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AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG, headquarted in Münster, Germany and exporting to more than 100 countries, operates across agricultural products, animal nutrition, crop production and agricultural technology, along with building materials stores and project construction.
This €8.8bn company, with more than 6,800 employees, relies on effective and efficient IT service management to support the IT systems and employees in their critical tasks such as managing stocks, monitoring production processes and analysing crop yields.
The company selected tool vendor, OMNINET’s solution – OMNITRACKER – as its service management solution, which holds the PeopleCert ITIL Accredited Tool Vendor Gold status.
Here, AGRAVIS’ Head of Service Desk, Kirsten Smit, and OMNINET Managing Director, Michael Dobner, explore the importance of combining effective service management with OMNITRACKER and ITIL practices to business success.
Having reliable IT systems that ensure smooth operations is of utmost importance to a company, like AGRAVIS, in the agricultural sector.
Therefore, combining the right service management tool with the latest automation capability and recognized best practices such as ITIL is essential:
“Well-organized IT service management helps us to optimize the use of resources and control costs by avoiding bottlenecks and inefficiencies; it minimizes downtime and resolves problems quickly, which has a direct impact on our productivity and commercial success,” Kirsten Smit said.
“This is particularly important in agriculture, where any delay or disruption can result in significant financial losses.”
To ensure that IT services meet the expectations of the company’s various departments, effective IT service management improves the availability and reliability of systems and supports proactive risk management, so potential problems are recognized early and appropriate measures taken. Ultimately, stable and efficient IT operations are essential for the success and maintenance of the business.
Employing the right software tool
A vital element in delivering effective service management is selecting the right software tool and OMNINET’s ticked all the right boxes.
As service desk software with ITIL-Accredited Tool Vendor status, OMNITRACKER allows full use and customization of all ITIL practices and can be tailored to the specific requirements of AGRAVIS’ IT processes. This includes knowledge management, configuration management database, change management and problem management. It also provides a flexible and customizable, universal business process platform that can be expanded as required, allowing the company to react with agility to future developments.
And with AI integrated into the software solution alongside ITIL workflows, this has significantly increased the efficiency of the service organization.
Kirsten Smit explained: “Due to our company’s extensive portfolio, our IT landscape is extremely complex, with numerous division-specific applications. “The AI provides support here, particularly in the automated classification of user requests, significantly reducing throughput times. Equally, it relieves the service desk of time-consuming, unproductive tasks, which improves the efficiency of the entire organization. This optimization also contributes to increasing the satisfaction of our employees and customers.”
The ITIL factor – meeting the standards
Mutual understanding of the ITIL framework between customer and vendor is a must-have to optimize the software tool and meet the necessary service management standards.
“If the provider knows ITIL well, they can ensure their tool meets our needs and offers the right features to support our IT processes. This facilitates precise communication and ensures that the tool fulfils the ITIL standards, which in turn increases service quality and efficiency in our company,” Kirsten Smit said.
“ITIL knowledge helps us ensure that the tool is implemented correctly and integrates seamlessly with our existing IT processes, which reduces risks and maintains consistent quality of IT services. The provider’s knowledge of ITIL is key to a smooth collaboration and the ability to take full advantage of the ITSM tool.”
Knowing that OMNINET’s solution received the PeopleCert ITI-Accredited Tool Vendor status has also given AGRAVIS confidence that the tool meets the highest quality standards, is fully aligned with ITIL practices, and supports proven IT service management processes.
“This certification also strengthens confidence in the long-term partnership and ensures that the solutions always comply with the latest best practices in the IT sector,” Kirsten Smit added.
Michael Dobner, Managing Director OMNINET and CSO OMNINET Group, added: “OMNINET’s nearly 30 years of experience in IT service management make the ITIL Accredited Tool Vendor (ATV) status a natural step in our journey. This accreditation not only confirms our long-standing commitment to industry best practices but also ensures that our clients benefit from a proven and trusted solution that optimizes service management processes, improves response times and reduces operational risks.”
Impacting customer satisfaction
Overall, AGRAVIS’ collaboration with OMNINET has had “an extremely positive impact” on its business and customers, supporting daily IT service tasks, increasing efficiency and adding tangible value.
“Thanks to the flexibility of the application, we can make individual adjustments to map specific processes and our customers’ special requirements. This adaptability allows us to respond optimally to our customers’ needs and increase their satisfaction.
“Also, OMNINET is constantly developing the application further and the latest trends are incorporated, making OMNINET’s solution a clear advantage for both us and our customers,” Kirsten Smit said.
According to Michael Dobner, the ITIL accreditation process has “fostered deep expertise in service management and continuous innovation, ensuring that our teams provide not just technical support, but strategic insights to help our clients get the most value from OMNITRACKER”.
“This continuous upskilling means clients are working with a team that’s always ahead of the curve, ready to tackle emerging challenges in IT service management and equip our tool with features which translate directly into business benefits,” he said.