COVID-19 has impacted so many aspects of daily life in 2020, but perhaps its biggest impact has been accelerating remote work. The transition from offices to a fully remote workforce, which initially took place in March of 2020, has created huge disruptions for employees and organizations alike. For IT teams and help desks, the disruption has been even greater, as IT assets/infrastructure of hardware, software and support had to be rapidly deployed and adapted to complex work-from-home (WFH) environments.
Rescue by LogMeIn has teamed up with IDG to conduct a survey of IT leaders, Helpdesks in the New Normal, “to understand the impact of increased remote work on IT help desks.” The survey was conducted in the summer of 2020, months after the initial shock of the WFH transition had subsided.
Helpdesks supporting the transition to a fully remote workforce faced massive challenges in the early days and weeks of the pandemic, scrambling to get hardware into employee homes, setting up systems and VPNs, and providing remote support as ticket volumes surged to unprecedented levels. And while many of these “transition shock” issues have been overcome, several big challenges remain for helpdesks. Let’s explore them:
With the scrambling of March 2020 over with (according to 71% of our survey respondents), helpdesks have had to manage a large and complex volume of ongoing demand from a now fully remote workforce. There’s been no “back to normal” for anyone. Users who would have once walked down the hallway for IT help are now distributed all over the map, as is the helpdesk itself.
Helpdesks must be prepared to manage ongoing IT complexity coming from home environments where workers are increasingly using personal devices and non-compliant equipment for business. The potential for work disruption and employee frustration makes providing easy-to-access support, via multiple channels, a mission-critical function. Nothing terrifies IT professionals more than a frustrated user saying, “I’ll try to fix this myself,” especially from home.
Many companies experienced challenges with BYOD (bring your own device) policies long before COVID-19, largely because of data privacy and network security/cybersecurity concerns. But with everyone working from home, BYOD has become part of the “new normal.”
Our IDG/Logmein survey makes it clear that the use of personal devices for work is now prevalent, with half (50%) of respondents saying BYOD is currently happening in their organization “to a great extent” or “to some extent.” Only 7% of respondents say BYOD is not happening “at all.” The recent transition to a fully remote workforce has also changed attitudes about BYOD, with 71% of respondents saying their organization is now “more accepting of employees using personal devices for work.”
Let’s place this challenge in the “no brainer” category. Even in pre-pandemic office environments, where IT departments and helpdesks had more physical access and control over company-owned infrastructure (and in-house employees), ensuring the security of systems and data was a major challenge. Now, with computing happening in complex home environments, often over personal devices, those security challenges have only gotten bigger.
The (relatively) good news is that 76% of survey respondents say they can “readily mitigate” the security risks and small gaps that have been exposed in the transition to a fully remote workforce. The remaining 24% of IT leaders, however, are facing bigger challenges and “considerable gaps we must close,” but clearly haven’t closed yet.
Helpdesks aren’t waiting around for solutions to fall from the sky, but have been innovative in finding ways to support their remote users. Our survey shows helpdesks have used a number of flexible approaches:
What’s clear is that helpdesks need and deserve more help in the form of easy-to-use tools that can be customized to meet their unique needs as they support the complex demands of a fully remote workforce. Agility means having the capacity to flex support as user demand changes (and it will).
Now that we’ve examined the many challenges helpdesks face, let’s explore potential solutions. In a business and IT landscape defined by both complexity and ongoing uncertainty, helpdesks must lean into agility. Here’s how:
Want to learn more about helping your helpdesk work more productively and flexibly in supporting your remote workforce? Reach out to us here. And download the infographic here.
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