Five top trends in ITSM and ESM in 2024

Let's kick off with the hottest topic of the moment, not just in ITSM but in all areas of business and IT: AI. Having a machine way to provide AI-powered service can improve service dramatically, and as a result, 2023 ushered in a stream of AI service management features and solutions. For example, IT teams can measure interactions more efficiently and provide a better service through AI-enabled bots and mutual agents. Users can find more accurate answers to their questions by combining knowledge from various sources. In the same way, actions and tasks can automatically be executed, triggered by the conversation with an AI-powered agent, providing the best possible experience to end users.

Additionally, AI can provide features to accelerate and increase the quality of service. For example, automatic summaries of significant cases save time looking through the history of large cases that have been running for a long time. From a programming perspective, automated investigation can help you decide whether a threat requires action and move faster towards problem resolution.

Another emerging trend that gained traction in 2023, and we predict it to continue in 2024, is the application of service management frameworks to areas outside of IT across the wider business. It involves taking a successful IT framework and applying it to other business areas such as legal or HR. A typical example is applying service management solutions to HR departments to provide internal service within an organisation. 'It's a useful approach,' says Effie, 'as you have a set of rules and best practices that you can use and apply to any department.'

Furthermore, service management products, best practices and solutions lend a helping hand to external customer support when dealing with end-users of a service or product. By leveraging service management products, implementing best practices, and utilising solutions designed for customer support, external support teams can improve end-user experiences, resolve issues effectively, and foster customer satisfaction. These tools empower teams with streamlined processes, efficient collaboration, and the ability to deliver high-quality support in a timely manner.

In the context of Developer Experience (DevEx), service management provides developers with a way to interact with their internal clients (usually colleagues) when collecting service information and data. Essentially, it empowers developers by providing incident and problem management, change control, service catalogue and request management, knowledge sharing, collaboration platforms, SLAs, and continuous improvement opportunities. By embracing a service-centric approach, organisations can optimise DevEx, streamline development operations, and foster a culture of productivity, innovation, and satisfaction among their wider developer communities. This is proving to be effective in improving developer experience.

Traditionally, within service management, customers receive satisfaction questionnaires and surveys at the end of the service. But, this method is fast becoming outdated for collecting feedback and experience. A more effective way is to gather insights throughout the provision. In 2024, we expect to see an increase in these methods and new tools and methods to measure clients' happiness, internal or external, throughout service delivery.

The use of CMBD, a database used by an organisation to clarify the relationships between tangible (for example, hardware) and intangible assets( like software networks), is an ITIL term that has been around for a while. However, during 2023, we saw an increase in the demand for configuration management solutions, suggesting that this would carry into 2024. Demand for CMBD solutions climbs as the market matures and more organisations reach a level of maturity in their service management processes. For many, the next logical step is to implement a centralised repository for IT and create one centralised location for configuration information. With this in place, leaders can equip themselves with the necessary information to make better business decisions and run more efficient ITSM processes.

We have also seen non-IT functions utilising the concept and CMDB solutions in an effort to maintain their service business mapping to various assets. 

The rise of cloud adoption and rapid technological changes have increased the security risks IT teams face. However, risk management solutions and processes address many of these security concerns. We predict that the demand for risk management solutions and processes will increase in 2024 as more organisations recognise the importance of investing in their security.

At Adaptavist, we are uniquely positioned to support you at every step of your ITSM/ESM transformation journey through our ITSM expertise and with our growing partner ecosystem. Our exceptional offering has been bolstered by significant growth and investment over the last year, enabling us to cater to all our customers' vast and unique requirements.

Find out more about our full-scope solution offerings that will transform your organisation.