver lining here is that AI decision-making can be discovered, evaluated, and investigated, and this ability allows us to continually improve our AI-based systems as we work toward freeing them of any inherent biases.

In an in-depth look at the biases affecting the practical applications of AI, Ricardo Amper, the founder & CEO of Incode Technologies, explains the reasons behind why some AI systems demonstrate a level of bias and the steps organizations should take to eliminate such biases while continually improving the capabilities of AI systems. 

Amper believes that the use of datasets that exhibit a diversity of demographics and putting in place a diverse group of engineers and developers can help shape AI systems that do not favor one group over another. Diverse perspectives yield more innovative, human-centered, and ethical products and systems, he says.

Click here to read how organizations can free AI of any inherent biases.

Ransom payments: To pay or not to pay?

Despite federal and homeland security agencies dissuading companies from attempting to pay a ransom, the Veeam 2022 Ransomware Trends Report found that 76% of organizations paid off ransomware criminals. However, despite shelling out a ransom, at least a third of these organizations failed to recover their data. This begs a question: Is paying a ransom really a good idea?

Spiceworks News & Insights asked IT decision-makers and cybersecurity experts about what they felt about the willingness of organizations to bring out their wallets. Most experts felt that if an organization has a “modern data protection strategy” in place, including robust backups, then the need to pay a ransom would never arise. However, if criminals manage to breach a network, encrypt files, and create a situation where an organization is unable to function as normal, then decision-makers may have no choice but to evaluate their options.

Considering that only 52% of organizations who pay a ransom are able to recover all of their data, paying millions to hackers may not be an obvious choice. That being the case, we also asked experts about the ways organizations can avoid getting trapped by skilled ransomware gangs and prevent the latter from getting into their networks in the first place.

Click here to read expert insights on ways to respond to a ransomware attack.

Leveraging modern technology in manufacturing: 5 key areas to consider

Modern technology is enabling visible changes in how the manufacturing industry operates. McKinsey states that with modern tech solutions, manufacturers across sectors are seeing ‘30 to 50% reductions in machine downtime, 10 to 30% increases in throughput, 15 to 30% improvements in labor productivity, and 85% more accurate forecasting.’ These solutions are helping manufacturers navigate consumers’ buying patterns, build supply chain resiliency, and outpace their competition.

Considering that there are many factors that could stall production lines, such as geopolitical factors, inflation, supply chain disruptions, or labor shortages, manufacturers need to keep their ears to the ground to sustain operations. In an in-depth piece, Paolo Avagliano, the VP of Delivery and Customer Success at Bright Machines, described five key areas that should be top of mind for manufacturers as they consider adopting modern, intelligent solutions.

Avagliano says that bringing together employees’ skillsets and intelligent solutions will help drive the democratization of automation throughout the industry, creating an environment for skilled talent to drive innovation forward. When manufacturers take that next step forward — when they shift from deploying new technologies to scaling intelligent solutions across all factories, we will see the industry evolve for the betterment of the business and the market.

Read more about the five key areas manufacturers should consider when investing in modern tech solutions.

As always, we invite you to explore our expansive coverage of the latest in the tech industry on Spiceworks News & Insights.   

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