New research conducted by YouGov on behalf of Cantium Business Solutions, a specialist provider of IT, HR and Finance solutions, has revealed how IT support services have coped since the start of the lockdown period.
The survey of 1110 IT decision-makers across Great Britain showed that almost a third (31 per cent) of IT professionals reported an increase in IT support tickets and requests since the restrictions to daily life came into place mid-March this year.
Connectivity issues (46 per cent) topped the list of support challenges facing IT service desks. Followed by computer issues such as laptops not turning on, freezing or poor battery (29 per cent) and networking issues including lost access to shared drives, as well as viruses (27 per cent).
Less than one in four respondents from medical and health services faced computer issues (24 per cent) and the same percentage of professionals in the IT and telecoms sector faced password challenges (24 per cent), the most of all the sectors surveyed.
Investment in IT support set to increase
The survey also asked about attitudes towards investment in IT support services. Almost three quarters (74 per cent) of IT decision-makers agreed that investment is likely to grow for all organisations over the next five-years. With those in the IT and telecoms sectors (86 per cent) and finance and accounting sectors (84 per cent) agreeing most strongly.
Mark Scott, CEO at Cantium Business Solutions, comments on the results regarding investment: “We’re seeing an increase in demand for IT support services and with this comes the need to shift to self-serve models that address the needs of a more mobile workforce. IT professionals will need to consider how they create an experience for employees that empowers them with knowledge and solutions. Part of this will be investment in technologies that support channel shift and enable accurate, convenient and faster IT support interactions.”
The data suggests that as organisations shift interactions to online channels, technologies and tools such as web chat (34 per cent), websites (27 per cent) and mobile apps (26 per cent) will gain importance over the next five-years. IT decision-makers at large organisations, with over 250 employees placing more than twice as much importance (53 per cent) on automated technologies when compared to their SME counterparts (19 per cent).
IT support important for long-term remote working
The survey revealed that 97 per cent of organisations from the IT and telecoms sector and 92 per cent from the medical and health services sector believe IT support services will be important to organisations that continue to work remotely after the pandemic subsides.
“We’re seeing an importance being placed on IT support, especially for organisations looking to carry on working from home long term, with 87 per cent of IT professionals agreeing about the importance of IT Service Desks. Although not all sectors have made the switch, the increase in support requests seen over the last six-months shows there has been overall disruption to the working lives of employees across all sectors. It’s important that investment and support for IT services continues to enable positive and productive experiences for employees,“ Mark concludes.
Other key findings from the research
– 29% of the IT decision-makers said their organisations have not made the move to remote working
– 87% of IT decision-makers thought that IT service desks would be important to organisations that continue to work remotely once the pandemic has subsided
– 26% of IT decision-makers said their organisations were not looking to shift interactions to online channels
