Senior IT executives take pride in their ability to stay ahead of the technology curve in order to keep their infrastructure running smoothly and protected from bad actors. But today’s IT landscape is experiencing a huge influx of revolutionary technologies and best practices that can keep IT managers scrambling. The IT service management (ITSM) market is projected to reach $8.78 billion by 2021, thanks in part to the rise of big data, subscription-based pricing models, the Internet of Things (IoT), hybrid cloud infrastructures, and much more.

Staying current with the trends isn’t easy for everyone. So we’ve put together a list of warning signs that your ITSM operation might be caught flat-footed as advancements pass your company by.

1. IT Doesn’t Have a Seat at the Executive Table

IT can often be an underappreciated job, but executive teams that do not heed the strategic advice of their IT managers do so at their own peril. Expectations run extremely high for IT groups to build an effective infrastructure, protect it from cyber criminals and add real value to the business. But it’s a very tough job that frankly deserves some love too. An ITSM Tools study reported that 82 percent of respondents believe that working in IT will get harder over the next three years, and only one in four respondents feel that their value and efforts are sufficiently recognized by the management. If you haven’t given your IT team a seat at the table when it comes to corporate strategy, you’re running the risk that they will look elsewhere for the trust and contribution they’re looking for.

2. You’re Not Empowering Workers and Customers With Self-service

Self-service applications have major implications for users within your infrastructure and for customers outside. According to vendor BMC, 83 percent of IT organizations now enable or support self-service tools for end users. Users that help themselves to solve common IT issues feel more empowered and gain more control over their IT experience. Customers, furthermore, can be a very unforgiving group. About seven in ten consumers will abandon a slow or buggy digital app in less than 15 minutes, and yet almost 39 percent of organizations take more than 30 minutes on average to resolve IT incidents impacting consumer-facing digital services. Self-service is a key driver of faster incident resolution.

3. Automation Isn’t Among Your Top Priorities

Automation is another key to IT efficiency, and while automation systems and tools such as scripts, process-workflow automation and third-party system orchestration have been around for years, intelligent automation driven by AI and machine learning is bringing that efficiency to new heights. An ITSM Tools User Survey revealed that automation was the #1 IT media topics in 2018 at just under 40 percent of mentions. Popular smart automation systems like robotic process automation (RPA) will generate $1.2 billion in sales by 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent. RPA bots can automate easy tasks and make broad data sources accessible to AI, which in turn learns to mimic and improve the processes based on data received from the RPA.

4. You’re Still Processing Data On Site

Data processing is at the heart of many IT functions, and IT teams are always on the lookout for faster ways to harness the power of data. The cloud is becoming the go-to solution for many to enhance data processing speeds. A Cisco report estimates that 94 percent of workloads and compute instances will be processed by cloud data centers by 2021, with only six percent being processed by traditional data centers. Whether it’s a fully public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid approach that leverages the benefits of each model, the cloud is clearly your best bet for keeping your data processing capabilities competitive.

5. IT Means IT Only

IT service management can and should have an impact enterprise-wide, not just in the IT department. Enterprise service management calls for the use of ITSM principles, processes, and technology in other lines of business to help enable things like automation, self-help, performance insights and better service delivery and support. A recent HDI survey found that 56 percent of organizations said ITSM tools were being used outside of IT, which shows how influential enterprise-wide service management strategies are becoming.

6. You Haven’t Planned for the ITIL 2018 Update

The next major ITIL update is planned for this year, and it is designed to provide a more practical viewpoint to the entire ITIL framework, offering optimal integration with several complimentary platforms on ITIL technology such as Agile, DevOps, and Lean. IT teams should keep their skills current with comprehensive ITIL training such as the ITIL Capability Expert Program and ITIL Lifecycle Expert Program. Either of these paths will help keep your teams advised on changing ITIL standards and best practices for IT service management.
 

The world of IT service management is moving as quickly as other technology-driven processes these days, so keep your eye on these potential roadblocks to your success.

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