Introducing the 2021 State of Service Management Survey

State of Service Management Survey

Let’s look at the state of service management. If you’ve been to the ITSM.tools website before you might have seen that in 2017 and 2019 we ran Future of ITSM surveys that looked at where the IT service management (ITSM) industry was going. The results of the last survey can be found here: The Future of ITSM – Survey Results 2019. For 2021, however, the new survey sponsor has wanted to “go bigger” based on the breadth and quality of the annual State of DevOps report. Hence, what was previously a 13-question survey has been expanded to 31 questions, albeit with the first five relating to demographics (it’s still anonymous though unless you wish to enter the prize draw). So, in terms of real questions, twice the length of the 2019 survey.

This year’s service management survey is the same but different

In addition to there being more questions, there’s also a slight change in focus – which you might have spotted in the title of this article – from ITSM to service management. Such that the questions can be answered by people in other business functions as well as IT. Although there’ll likely be a high degree of IT respondents versus people in other business functions.

What's the current state of the world of service management? Please take our new survey to help us find out. #ITSM Click To Tweet

Many of the questions from the 2019 survey have been carried forward to this state of service management survey. Plus, questions from other ITSM.tools surveys and polls that have been conducted in the last two years – allowing for the comparison of then and now, and the analysis of any deltas.

The collection of the anonymous demographic data allows us to look at the results from different perspectives. For example, based on organizational role, geography, company size, and industry vertical such that we can see if any demographic differences can be leveraged to improve the service management industry as a whole.

Also, as already alluded to, to recognize the fact that there are more questions to complete, the state of service management survey-sponsor Praecipio Consulting is offering a USD 500 Amazon gift card to one lucky survey-taker as part of an optional prize-draw opt-in.

A reminder of the ITSM survey results from 2019

To hopefully encourage you to participate in the 2021 State of Service Management Survey, here’s a selection of some of the 2019 survey findings:

Much has changed since 2019 (the last Future of #ITSM @ITSM_tools survey) – in terms of service management thinking and guidance, the available technology, and how the world “works.” Help us learn the real impact by taking our latest… Click To Tweet
  • 84% of respondents thought that working in IT would get harder over the next three years.
  • Only one-quarter of respondents felt that their efforts and value were sufficiently recognized by management versus 72% of respondents who felt “undervalued” to some extent.
  • Just over half of respondents felt that working in IT was adversely affecting their personal wellbeing – with 75% of these reporting that their efforts were not being recognized.
  • 9% of respondents were already using chatbots and other bots in IT management use cases, plus another 29% were already experimenting with them. But 45% had no plans to use bots in the next 12 months.
  • Only 6% of respondents stated that ITSM personnel had been fully involved in their company’s DevOps activities and ambitions.
  • 25% of respondents thought that their IT organization met employee expectations better than consumer-world companies.
  • Half of the respondents already thought that employee experience was important to their IT organization and another quarter would do so by 2021.
  • Two-thirds of respondents stated that their organization either had or was planning to develop an enterprise service management strategy.

Of course, much has changed since 2019 – in terms of the state of service management thinking and guidance, the available technology, and how the world “works.” So, it’s going to be great to see both where the service management industry is in 2021 and where it’s heading.

Please take the 2021 state of service management survey

The results of the 2019 survey were helpful to many ITSM.tools readers and probably even more ITSM practitioners who aren’t. They were commonly used in ITSM.tools articles and reports, plus by others as they tried to share their vision for change with others.

Can you help @ITSM_tools create & share much-needed industry statistics on the state of service management by answering their latest survey? #ITSM Click To Tweet

The more responses we get, the more confident we can be in the statistical viability of the results. Plus, for this survey, the level of response will influence how we can slice the data to give demographic-based views. For example – and these are plucked from my imagination, they’re not facts –  that intelligent automation adoption is relatively higher in the Middle East. Or that enterprise service management adoption has been accelerated in North America. Or that Europe could follow Asia’s lead on employee experience management.

We all have so much to benefit from when industry statistics are created and shared. For this survey, not only will there be the most content-packed report that ITSM.tools has ever created, but there’ll also be supplementary state of service management blogs and articles that dig even deeper into the statistics to offer further insights and guidance.

Are you looking for an article on organizational change management?

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Want more? Here are informative ITIL 4 service value system and ITIL 4 service value chain articles.

Stephen Mann

Principal Analyst and Content Director at the ITSM-focused industry analyst firm ITSM.tools. Also an independent IT and IT service management marketing content creator, and a frequent blogger, writer, and presenter on the challenges and opportunities for IT service management professionals.

Previously held positions in IT research and analysis (at IT industry analyst firms Ovum and Forrester and the UK Post Office), IT service management consultancy, enterprise IT service desk and IT service management, IT asset management, innovation and creativity facilitation, project management, finance consultancy, internal audit, and product marketing for a SaaS IT service management technology vendor.

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