The state of ITSM two years into the pandemic

The work location was a new section for the 2022 survey, reflecting that a significant impact of the global pandemic was a change to corporate opinions on where work needs to be done. While employees were often office-based pre-pandemic, this is no longer the case. The survey results showed that while working from home is now minimal (at 11%), hybrid work-where employees work both remotely and in the office-is used by close to half of organizations. These figures mean that three-fifths of the workforce is now working remotely at some point, necessitating the continued requirement for remote-employee IT support.

Where does your organization now require most employees to work?

Interestingly, the smallest (1-49 employees) and largest (5,000+ employees) organizations are most likely to allow employees to work at home.

The survey repeated the question for IT employees to ascertain whether they're subject to the same remote-work policies. As shown in the table below, marginally more work in the office full-time, but it does look like IT employees aren't treated significantly differently when it comes to working-location policies. Additionally, the correlation analysis related to the work location of IT employees didn't identify any interesting relationships across the survey's questions, i.e., there were no apparent IT service delivery and support pros or cons of IT-employee work location.

Where does your organization require most IT employees to work?

Again, the smallest (1-49 employees) and largest (5,000+ employees) organizations are most likely to allow IT employees to work at home, although at marginally lower levels than for all employees.

What this means

The gradual "ending" of the pandemic doesn't mean that IT organizations can simply go back to supporting office-based workers as they did in 2019. Instead, there's a need to better support hybrid workers-likely replacing what were "band-aid" remote-work solutions with more robust services that better meet both organizational resiliency needs and employee expectations of the services and support they require to be productive.

Two years ago, the mass migration of employees from office-based to remote-usually home-working was a significant challenge for IT organizations and their IT service desks in particular. In parallel with, and post, this migration, IT organizations had to deal with new ways of working and remote support, potentially with both the support requester and support provider working remotely (at home).

As shown in the table below, the new survey found that only a tiny percentage (6%) of respondents thought that ITSM was not effective when done remotely during the pandemic. This question could involve remote end users, remote IT personnel, or both.

Was ITSM effective when done remotely during the pandemic?

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, the key change is the drop in "yes" answers. There are likely many reasons for this. For example, sample makeup differences. Or ongoing issues with supporting remote workers without suitable tools. Plus, some of this change is due to adding "don't know" and "other" response options in the 2022 survey. However, the minor 1% change in "no" responses is the best indicator that the majority of respondents still believe that ITSM is effective when done remotely or partially remotely.

The 2022 report again found that not all remote IT support challenges are "born equal". In many ways, change was expected. For example, organizations had conquered some of the early-pandemic challenges while new ones appeared. As shown below, "managing IT assets" has jumped to the top of the table of remote IT support challenges. "Communication and collaboration" has jumped to second place. Finally, "user training and knowledge management,"" where limitations could adversely affect both end users and IT personnel in their support, remained in the top-three challenges, albeit losing the top spot-interestingly with the exact percentage figure as in the 2020 survey.

What were the greatest challenges in offering remote IT support during the pandemic?

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, in addition to assets and communication jumping to first and second place, the most significant swing is "securing company and client data in a distributed network" - with this dropping from 36% to 22%. This change was likely the result of the proactive efforts of IT organizations in ensuring that remote-work risks were minimized.

The security challenges include employee use of personal devices while working at home. The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) challenges, approaches, and need for policies are well over a decade old now, and the latter can relate to:

• Employees using personal devices for work (or not, especially in highly regulated work environments).
• Corporate support of personal devices.
• The employer financially contributing to personal devices.

The logistical issues related to setting up employees to work at home at the start of the pandemic initially put extra pressure on BYOD policies and support practices. However, in the 2020 survey, one of the most surprising survey findings was that more than half of organizations had no BYOD policy when the pandemic hit. The 2022 survey results showed that 40% of organizations still don't. Thankfully, for those organizations that did have BYOD policies, four-fifths found that it held up well during the pandemic.

Did your bring-your-own-device policy hold up during the pandemic?

The smallest (1-49 employees) and largest (5,000+ employees) organizations were more likely to find that their BYOD policies held up during the pandemic. Oddly, all organizational size segments had instances of BYOD policies implemented during the pandemic bar the largest organizations (even though circa 40% of the largest organizations had no BYOD policy). Unsurprisingly, organizations that felt their BYOD policy didn't help much during the pandemic are far more likely to state that ITSM isn't effective when done remotely.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, the most significant change is in the "we only implemented a BYOD policy well into the pandemic" response-which dropped from 20% to 6% between surveys. The reasons for this are unknown with the available survey data, especially given that the "yes" and "no" response levels remained static.

What this means

It's interesting that respondent views at the height of the global pandemic and then well over a year later are similar in terms of ITSM being effective remotely. But the change in key challenges highlights where investments are now likely needed-particularly the ability to manage corporate IT assets that are no longer safely held within an office building. This need should also be extended to information assets, with the adoption of corporate BYOD a must-have given the increased likelihood that remote-working employees will use personal devices to either hold or transmit business data or even to connect to the corporate network.

The commercial impact of the COVID-19 crisis continued to be felt by many organizations and their employees during 2021-people lost jobs, businesses went under, and some companies struggled to achieve their pre-2020 growth aspirations. The financial implications of the pandemic, along with the need to provide greater operational resiliency, also made organizations reconsider how they deliver technology enablement to employees.

In 2022, there's a broader mix of corporate approaches to equipping employees with suitable technology for remote work. Before the crisis, only 29% of organizations were providing mobile-capable assets, which might have been influenced by an organization's industry vertical or the level of "knowledge workers." The pandemic changed this-with an additional 47% of organizations now providing mobile-capable assets to employees. As shown below, only 16% of organizations haven't changed their IT procurement policies to give greater mobility and flexibility.

If your asset procurement policy was geared toward desktops and on-premises servers pre-pandemic, were policies reworked to accommodate mobile-capable assets like laptops, tablets, and smartphones?

Importantly, the organizations that used mobile-capable assets from the outset of the pandemic are far more likely to think that ITSM is effective when done remotely.

The 2022 survey also looked at the technology available for the support of remote workers. Most organizations (81%) already had the right remote-support equipment at the start of the pandemic or were quickly able to get it. Only 8% of organizations stated they still don't have what they need after two years of supporting WFH and then hybrid-working employees.

Were you equipped with appropriate tools for supporting WFH employees during the pandemic?

Unsurprisingly, the largest organizations (5,000+ employees) were more likely to already have the tools to support WFH employees at the start of the pandemic. Plus, the organizations that think ITSM is effective when done remotely are more likely to have had appropriate tools (for supporting WFH employees) during the pandemic.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, the main change is the drop in organizations reporting that they lack the technology to support remote workers-from 15% to 8%.

What this means

The acquisition of the technology required to support remote workers was a positive outcome of the pandemic for many organizations. However, the technology change alone is likely insufficient to meet the needs of hybrid workers in the future. Independent data from the last half of 2021 shows that there's no one-size-fits-all approach to meeting these needs. Instead, IT organizations must proactively engage with their end users to better understand what's needed, how well those needs are currently being met, and the required improvements.

Over the last two years, there's no doubt that the IT organization and IT-support staff, in particular, have been recognized as playing a pivotal role in maintaining business operations. In most organizations, IT staff were more appreciated than before the pandemic. But how long did this greater appreciation of IT last?

The 2022 survey found that 52% of respondents still thought IT has been better viewed and treated because of the pandemic, and another 14% that it has always been considered highly. Whereas only 21% thought IT is not regarded more favorably because of its pandemic efforts.

Do you think IT has been taken more seriously in terms of budgets, salaries, and recognition of effort after the pandemic?

Correlations found that the organizations that still require most employees to work at home are more likely to take IT more seriously. Plus, organizations that think ITSM is effective when done remotely are most likely to state that IT has always been viewed highly.

What this means

The business view of the IT organization, its services, and its overall worth is increasingly outcome- and value-based. While IT operations might be considered optimized from IT's perspective, the true test of IT's performance is in business outcome and end-user experience terms. This requires reassessing traditional IT metrics to move on from measuring operational efficiency to better understanding what's being achieved (rather than simply knowing what has been done).

In early 2020, when the pandemic first hit and many governments mandated homeworking, remote working needed to be effected immediately. The volume and speed of change were unprecedented, and with this came increased risk-not only in the mass migration of employees to homeworking but also their ongoing remote working.

In the 2022 survey, most respondents (83%) reported that their organizations could tackle the increased security and privacy concerns brought about by the move from office-based to remote working environments. Only 10% of organizations were viewed as under-equipped to tackle increased security and privacy concerns.

Was your organization equipped to tackle the increase in security and privacy concerns with employees working outside the office?

Respondents from the largest (5,000+ employees) and smallest (1-49 employees) organizations were most likely to think they were equipped to tackle the increase in security and privacy concerns. Plus, the organizations that think ITSM isn't effective when done remotely were most likely to state that they were under-equipped to deal with security and privacy concerns.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, there's little change 18 months on, as shown in the table below.

The 2022 survey again asked about the impact of the pandemic on shadow IT. This potential issue can be a range of things-for example, employees "unofficially" using personal devices, apps, and cloud services for work purposes, or departments "doing their own thing" when procuring business-critical applications or services. BYOD policies address many of the risks associated with the use of personal technology (although, as reported earlier, 40% of organizations don't have BYOD policies). However, the circumvention of IT procurement policies and the associated governance can cause considerable harm-from business interruptions to data loss. This circumvention potentially results in revenue loss, financial penalties, and brand damage.

In the 2022 survey, 17% of respondents reported "impactful service and application issues" caused by an increase in shadow IT during the pandemic. Another 35% stated a rise in shadow IT, but this was not impactful.

With work from home, was there an increase in shadow IT in your organization?

What this means

Independent research undertaken during the pandemic identified the increased risks associated with the move to homeworking, including higher levels of targeting. The move to hybrid working retains these risks, and the findings of this survey highlight that there's still a need for organizations to invest more in their security capabilities to better protect their business operations, assets, and brand reputation.

The commercial impact of the pandemic has encouraged some organizations to seek new ways to deliver "better, faster, cheaper" operations and outcomes. The available options include:

• Outsourcing specific ITSM capabilities to a third-party service provider.
• Employing more time- and cost-saving technology.
• Investing in newer technologies-for example, AI-based capabilities.

The survey found that just shy of a third of organizations (29%) used an IT managed service provider (MSP) during the pandemic. Of these organizations, 76% were happy with their MSP's performance. But roughly one-quarter (24%) were unhappy, with 10% planning to bring their outsourced services back in-house.

If you had already outsourced your ITSM operations to a managed service provider, how satisfied were you with their performance during the pandemic?

The smallest organizations (50-149 employees and 1-49 employees) had both the highest MSP use and MSP satisfaction levels. Interestingly, organizations that think ITSM isn't effective when done remotely are less likely to be using an MSP.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, the noticeable delta is the drop in satisfaction from 36% to 22%.

However, we need to be careful when looking at such data points in isolation. Because dissatisfaction has dropped too-from 14% to 7% (as did the level of MSP use in the 2022 sample). When this data point is considered, the view of MSPs seems healthier, not worse.

This situation is also evidenced in an additional question for the 2022 survey. The results, shown below, highlight that three times as many organizations (12%) introduced an MSP because of the pandemic than those wishing to bring IT support back in-house (4%).

Did the pandemic cause your organization to change its stance on outsourced IT?

The largest (1,000-4,999 employees and 5,000+ employees) and smallest (1-49 employees) organizations were most likely to have moved to outsourced IT during the pandemic. Plus, understandably, the organizations that think ITSM isn't effective when done remotely are most likely to be changing their MSP status in terms of either outsourcing IT support or no longer doing so.

A key self-service finding from the 2022 survey is that a third of organizations (34%) still don't offer self-help capabilities. Interestingly, of those that do, there's an exact split (at 29% each) between the organizations that found self-service more helpful than anticipated and the organizations that didn't see it as effective (including those for which self-service adoption didn't take off). Of course, the word "anticipated" can be interpreted differently by respondents-ranging from resounding success to struggling-which should be borne in mind with this question.

Were your users provided with self-service options, and were they effectively handling their own issues and requests?

The largest organizations (5,000+ employees) had the most significant level of self-service use and success. After these, the smallest organizations (1-49 employees) had the next highest level of self-service use. In both instances, the use of self-service was likely to aid the scaling of limited IT people resources relative to the volume of end users.

Oddly, the organizations that now require most employees to work at home have the most significant levels of self-service use but are more likely to think it is less effective than anticipated. Finally, the organizations that think ITSM isn't effective when done remotely are far more likely not to have self-service capabilities. Although, those that do (of these) stated they have the highest ratio of self-service success.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, the findings were very similar other than the level of self-service "failure,"" thankfully shrinking from 18% to 6%.

Another IT service and support enabler is chatbots. The 2022 survey found that 52% of organizations don't have chatbots in operation. Just over two-thirds of the organizations with chatbots think that they helped with remote support during the pandemic, compared with a third that didn't. This negative view could be due to the quality of the chatbot technology but is more likely related to the implementation of the chatbots and, importantly, the level of organizational change management used to gain end-user buy-in. As with traditional self-service capabilities, if an end user wastes time with an ineffective chatbot, then they'll likely not return to use it again.

Do you think chatbots helped with remote support during the pandemic?

The largest organizations (5,000+ employees) found chatbots to be most helpful during the pandemic, in part due to the greater uptake (they had both the highest level of uptake and the lowest level of negative feedback). The organizations that now require most employees to work in the office are most likely to think chatbots are helpful and to have the highest level of chatbot use. Oddly, this is the opposite of self-service. Finally, the respondents that believed ITSM isn't effective when done remotely work in organizations that are both more likely to be using chatbots and to think them unhelpful.

What this means

All IT organizations should be looking for ways to serve their businesses and end users better, whether this is insourcing or outsourcing service and support capabilities, adding or refining self-service capabilities, or introducing chatbots. The commonality between these areas is that what IT personnel might think is "for the best" is not necessarily accurate from the business and end-user perspective. For example, outsourcing the IT service desk might save IT money but cost the business more than IT saves, with the same true for self-service and chatbot capabilities. Instead, for these and any other improvement opportunities, the changed or delivered capabilities need to be aligned with the wants and needs of business stakeholders, with IT metrics sufficient to measure the delivered success in terms of "what matters most," not volumes and operational speed.

The start of the global pandemic severely tested organizations' business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. Not only the real-world ability to implement them in a timely and successful manner but also their adequacy-especially because most organizations would not have foreseen the inability to resume operations in a different building.

Worryingly, 11% of organizations had no business continuity plan (BCP) and disaster recovery plan (DRP) in place at the start of the pandemic. Of those with plans in place, the results were good-half of respondents stated that they had good plans, and another 32% were helped by their plans to some extent. Only 12% of organizations had plans that were of little help.

Did your BCP and DRP help you in the pandemic?

Unsurprisingly, the largest organizations (5,000+ employees) were more likely to have good plans to fall back on, and the smallest organizations (1-49 employees) were most likely not to have plans in place. The organizations that think ITSM is effective when done remotely were far more likely to have had good BCP or DRP plans to fall back on. Plus, they were more likely to have had plans in place.

When the 2022 "had plans" data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, there's a change in the positive responses. Whether this results from people's memories becoming rosier over time, with some of the pandemic difficulties forgotten, or from sample-based differences is unknown.

While not the most chosen option, in the question about what was lacking in plans, nearly a third of the organizations with a plan (31%) stated that it hadn't been tested sufficiently prior to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the top two areas were similar to the key pandemic challenges reported earlier-knowledge management and IT asset management deficiencies.

What areas were lacking in your BCP or DRP during the pandemic?

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, most response levels have stayed the same. The only significant difference is the 9% drop for "knowledge base articles and better documentation for end users," but it remained the area "most lacking."

In terms of outcomes, the penultimate question of the 2022 survey found that, despite all of the issues the pandemic highlighted, 67% of respondents felt that their organizations' ITSM teams did a great job. Another 25% reported that they "did an average job with much that could have been done better." Only 8% of respondents felt that their ITSM teams weren't up to meeting the remote IT service and support challenges that the pandemic presented (as shown in the table below).

Overall, were you satisfied with the way ITSM teams handled the challenges of remote work resulting from the pandemic?

Unsurprisingly, the respondents that think ITSM isn't effective when done remotely are far more likely to believe that their organizations' ITSM teams were unable to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Whereas those that think remote ITSM is effective are far more likely to feel that their organization's ITSM teams did a great job.

When the 2022 data is compared to the 2020 survey responses, there's very little change-with only a minor move from "we did a great job" to "we did an average job." This change might again be due to the fading memories of what ITSM teams needed to do to keep their businesses operational at the start of the pandemic.

What this means

The global pandemic was an eye-opener for many organizations in terms of the benefits of having robust business continuity plans in place. Thankfully, most IT organizations kept their businesses operational even where there were inadequacies in business continuity planning. It's important, though, that organizations capture and build on the BCP learnings from the pandemic-from having a plan, through considering all relevant risks and the responses, to adequately testing the implementation of plans periodically.

The 2022 survey asked an additional question (to the 2020 one) related to the prolonged pandemic's impact on ITSM practices. The results are shown below, with the greater use of automation unsurprisingly top at 59%.

The second and third most popular responses both relate to meeting end-user expectations, particularly to improving their productivity. Interestingly, only 32% of respondents felt that AI would be used more to assist with repetitive ITSM tasks. Although more and more AI will inevitably find its way into the automation capabilities organizations use as specific ITSM use cases mature.

What do you think will change in ITSM based on the new ways of working that have resulted from the pandemic?

What this means

The above data points are important, but organizations shouldn't view them in isolation. For example, the increased adoption of automation is more than simply greater technology exploitation. Instead, as with all technology investments, there's a need to view the benefits through a business lens. Importantly, this is no longer purely a financial need that was long described as "doing more with less." And the mantra of "better, faster, cheaper" applies-with the ordering of these three perspectives critical, such that better business outcomes (including end-user experiences) are the primary motivation.

Survey summary and next steps

IT organizations worldwide learned a lot from the global pandemic-from what's most important to their organizations and end users, through the importance of IT to business operations, to the changes needed to better meet the needs of a remote workforce.

However, while there's much to be learned, there's also much to feel proud about. In particular, ITSM teams played a critical role in ensuring that business operations continued during the pandemic. With this even when fit-for-purpose BCP plans weren't in place.

There's also room for improvement in many organizations, whether related to BYOD policies, the provision of mobile-capable assets, succeeding with self-service and chatbots, investing more in business continuity planning, or another area affecting IT service delivery and support.

This appendix shares the demographics of survey respondents.

Two-thirds of survey respondents (68%) were managers or IT professionals.

What is your job title?

The top respondent countries were the United States, India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

Which country is your organization primarily based in?

The survey respondents worked across the range of small, medium, and large organizations, as shown below.

How many employees does your organization have?

The survey respondents worked in organizations that span a wide range of industry verticals, as shown below.

What industry does your organization operate in?

About the author

This report was brought to you by ManageEngine in collaboration with Stephen Mann, principal analyst and content director at ITSM.tools. Over Stephen's illustrious 30-year career, he has held various roles spanning IT consultancy, innovation and creativity facilitation, research and analysis, and IT software product marketing, giving him valuable insight into the world of ITSM. Stephen now enjoys writing ITSM-related content and presenting ITSM webinars.