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Blog posted by: Adam McCullough, Principal ITSM Architect, 07 December 2021.

Company employees – over the past 12 to 18 months – have become their own IT services “troubleshooters”.

Where, before, people could walk down the office corridor and talk directly to the IT guy, the shift to home and hybrid working has also changed the skills the remote workforce needs to function.

What has begun to happen during the Covid-19 pandemic will happen more, though it doesn’t mean it makes it a normal environment for everyone.

In certain sectors, such as healthcare, the change is a significant departure from how people worked before. While working from home had never been an option, some healthcare workers in the US have started doing this, using a “thin client” technology to connect to a server and work with applications on their computers.

This suggests that where most industries were, at first, unprepared for these changes there is now a concerted effort to make working from anywhere a realistic option.

What does IT support look like?

With an expectation from companies that staff are now more able to take care of IT problems independently, what does this mean for the landscape of IT support services?

First, it’s not necessary to have a centralized service desk – the long-standing model. As long as a service call is routed to someone, somewhere, what does it matter? Well, on a traditional service desk, further support was always sitting immediately next door!

In today’s IT support world, it means having the ability to bring in support virtually and in real time. This has led to an increase in chat bots, using AI to help individuals solve their technology issues.

Learning and training – the online experience

Companies have had to show greater empathy in recognizing that not everyone is up to par skills-wise in a remote working world.

And with more courses and classes now offered remotely, people can take advantage of training courses like ITIL® and Scrum without ever getting on a plane and attending a training centre.

Even people who may have been sceptical about online learning – and miss the water cooler conversations with people – have seen that these new training methods can be as interactive as the classroom, using virtual whiteboards and other tools. The use of online break-out sessions in smaller groups can be even more productive than traditional in-person learning.

Online access has certainly expanded individuals’ ability to upskill. And, I believe, this has meant more people catching on to the idea that learning is a never-ending journey.

Organizations and employees – talent attraction and retention

A strong message for people entering the workforce from education is that IT and service management skills are in demand and relevant now and in 2022.

Because of the huge changes organizations are going through, having people with these skills can help organizations to migrate to either a hybrid or 100% virtual operating model, which needs clear plans for managing IT as a service.

Once companies have attracted this talent, they need to retain it. And that means offering opportunities to people to take up training, with ITIL 4 being one development area that’s key. This is because it touches on every part of the business and is a vital part of rolling out cultural change – understanding why and how plans need to come together.

My advice is to train and obtain your certifications now: your future self will thank you. You will understand more parts of the business than your current job requires and the knowledge you need is not necessarily what gets you through today, but what you can lean on three to five years from now.