Each year we look for the key ITSM trends. At the end of 2022, we polled ITSM.tools readers on the IT service management (ITSM) topic areas they would like content-related help with in 2023. While not strictly true, we still like to think that the poll results are “the hottest ITSM trends and topics for 2023” for the IT industry. Perhaps also affecting the broader service management use cases available through enterprise service management strategies.
This article shares the results of the 2023 content poll and offers insight into how the ITSM trends have changed over the last six years.
What are the topics & trends that #ITSM pros most need help with in 2023? This @ITSM_tools article takes a look. Click To TweetHow the “Hottest ITSM Trends and Topics” poll works
We made an anonymous ITSM trends poll available for anyone to vote on during December 2022. The survey respondents chose their five most important ITSM trends and topics for 2023 relative to creating new ITSM.tools content from a total of 25 options.
Importantly, sharing the ITSM trends poll results isn’t to tell you where to focus your attention in 2023. Instead, they are intended as a helpful insight into where the ITSM community is right now and, if required, to provide a valuable sense check for your 2023 ITSM improvement plans.
@ITSM_tools readers were asked to choose their 5 most important #ITSM topics for 2023 relative to creating new best practice content to help. Here's the results. Click To TweetThe 2023 ITSM content poll results
We appreciate that your time is valuable, so here’s a quick snapshot of the 2023 ITSM trends poll results:
The five hottest ITSM Trends for 2023 versus those for 2022
The top five ITSM trends and topic areas for 2023 are:
- Value demonstration
- People (including attitude, behavior, and culture (ABC))
- Enterprise service management
- Advanced ITSM (which we previously called ITSM “advanced”)
- AI/machine learning
Versus the top ITSM trends for 2022:
- ITSM “advanced”
- Enterprise service management
- Digital transformation/digital workflows
- People (including attitude, behavior, and culture (ABC))
- Employee experience management
The main 2023 poll changes in the top five hottest ITSM trends
A comparison of the 2023 and 2022 ITSM trends top-five lists shows that:
- Value has vaulted from joint #6 in 2022 to the top place for 2023
- People has jumped from #4 to #2
- Enterprise service management, having jumped from #5 to #2 in 2022, has held its top-three position at #3 in 2023
- Advanced ITSM dropped from #1 to #4 (after ITSM “advanced” appeared from nowhere to top the poll list in 2022). This drop will likely be partly caused by the separation of ITIL/ITSM “advanced” capabilities as an option for 2023. This topic is still positioned at #9 (22%)
- AI/machine learning held fast at #5 after its joint #6 place in 2022
- Employee experience dropped from #5 to #6, perhaps after everything that has been written on it during 2022
- Digital transformation dropped from joint #3 in 2022 to #8 in 2023.
The chart below shows how these and other ITSM trends have changed over the last six years.
The probable reasons for the most recent changes with ITSM trends will be considered elsewhere.
Existing hottest ITSM trends content
While the poll was to identify what readers need for 2023, it also allows us to resurface some existing 2022 ITSM trends content that might be helpful:
1 – Value demonstration
- ITSM in 2023 – the Real Value of Understanding Value Comes from Action
- For a Friend – I Caused Stress and Anxiety via Value Stream Mapping
Older value ITSM trends articles can be found here.
2 – People (including attitude, behavior, and culture (ABC))
- (Nearly) Everything You Need to Know About Being an ITSM Pro
- Onboarding Your People: First Impressions Count
- The Great Redundancy and Our New Ways of Working
- The State of Well-being in ITSM in 2022
- What’s (Still) Causing ITSM’s Well-being Issues?
Older people ITSM trends articles can be found here.
3 – Enterprise service management
- What’s Needed for Successful Enterprise Service Management
- Why AI and Automation Powered ESM and ITSM is Now a Must
Older enterprise service management articles can be found here (it’s one of the ITSM trends that has been around a long time).
4 – Advanced ITSM (which we previously called ITSM “advanced”)
There was a lot of head-scratching after this topic was voted top in the ITSM trends for 2022. It was intended as the opposite of ITSM “basics,” but how people voted in numbers in 2022 made us think it was potentially more. The 2023 poll verified this – with advanced ITSM still #4 after ITIL/ITSM “advanced” capabilities positioned ninth as a separate option for 2023. As to what this ITSM trend includes, the quick 2022 explanation was one or more of the following:
- Introducing the ITSM capabilities that traditionally have lower adoption levels but are now more relevant to organizations, such as formal service financial management and IT asset management capabilities
- Doing things differently – for example, adopting the new guidance for an ITIL practice already in place, such as “swarming” for incident management. Or refocusing ITSM from “what’s done” to “what’s achieved (by what’s done).” With a focus on business outcomes (and value) and the employee experience, with experience level agreements (XLAs) complementing traditional service level agreements (SLAs)
- Leveraging new technologies more (itself one of the ITSM trends)
- Sharing advanced ITSM with other business functions through (advanced) enterprise service management.
It was thought to collectively cover the 2022 ITSM trends column in the above chart, blending the various topics – where every organization might have a slightly different interpretation based on its needs. However, an obvious omission was the focus on people in making all of this change a successful reality.
Most of the relevant 2022 ITSM trends content written about advanced ITSM (that’s not covered in the other sections) relates to experience management:
- What 2022 Needs to Know About Employee Experience
- What Employee Experience Really Means for IT Support
- The What, Why, And How of Employee Experience for IT
- Help Desks and the Need to Modernize the Employee Experience
- Service Management World 2022: IT’s an Experience Thing
Older employee experience ITSM trends articles can be found here.
5 – AI/machine learning
- How AI Improves Knowledge Sharing in ITSM
- Why AI and Automation Powered ESM and ITSM is Now a Must
- How Reliable is Machine Learning in AIOps?
Older AI ITSM trends articles can be found here.
Digital transformation drops from joint 3rd in 2022 to 8th in 2023, in respect of which topics @ITSM_tools readers most need help with in the year ahead. Click To TweetITSM trends content for the year ahead
When publishing ITSM content, ITSM.tools will continue to take a readers-first approach that’s not limited to ITSM trends. So, please contact us about any new ITSM topics that will help you because while we’ll use the 2023 ITSM trends poll results to drive our content plan for the year ahead, we will offer other content when considered helpful. Please submit an article idea if you can help with new ITSM content on these or other ITSM trends topics.
Finally, thank you for reading, and we hope to make 2023 a year of even more helpful, shared ITSM content that helps with these ITSM trends.
If you liked this ITSM trends article, the following ITSM articles might be of interest.
Sophie Danby
Sophie is a freelance ITSM marketing consultant, helping ITSM solution vendors to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
She covers both traditional areas of marketing (such as advertising, trade shows, and events) and digital marketing (such as video, social media, and email marketing). She is also a trained editor.
