Let’s consider what the ITSM trends for 2024 are. Every year, we seek out the key IT service management (ITSM) trends for the upcoming year. At the end of 2023, we asked ITSM.tools readers to share the key ITSM topic areas they would like content-related help with in 2024. While content-focused, we still think the poll results reflect “the hottest ITSM trends for 2024.” This article shares the results of our 2024 content poll, insights into how ITSM trends have changed, trend-related opinions, and links to existing ITSM.tools content that might still be helpful.
This @ITSM_tools article shares the results of it 2024 content poll, insights into how #ITSM trends have changed, trend-related opinions, & links to existing content that might still be helpful. #servicedesk Click To TweetHow the poll works
ITSM.tools made an anonymous ITSM trends poll available in late 2023. The survey respondents were asked to choose their five most important ITSM trends for 2024 (in the context of needing helpful ITSM content) from 25 options. The Other option was a free-form catchall.
Now, we are sharing the ITSM trends for 2024 poll results not to tell you where to focus your IT organization’s attention in 2024 but to offer insight into where the ITSM community currently is. Of course, the poll data could be used as a sense check for your 2024 ITSM improvement plans.
The 2024 ITSM content poll results at a glance
Here’s a quick snapshot of the 2024 ITSM trends poll (just in case that’s all you came to read about):
The five hottest ITSM Trends for 2024 versus those for 2023
The top five ITSM trends for 2024 are:
- Artificial intelligence/machine learning (44%)
- Value demonstration (32%)
- Automation (28%)
- Enterprise service management (28%)
- Service integration and management (27%)
Versus the top ITSM trends for 2023:
- Value demonstration
- People
- Enterprise service management
- Advanced ITSM
- Artificial intelligence/machine learning
The main changes in ITSM trends for 2024
A comparison of the ITSM trend for 2024 and the 2023 ITSM trends top-five lists shows that:
- AI has rocketed to the top of the table for 2024 (now at 44%, up from 28% in 2023). A logical reason is that people are now seeking a new type of AI-related content – help in “using AI in anger” as they appreciate how difficult the production implementation of AI capabilities is.
- Value demonstration, while dipping from first to second, is still important in the ITSM trends for 2024. The percentage move is from 35% to 32%.
- Automation has reappeared in the top five (up from 24% in 2023), likely because of AI-driven automation capabilities and the need for organizations to deliver operational efficiencies.
- Enterprise service management has held at number three (only dropping from 29% to 28%).
- Service integration and management has entered the top five, rising from 21% to 27% (it was at 26% in 2022). The reasons for this resurgence are unknown without further analysis.
- People has dropped from 30% to 23% and out of the top five.
- “Advanced” ITSM has dropped from 28% to 24%, taking it out of the top five. However, ITIL/ITSM “advanced” capabilities has jumped from 22% to 24%. When “duplicates” are removed, 40% of survey respondents voted for the two potentially related options. This is a sign that people want to do more in ITSM terms.
It’s also worth mentioning that employee experience management (23%) and digital experience management (17%), while technically different “disciplines,” have the same aim and were collectively voted for by 33% of survey respondents. This would have placed “the management of employee experiences” in second place in the ITSM trends for 2024 (or third place if the “advanced ITSM” options are combined).
Collectively employee experience mgmt & DEX were voted for by 33% of survey respondents, which would have placed 'the management of employee experiences' in 2nd place in #ITSM trends for 2024. Find out more here. Click To TweetThe diagram below shows a wider timeframe for the year-on-year changes in ITSM trends.
Existing ITSM trends content
While the ITSM trends for 2024 poll was to identify the helpful content readers need for 2024, the results also allow ITSM.tools to resurface some existing ITSM-related content that might help:
1 – Artificial intelligence/machine learning
- The State of AI Adoption in IT – a North American Perspective
- BMC Connect 2023 – The ITSM (and Enterprise Service Management) Opportunity for AI
- AI in ITSM Survey Responses
- Generative AI for Knowledge Management in IT
- Streamlining Ticket Triage and Reducing Customer Churn with AI
2 – Value demonstration
- IT Service Desk Metrics and Benchmarks – Where’s the Value?
- Co-Creating Value in Organisations with ITIL 4™
- The Importance of IT Support to Perceptions of IT’s Value
- Value and ITSM – A View From The Boardroom
- ITSM in 2023 – the Value of Understanding Value Comes from Action
3 – Automation
There were no automation-focused articles published in 2023. However, automation was still being written about in 2022.
- Automation Helps Reduce Tickets and Improve Security
- Why AI and Automation Powered Enterprise Service Management and ITSM is Now a Must
- Solving Simple IT Helpdesk Issues with Automation
Hopefully, the ITSM trends for 2024 results will inspire more automation-focused content.
3 – Enterprise service management
Besides the BMC event article that covers enterprise service management, nothing new was written on enterprise service management in 2023 except an Enterprise Service Management Explained article. However, some older enterprise service management articles were refreshed to reflect their ongoing popularity.
- Enterprise Service Management Explained
- 5 Tips for ESM Planning
- 14 Benefits of Enterprise Service Management (ESM)
- ESM – It’s Not Just About ITSM Processes
- Is Your Company Ready for Enterprise Service Management?
5 – Service integration and management
As with automation, service integration and management is new to the ITSM trends for 2024 trend list. But, unlike automation, it has never been in the top six ITSM trends, let alone the top five. Consequently, we have nothing written on service integration and management in 2023. There is, however, a wealth of older service integration and management (SIAM) content, most of which will still be relevant. The articles show, like with enterprise service management, how long the ITSM trends have been around.
- Service Integration and Management and SLAs
- How to Ensure Your Service Integration and Management Contract Requirements Fit the Bill
- Building an Effective Service Request Process in a Service Integration and Management Model
- 8 Key Factors to Recognize When Implementing a SIAM Operating Model
- 10 Tips for Using Service Integration and Management to Deliver Better IT Services and Support
- 10 Key Steps for Service Integration and Management Success
- The Key Whys and Whats of Service Integration and Management
- The Benefits of Better Invoice Management with Service Integration and Management
- How To Build an Effective Service Integration and Management Process Model
- Navigating the Road to Service Integration and Management
- Service Integration and Management From the Frontline
- The Year that Service Integration and Management Gets Serious
ITSM content for the year ahead
ITSM.tools will again take a readers-first approach to content creation that’s not solely limited to meeting the content demands of ITSM trends. So, please contact us about other ITSM topics where help is needed for 2024. Plus, please submit an article idea if you think you can help ITSM.tools readers through helpful new ITSM content.
Finally, thank you for reading our articles in 2023. We hope to make our 2024 ITSM content – whether based on the ITSM trends for 2024 or not – even more helpful.
If this ITSM trends for 2024 article helped, the following ITSM articles might also 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.
