ITSM Future readiness survey 2017 : Are you ready for the future of ITSM?

Working in IT

Working in IT can be a challenge no matter your role. The corporate mandate for IT departments to "do more with less" has been prevalent for at least a decade; with IT skills shortages, increasing technology and business complexity, security issues, and other things all adding to the challenge. So, is "IT life" getting harder? And how are the people working in IT recognized, and hopefully rewarded, for going the extra mile in their roles?

To get answers to these questions, the first IT Service management (ITSM) survey question asked:

Do you think working in corporate IT will get harder over the next three years?

This garnered the following responses:

With a total of 82% of respondents believing that working in IT will get harder over the next three years. Only 15% of survey respondents didn't think that their life would get harder.

As to why there's a higher response for "Yes, for some IT roles" than "Yes, for all IT roles" - this might reflect that some IT roles are getting harder, or it might just be the very-human assumption that "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." With respondents thinking that they are in a particularly difficult role versus their peers.

For instance, service desk agents are usually under far greater scrutiny (and pressure) in terms of performance metrics and targets than most other, if not all, IT roles. Whereas in some areas, such as the management of legacy IT systems, roles might be viewed as being under less pressure and less likely to change.

The second question then asked:

Do you feel your personal efforts, and your value to the business, are sufficiently recognized by management?

This garnered the following responses:

One quarter of respondents felt that their efforts and value are sufficiently recognized by management. Leaving two in four people thinking that they do get recognized but not enough, and one in four thinking that they don't get recognized for their work; giving a total of 75% respondents who feel undervalued. This compares unfavorably with a recent US survey that showed 47% of workers feel underappreciated.