Due to the pandemic, the last two years have drastically changed IT operations, especially corporate IT service management, delivery, and support capabilities.

In order to gauge exactly how these operations have changed, in late 2021, a global IT service management survey, The State of ITSM: Two Years into the Pandemic, was taken by 437 IT professionals, the majority of whom were from the U.S., India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the U.K. The results shed some light on how IT operations have been impacted by the pandemic, as well as which factors influenced success, and how IT personnel are perceived by other departments. 

The Impact of Remote Work

As employees migrated to hybrid work environments, it was important to assess the impact of remote work on IT operations.

Only 11% of survey respondents were fully remote; however, nearly half (48%) were engaged in hybrid work (working remotely and in the office). Thus, according to the survey, roughly three-fifths (59%) of the workforce were engaged in hybrid work, making remote-employee IT support rather important.

For the most part, respondents found their IT service management to be effective while they worked remotely during the pandemic; in fact, only 6% of respondents complained that their ITSM was not effective. 

The Inherent Challenges of Offering Remote IT Support

When asked about the top challenges that come with offering remote IT support during the pandemic, IT professionals listed “managing IT assets” as the top challenge, followed by “communication and collaboration” and “user training and knowledge management.”

After comparing their responses to those from a similar survey from 2020, one change immediately became apparent. In 2020, 36% of IT personnel reported that “securing company and client data in a distributed network” was their top challenge; however, this year, the percentage fell to 22%, suggesting that IT organizations have made adjustments to ensure that their remote-work data security risks are minimized. For many organizations, better asset management was one such adjustment.

Asset Management Has Become a Focus

Before the pandemic, only 29% of organizations provided their employees with mobile-capable assets (e.g., laptops, tablets, mobile devices); however, now an additional 47% of organizations provide such assets to employees. In fact, only 16% of organizations have not changed their IT procurement policies to provide greater mobility and flexibility.

After two years of supporting hybrid-working employees, only 8% of organizations say that they don’t have the proper tools. This is quite a feat; in fact, the percentage is down from 15% in 2020. 

And perhaps unsurprisingly, the largest organizations – those with over 5,000 employees – were most likely to have the requisite tools to support remote workers at the start of the pandemic.

Bring-Your-Own-Device Policies Are Largely Still Absent

One of the most shocking results from the 2020 survey was that more than half of the organizations did not have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy when the pandemic started. 

Strangely, after two years of the pandemic, 39% of organizations still do not have BYOD policies in place. However, if it’s any consolation, of those companies that do have BYOD policies in place, four-fifths of them found that their networks held up well during the pandemic. 

Chatbots Were Helpful for Larger IT Teams

In order to provide adequate IT service and support, many (39%) companies opt to use AI-powered chatbots. That said, only two-thirds of the respondents with chatbots believed that the tools helped with remote support during the pandemic. Again, there were differing opinions that correlate with company size. The largest organizations – those with 5,000 employees or more – found chatbots to be more helpful over the last two years.

IT Teams See Their Perceived Value Rise Across the Board

In an attempt to ascertain how other departments view IT personnel in the wake of the pandemic, we asked the following question: “Do you think IT has been taken more seriously in terms of budgets, salaries, and recognition of effort?”

Interestingly, 52% of respondents said that their IT departments are now viewed better because of the pandemic, although another 14% asserted that IT personnel have always been considered highly. 

Only 21% of respondents said that IT teams were not regarded more favorably as a result of their pandemic efforts.

Key Findings

For the most part, IT personnel have successfully adapted to the new landscape.

• Employees are better equipped: Compared to the beginning of the pandemic, an additional 47% of organizations are now providing mobile assets to employees. 
• IT teams see their value rise: Fifty-two percent of respondents think IT personnel are now viewed and treated better because of the pandemic.
• BYOD policies are still mostly absent: Two years after workplaces were totally disrupted, 40% of organizations still do not have a BYOD policy in place. 
• User experience arguably falls short: Thirty-four percent of organizations still do not offer users self-help capabilities, and 52% do not have chatbots. As a caveat, larger organizations found chatbots to be more helpful than smaller companies.

Although there are certainly places where improvements can be made, IT teams have played a critical role in ensuring that business operations continue smoothly in the wake of the pandemic.