6 challenges faced by help desk

With technologies changing rapidly and processes following suit, the ITSM industry is at the brink of a major evolution.

According to Research and Markets, the ITSM market is slated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.78 percent between 2016 and 2020, with the cloud-based ITSM market reaching a CAGR of 14 percent between 2016 and 2021.

However, before thinking about what the future of ITSM and help desk support software will look like, it's important to understand the challenges that IT help desks will have to overcome to be on top of this technology wave.

Some of the key challenges that IT help desks will face going forward are:

Churning out dated tools

Technologies are changing so fast that old tools are becoming outdated very quickly. The inability of existing tools to adapt to emerging technologies poses a major challenge to companies.

In addition to that, old technologies might cost more to maintain compared to adopting new ones because of operational inefficiencies. This results in the need for continuous investment and divestment due to rapid digitization.

Embracing mobility

Business users are becoming more comfortable using their personal devices in their work environment.

For a mobile workforce, this enables access to corporate data anytime, anywhere. IT, which typically has had control over end users' tools and devices, is slowly losing its grip. With this comes the risk of data misuse, which cannot be treated lightly.

At the same time, increased mobility is providing businesses with a productive and well-connected workforce. This indicates the need for comprehensive BYOD policies that encourage mobility but also ensure data security.

Managing shadow IT

Rapid consumerization of IT has enabled business users to access IT solutions and technologies that are outside their IT infrastructure. More often than not, end users bypass their internal IT guidelines to acquire applications that supplement their work.

But over time, the number of unapproved applications skyrockets to such an extent that they appear to be a "shadow" of IT. Shadow IT lays the groundwork for non-compliance, and in some cases, a security breach.

While unauthorized IT infrastructure comes with security risks, with the right guidelines, shadow IT can enable a more productive workforce. Organizations need to accept and embrace this trend to create more value from IT investments.

Committing to compliance

Businesses operate in a dynamic environment with a lot of interrelated IT components. Such a complex setup is governed by an equally complex set of standards and regulations put in place by industries and/or governments.

Therefore, organizations will sometimes inadvertently violate one of the many regulations placed upon them.

Such nonadherence to maintaining compliance can result in not only a loss of customer trust, but also penalities and fines.

It's important for companies to have processes set and roles assigned to constantly govern, plan, and monitor their compliance with the various aspects of IT infrastructure, from software licenses to BYOD, and all the way to cloud security.

Securing growing data and applications

As businesses adopt more democratized technologies, they are often challenged by data proliferation across a fragmented web of applications.

This is challenging because not all of the applications they use are compliant with the security standards established by internal IT.

While many applications come with documentation that aims to achieve transparency and ease of use, lax security policies provide a level playing field for both users and regulators, which, in turn, increases the chances of a data breach.

For many organizations, such data breaches are a costly affair both in terms of monetary and brand value. This creates a need for an agile cybersecurity standard that makes adopting compliant technologies easier, not only for individual organizations, but also for the ITSM industry as a whole.

Staying relevant

The concept of service is going through a major shift as customers are not only looking for quicker solutions, but a better support experience as well.

Staying updated with changing technologies poses another challenge.

Consumerization of IT has resulted in quick adoption of mobile devices and technologies in the work environment. In order to stay relevant, ITSM has to keep up with such changes so that it can continue to add value to businesses.