How to Manage a Hybrid Workforce within ITSM

How to Manage a Hybrid Workforce within ITSM

The way businesses work is changing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. They are now offering remote and hybrid work options. Hybrid work is a combination of small and in-office employees, where many people have a mix of both. This hybrid structure allows employees to have a better work-life balance, protects them from flu-like viruses, and gives managers and teams the time they need to meet face-to-face. The increased demand for flexible, collaborative technology with remote and hybrid work creates new challenges for the Service desk in IT and customers.

With the help of an IT Service Management tool, the IT service desk can manage hybrid work schedules and support a hybrid workforce. A few best practices can make hybrid force ITSM easy to navigate.

How COVID-19 Accelerated Remote Work ITSM Adjustment

Before discussing best practices in hybrid workforce ITSM, let’s first understand why hybrid models are so popular. These are just a few reasons:

• 71% of respondents said that they work from home at least part of the time. (PEW Research Center)
• 83% of employers say that the shift to remote work is a success, compared with 73% in a June 2020 poll.
• IT budget faced a significant decrease in business support requests and increased IT support tickets during the pandemic. More technology was required as more people worked remotely, and digital transformation was speeding up.
• Companies that have been slow in adopting technologies to support remote work, or creating clear rules around WFH, are now playing catch up.
• More than 60% of executives plan to increase spending on virtual collaboration tools, manager training, and supporting hybrid working models. Half of the executives plan to increase spending in areas that support hybrid work models, such as hoteling apps (50%) and office space (48%). (PWC).
• A recent Forrester survey found that 56% of IT decision-makers surveyed reported that their companies had increased their IT and hardware budgets. Support tickets may increase due to the increased use of tech hardware.

These are just a few examples of the unique challenges and changes that remote and hybrid work can bring. One trend aside is that more remote and hybrid employees have a significant gap between IT service desks and customers.

The challenges that remote and hybrid work can present

While remote and hybrid work offers great opportunities for better work-life balance and enhanced digital transformation, it also has challenges.

Access to mobile equipment is essential for remote and hybrid workers. All of these must be considered and available for troubleshooting in case of an increase in user error. It is possible to access VPNs or other networks remotely. It can slow down service desk agents and take up their time.

The second problem with hybrid and remote teams is time and geography. Remotely located and hybrid teams may have different time zones or regions, which can cause communication problems. Remote workers might not adhere to a strict 9–5 schedule and instead, make mistakes or need support during hours that are not usually staffed. They may choose to wait until they get in the office to solve their tickets. It could lead to ticket pileups on certain days. Even the logistics can be a challenge.

Support desk employees can face the same problems as customers. Remote work may allow them to have a more flexible schedule, making it difficult for them to reach their colleagues working on the tickets. Remote IT service desk teams may not be able to identify who is responsible for which tasks. These are not available to remote workers or hybrid workers if the team used a whiteboard or Kanban board.

7 Best Practices to Navigate a Hybrid Workforce

These seven best practices will help the IT service desk navigate the challenges presented by the ITSM hybrid workforce.

Best Practice 1: Increase the visibility of the IT Service Desk

No matter how large your company is, it would help if you had an IT service desk that customers can communicate with easily. However, this is just the beginning. It would help if you also increased visibility for the service desk.

There are many ways to increase visibility. To raise awareness and engage with your service desk, you can send a newsletter via multiple channels such as your ITSM self–service portal. Other types of support are also available. These include white-glove support that allows you to actively check-in with customers to discover new ways to help them succeed or reactive support through different channels to address their needs.

Best Practice 2: Establish a centralized knowledge hub

The information must be provided to remote workers and hybrid workers for the service desk to run smoothly and not become overwhelmed by tickets. Although self-service is an essential part of the puzzle, it requires integrated intelligent knowledge management software. It will allow for greater accessibility and make it more accessible. The knowledge hub will contain all the information your customers and team need and can be accessed from any location.

The knowledge articles in the central hub should not be lengthy wiki articles but tiny bits of contextualized info, videos and infographics.

Best Practice 3: Create clear queues and tasks to be completed

Your team may have used a visual Kanban or whiteboard to track tickets, queues and the phase that needed to be completed in person. It is not a sustainable or straightforward way to work if you aren’t there in person.

It is essential to identify who is responsible for what without visual planning. Clear instructions and queues should be created to indicate which tasks must be completed and who should do them. A cloud-based IT Service Management Software makes this easier by providing a virtual Kanban board and clear ticket assignments. Team stand-ups can be a great way to remind each member of their roles and tasks.

Best Practice 4: Identity which processes you can automate to improve efficiency

Automation can be a vital tool for ensuring the most efficient service desk. AITSM makes this possible. What is AITSM? AITSM is ITSM that uses intelligent automation to automate tasks, requests and actions within the IT service desk.

It can be a great way to reduce workload in a hybrid environment, which will ultimately result in more positive experiences for both service desk agents and their customers.

Best Practice 5: Real-Time Collaboration Methods to Resolve Incidents Faster and Reduce Resolution Time

Collaboration in real-time is one way to reduce the number of tickets in remote or hybrid workforces. How can you do this? You can do this by using collaborative features in your ITSM tool.

It doesn’t matter if the service desk agents or customers work remotely, but collaborative features in an ITSM tool can help ease the load. If one agent notices that an incident is being handled and has previously resolved something similar, they can leave a note in the ticket. If an agent requires expert advice or assistance in solving an incident, they may start a conversation within the key.

Service desk agents can collaborate via MS Teams, Zoom, and Skype to solve more significant incidents and problems together instead of being isolated or fractured during the incident resolution process.

Collaboration with customers is another crucial aspect of this. Instead of waiting for them to answer via email, ask them directly. It will speed up the process of finding a solution together.

Best Practice 6: Use a virtual agent for quick support

A perfect world would have a live agent available 24/7 to answer any call, email or ticket inquiry. However, people are not robots, so making this dream a reality can sometimes be challenging. The virtual agent is your friend.

What is a virtual assistant? Chatbots.org defines a virtual agent as “… an animated, computer-generated, artificial intelligence virtual character that acts as an online customer representative. It can have intelligent conversations with users, answer their questions, and show appropriate non-verbal behaviour.

A virtual agent, in other words, is a chatbot that has the knowledge to answer questions and share information. It can be linked to the ITSM software and the centralized knowledge hub that we mentioned earlier. Users can search help articles, create and submit a ticket, track progress and find what they are looking for whenever they need it.

Best Practice 7: Create a Multi-Experience Self-Service Platform that can accommodate everyone regardless of time zones

Multi experience is when an app looks different on your phone than on your computer. Multi expertise allows you to create self-service portals or apps that can meet users wherever they may be. This evolution of Omnichannel makes it possible to access help in multiple channels, such as MS Teams and web apps. However, it also takes into consideration the user’s interface.

Multi-experienced self-service platforms are essential for a hybrid workforce. The goal is to connect people wherever they are. It could mean meeting customers and agents via mobile devices. It is necessary for a remote or hybrid workforce. It will lead to greater adoption of ITSM procedures, as they are more accessible and easier to understand by all parties, customers and agents.

Modernizing the Service Desk for Hybrid Workforce

A hybrid workforce demands a constantly modernized service desk. To support modern customers and their problems, you need to embrace new technology and innovative thinking. It does not have to take months or years.