The Cloud and BYOD Will Further Stretch IT Support Resources
By Jim Larkin, Director, Pursuit Strategy and Innovation at Randstad Technologies
For many organizations, the growing use of mobile devices, especially employee-owned devices, and the migration of enterprise software applications to the cloud are trends that will invariably increase IT support requirements. Despite the widespread desire to control costs, IT support requirements continue to grow. Last year’s Help Desk Institute (HDI) Desktop Support Practices & Salary Report found that 69 percent of desktop support teams had experienced an increase in their ticket volumes, and the number one cause of that increase was support of users’ personal equipment and devices. According to a study conducted by Gartner in 2015, 40 percent of contact with the IT service desk by 2018 will pertain to smartphones and tablets — more than double the current rate.
The growing reliance on the cloud will also affect service desk operations. Most studies of enterprise cloud adoption rates forecast high double-digit growth rates in 2016, with some predicting that 75 percent of enterprises will use some form of hybrid cloud this year. Moving applications to the cloud can stress some employees if they are required to learn how to use new or modified applications or processes. This stress can increase support requirements.
Firms find themselves struggling with the need to embrace new technologies and processes and offer responsive support to their users. Any trade-offs that short change support can have wide-ranging implications. When internal users suffer frustrating support experiences, the cost is mostly in lost productivity and lower morale. The importance of maintaining high productivity is critical in the face of competitive pressures.
IT support budgets are already being stretched thin with support staff swimming hard just to keep their heads above water. With stagnant budgets for hiring, and limited growth in spending for operations, the time devoted to pressing strategic issues remains constrained.
On a positive note, for service desk managers, three related techniques have proven their value in helping them accommodate growing user demands without increasing costs:
- Driving adoption of user self-service;
2. “Shifting left” to attain cost efficiencies;
3. Implementing Continual Service Improvement programs that formalize long-term commitments to enhance operations.
In the follow-up entry to this blog, I’ll elaborate on the above techniques and describe how one organization successfully mitigated their growing support challenges.
Jim Larkin joined Randstad Technologies in June 2015 and is currently Director of Pursuit Strategy and Innovation for Technology Support Services. He has more than 20 years of experience, most recently as Global Director of Service Management at Unisys Corporation. Prior to joining Randstad Technologies, Jim supported over 100 global accounts with over 500 delivery staff around the world, holding responsibility for P&L of more than $250 million in North America.
About Randstad Technologies: Randstad Technologies has been connecting top companies around the globe with the expert technology talent and solutions that drive their success since 1984. Their deep industry expertise and full-service capabilities — Recruitment, Consulting, Projects and Outsourcing — enable organizations to be agile, productive and ahead in the field with Randstad’s wide network of specialists and flexible solutions. For more information, visit www.randstadtechnologies.com.
