I spent just over two years working for an EMEA SaaS company providing a CX Platform that integrated heavily with the Microsoft Ecosystem. In addition to integrating with the UC environment of our customers, it also integrated with their CRM stack like Salesforce, Dynamics365, Bullhorn and a few others. Our workflow engine would connect to just about anything that could be integrated with a Webhook or API, whether that was the CRM, ChatGPT or Open AI etc.
We had a large Cloud footprint globally, and our Cloud Operations team were very busy providing software and feature updates. We had several outages due to SBC errors and configurations changing, digital certificates expiring, SharePoint secrets that expired. My worst week was when someone deleted an Azure Resource pool that seemed inactive — however, when the European-based engineer was trimming unused resources, we were asleep in APAC, which would explain the appearance that the resource was not being used.
Freshworks recently acquired Device42, and if our SaaS company had used Freshworks and Device42, my clients (and myself) would have had a much different experience. For example, Device42 would have created a Service Request in advance to have a digital certificate renewed before expiry. The engineer that deleted the Azure Resource Pool would not have done that, because the relationship between the APAC Azure instance and my client's infrastructure would have been clearly visible.
Snow Tempest, Research Manager at IDC, commented: "Unifying advanced asset management capabilities with robust ITOM (IT Operations Management) and ITSM offerings is in high demand. Teams are pushing to better understand their IT landscape for greater efficiency in service delivery and reliability in IT operations. This presents significant opportunities for customers of all sizes."
The integration of Device42 and Freshservice offers a transformative solution for IT leaders, including IT Services Managers, Enterprise Architects, CISOs, and CIOs. By combining Device42's advanced discovery capabilities with Freshservice's robust IT service management (ITSM) platform, organizations can achieve unparalleled visibility, efficiency, and control over their IT environments. This integration is particularly valuable for businesses in Australia, where hybrid IT environments and compliance requirements demand a modern, scalable approach to IT asset and service management.
In this article, I'm discussing the integration with Freshservice, but Device42 integrates just as well with other platforms like Jira, Ansible, ServiceNow, and Splunk, among many more.
How Device42 and Freshservice Work Together
Device42 is a powerful IT asset management (ITAM) and discovery tool that provides deep and broad visibility into IT environments. It captures everything from physical components in data centres to virtual machines, cloud infrastructure, and even serverless architectures. What sets Device42 apart is its ability to map dependencies and relationships between assets, providing a holistic view of the IT ecosystem.
When integrated with Freshservice, this data is pushed into the ITSM platform, enabling IT teams to leverage accurate, real-time information for incident management, change control, and reporting. The integration ensures that Freshservice's configuration management database (CMDB) is always up to date, empowering IT teams to make informed decisions and respond quickly to issues.
Key Features of the Integration
1. Advanced Discovery with Device42
Device42's discovery capabilities go beyond simply cataloguing assets. It captures detailed information about each asset, including:
- Hardware specifications (CPU, memory, disk, MAC address, subnets, etc.)
- Software details, including installed packages and license information
- Service communications and dependencies between assets
- Relationships between applications, workflows, and business services
This comprehensive discovery ensures that IT teams have a complete and accurate view of their environment, which is critical for effective IT management.
2. Dependency Mapping
One of the stand-out features of Device42 is its ability to map dependencies and relationships between assets and applications. For example, it can identify how a MySQL server supports multiple mission-critical services. This information is invaluable for understanding the impact of changes, troubleshooting issues, and planning upgrades.
3. Seamless Data Push to Freshservice
The integration automatically pushes discovered data from Device42 into Freshservice's CMDB. This ensures that Freshservice always has the latest information about assets, their relationships, and their dependencies. IT teams can then use this data to enhance their ITSM workflows, including incident management, change control, and reporting.
4. Enhanced ITSM Workflows
With accurate asset and dependency data available in Freshservice, IT teams can:
- Link configuration items (CIs) to tickets, service requests, and workflows
- Assess the impact of changes on upstream and downstream services
- Automate workflows for incident resolution, change management, and software license tracking
Benefits of the Integration for IT Leaders
1. Comprehensive IT Asset Visibility — Device42 provides a single source of truth for IT assets, capturing everything from physical servers to cloud-based services. This visibility is critical for IT leaders who need to manage complex, hybrid environments.
2. Faster Incident Resolution — Real-time visibility into asset dependencies means IT teams can immediately see which services are impacted by an outage and prioritize their response accordingly, reducing mean time to resolution (MTTR).
3. Improved Change Management — Upgrading a server might seem straightforward, but with Device42's data, IT teams can see exactly which mission-critical services it supports — helping them plan changes more effectively and avoid disruptions.
4. Enhanced Software Asset Management — Device42's discovery capabilities include capturing installed software and license information, enabling IT teams to track usage, manage licenses, and ensure compliance.
5. Automation and Efficiency — By automating asset discovery and updating the CMDB in real time, the integration eliminates manual processes and reduces errors.
6. Proactive IT Management — With accurate data and AI-driven insights from Freshservice, teams can identify assets nearing end-of-life and plan replacements in advance, reducing the risk of unexpected failures.
7. Scalability for Hybrid Environments — The integration supports on-premise, cloud, and containerized infrastructure, making it ideal for organizations undergoing digital transformation.
8. Improved Governance and Compliance — Accurate records of IT assets, changes, and audit-ready reporting enhance governance and reduce the risk of non-compliance.
Real-World Use Case: Streamlining IT Operations
Consider an Australian enterprise managing a hybrid IT environment across on-premise servers, cloud-based applications, and virtual machines. The IT team is struggling with limited visibility into assets and dependencies, frequent disruptions from unplanned changes, and inefficient incident resolution.
By implementing Device42 and Freshservice, the organization achieves:
- Improved visibility — Device42 discovers all assets and maps dependencies, providing a complete view of the IT environment.
- Faster incident resolution — When a critical service goes down, the team uses Freshservice to identify impacted assets and dependencies, resolving issues faster and minimizing downtime.
- Better change management — Before making changes to a server, the team assesses the impact on upstream and downstream services first.
- Cost optimization — The team tracks license usage and identifies unused software, avoiding unnecessary spending.
Why This Integration Matters for Australian Businesses
Australian businesses face unique challenges in IT management. Many organizations are adopting hybrid IT strategies, combining on-premises infrastructure with cloud-based services, while complying with local regulations such as the Australian Privacy Act, the Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, and APRA guidelines.
The integration of Device42 and Freshservice addresses these challenges by providing:
- Scalability — support for hybrid IT environments without losing visibility or control
- Compliance — accurate records of IT assets and changes, ready for audits
- Efficiency — automation of manual processes, reducing workload on IT teams
- Cyber resilience — giving SOC teams the ability to query IT assets, application dependencies, and open ports using natural language, improving both threat response and proactive defence
Conclusion
The integration of Device42 and Freshservice is a powerful solution for IT leaders in Australia. By combining advanced discovery and dependency mapping with robust ITSM capabilities, it enables organizations to achieve greater visibility, efficiency, and control over their IT environments. Whether you're an IT Services Manager, Enterprise Architect, CISO, or CIO, this integration can help you streamline operations, reduce risks, and deliver superior service to your organization.