Is your IT service management strategy empowering your employees or getting in their way?

Most workdays are already busy without the disruption of IT malfunctions. IT Service Management (ITSM) systems are designed precisely to minimize these interruptions, turning potential inconveniences into non-events so the day can go ahead—business as usual.

But too many business leaders, in their eagerness to drive workplace efficiency, adopt the latest management systems without fully understanding their direct impact, leading to frustrating challenges that may take hours or even days to resolve.

Often misconstrued as basic IT support, ITSM encompasses all workplace technology, from devices to data servers and software applications. When dedicated to meeting employee expectations and organizational needs, ITSMs can drive repeatable workflows that improve service delivery and enhance overall productivity.

Rethinking ITSM implementation with employees at the heart

Most ITSMs are implemented according to the following sequence:

1. Build and implement IT technology
2. Bring in and enforce the new process, and then;
3. Have employees learn the technology and abide by the process

According to Kenneth Gonzalez, Head of Analyst Relations, Freshworks, this procedure places employee consideration at the end of the adoption process when significant time and monetary investment would have already been spent. Not only does this backward approach leads to frustration as employees spend more time figuring out unintuitive systems instead of enjoying the benefits ITSMs are meant to achieve, IT support teams will have to deal with never-ending service requests that could have been easily avoided with the right ITSM implementation.

Beyond bogging down day-to-day operations, ITSM technology woes are pushing employees to seek new employment. And those who linger on tend to actively avoid using company-provided portals that have proven to be more trouble than they’re worth.    

“Employee and operational impact should always be prioritized during ITSM implementation,” stresses Gonzalez.      “This ensures technological investments actually translate into streamlined workflows and real productivity gains.”

What effective IT service delivery looks like

What works for one company might not work for another. That’s why rigid ‘copy-and-paste’ approaches won’t work when implementing new IT service delivery systems that meet the employee’s needs.

Instead, the effectiveness of ITSMs can be evaluated based on KPIs that provide clear, measurable frameworks on a system’s performance as well as a basis for continuous improvement. The recent Freshworks Freshservice IT Service Management Benchmark Report (FBR) 2024, which surveyed more than 9,400 organizations across 100 countries, outlines the seven essential IT service delivery KPIs     .

1.      Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Measures satisfaction with IT services. The higher the CSAT score, the more likely your employees are to use the provided systems and recommend them to one another.

2. Average First Response Time: Tracks the time taken by an agent to respond to a request or incident report. While lower times indicate higher efficiency, note that this system can be gamed with automated responses. For the full picture, it’s better to measure the response time of human agents along with other KPIs in this list.

3. Average Resolution Time (ART): Measures the total time taken to resolve an end-user’s issue, which can be an indicator of how effective an ITSM is. If your ART is higher than before you implemented an ITSM, it’s time to relook your IT service delivery strategy.

4. Average First Assign Time: Also known as ‘in-queue’ time, this KPI measures the time taken to assign a new ticket to an agent. A high ‘in-queue’ time could indicate an understaffed IT service delivery team or ineffective assignment algorithms.

5. First Contact Resolution (FCR): Indicates the percentage of tickets resolved during the first interaction with the end-user. A very high FCR rate can indicate an IT team’s surgical-like precision in resolving issues and ultimately result in rapid backlog clearance.

6. Resolution SLA Percent: Indicates the percentage of tickets resolved within the agreed service level agreement (SLA) timeframe.

7. First Response SLA Percent: Measures the percentage of tickets that receive an initial response within the SLA timeframe, which indicates adherence to SLAs.

As a critical factor in daily operations, ITSM implementation must be taken on with the spirit of innovation and progressive digital transformation to fully leverage the benefits of modern technology.

For more data, actionable insights, and industry benchmarks, download the 2024 edition of the Freshservice IT Service Management Benchmark Report.