As the world moves towards the “new normal” on account of the pandemic, numerous adjustments and recalibrations have been made in all aspects of our lives, including the organizations we are part of.

As businesses base their operations on a dispersed workforce beyond the corporate perimeter, IT teams have been the ones largely enabling this successful migration to home workspaces and further sustaining the remote network to foster productivity.

Naturally, those of us on the ServiceDesk Plus team were curious to understand the changes that have occurred in the IT service management arena. We wanted to study the on-the-ground reality of ITSM from the professionals directly involved in the process.

So we conducted a survey among more than 500 global IT professionals, formulating questions that highlighted the ramifications and challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has caused for IT service teams.

The survey focused on five facets of ITSM: the impact of employees working remote, financial and asset management implications, security and governance issues, third-party services and technology assistance, and business continuity success levels.

Here are a few of the key findings that the survey revealed.

  • Impact of employees working remote: Seventy-two percent of IT professionals affirmed ITSM’s continued effectiveness even in remote work scenarios. However, only one in two organizations have a bring your own device policy to support continued productivity in new remote work environments.
  • Financial and asset management implications: Four out of five respondents believe that IT will be better appreciated in terms of budgets, salaries, and recognition of efforts post crisis. Only 15 percent of organizations were under-equipped with the necessary applications and tools to enable remote working well into the crisis.
  • Security and governance issues: Only 40 percent of organizations confidently agreed that they are equipped to tackle the increase in security and privacy concerns related to employees working outside the office.
  • Third-party services and technology assistance: Among the organizations that outsource ITSM, over 70 percent were satisfied with their MSP’s performance. Interestingly, IT self-service is non-existent in 28 percent of respondents’ organizations.
  • Business continuity success levels: Most organizations have a business continuity plan (BCP), leaving only 20 percent without one. A reliable BCP has been an important factor for successful remote IT support.

Likewise, the survey revealed multiple factors for IT organizations to keep in mind when striving for successful remote IT service delivery. If you would like to benchmark your team’s performance against the industry average, or just learn more about the service gaps and challenges faced by your peers worldwide, you can download the complete survey report here.

Zephaniah B
Marketing Analyst