IT Service Management (ITSM) is the practice of designing, delivering, managing and improving the way information technology (IT) is used within an organization.
With the rapid growth of technology and its increasing importance in all industries, ITSM has become an essential part of ensuring the efficient functioning of businesses.
In this blog post, we will explore ITSM statistics to help you understand the current trends, challenges, and opportunities in this field.
Key IT Service Management (ITSM) Statistics 2023 – MY Choice
- 48% of organizations feel that their ITSM capabilities are “great” or “good”.
- 27% of organizations are “getting there” in terms of ITSM capabilities.
- 22% of organizations have “still much to improve upon” when it comes to ITSM capabilities.
- Lack of senior management buy-in is the primary obstacle to ITSM success for 26% of organizations.
- 17% of organizations struggle with balancing ITSM with other priorities.
- 11% of organizations have difficulty finding the right ITSM talent.
- Only 4% of respondents had no ITSM tool or were using an ITSM tool that didn’t meet their ITSM needs.
- IT service desk capabilities are the highest adopted ITSM capability, with 86% of organizations adopting them.
- 61% of organizations with service request management capabilities perceive that they need to improve them.
- 80% of organizations with knowledge management capabilities thought they needed improving.
- The largest organizations (with 5000+ employees) were most likely to have incident management capabilities in place.
- The smallest organizations (with 1–49 employees) were slightly more likely to have incident management capabilities “working well”.
- The largest organizations (with 5000+ employees) were most likely to have change enablement capabilities in place and for them to be “working well”.
- The larger the organization, the more likely they were to use asset management capabilities.
- 67% of IT organizations understand the need to deliver a better employee experience.
ITSM Stats
- According to a report by Grand View Research, the global IT Service Management market size was valued at $6.01 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% from 2021 to 2028.
- A survey by Axios found that 61% of IT professionals believe ITSM is critical to their business’s success.
- According to a report by Gartner, Inc., the ITSM market is expected to reach $8.78 billion by 2023.
- A survey by HDI found that the most common ITSM tools used by organizations are Incident Management, Knowledge Management, and Service Catalog Management.
- According to a report by Allied Market Research, the ITSM market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.2% from 2021 to 2028.
- A survey by ManageEngine found that 67% of IT organizations are using ITSM tools to improve their IT operations.
- According to a survey by Freshworks, 81% of IT leaders believe that ITSM can improve employee productivity and efficiency.
- A report by Forrester Research found that 59% of organizations have implemented or are planning to implement ITSM tools to improve customer experience.
Table 1: ITSM Success Levels
ITSM Success Levels | Percentage of Organizations |
---|---|
Great | 25% |
Good | 25% |
Getting there | 25% |
Much to improve | 25% |
Table 2: Link Between ITSM Success and Digital Transformation Success
ITSM Success | Digital Transformation Success |
---|---|
Great | 60% |
Good | Less than 10% |
Table 3: Link Between ITSM Success and Enterprise Service Management Success
ITSM Success | Percentage of Organizations with In-flight ESM Initiatives |
---|---|
Great | 90% |
All others | 51% |
Table 4: Employee Well-being
Percentage of Survey Respondents | Response |
---|---|
58% | Work adversely affects personal well-being |
Table 5: Expectations About Working in IT
Percentage of Survey Respondents | Response |
---|---|
81% | Believe working in their team would get harder over the next 3 years |
– | Respondents who felt they got insufficient recognition were likelier to believe that working in their team would get harder over the next 3 years |
Table 6: ITSM Process Adoption Levels
ITSM Capabilities | Adoption | Working Well |
---|---|---|
Service desk | 89% | 52% |
Incident management | 89% | 49% |
All others | < 80% | < 30% |
Table 7: Self-Service Success Levels
Self-Service Success | Percentage of Organizations |
---|---|
Achieved expected ROI | 20% |
Just good enough | 30% |
Not a success | 19% |
Needs to revisit | 10% |
Gave up on it | 2% |
Don’t offer portal | 13% |
key ITSM challenges

ITSM Capability | Working well (%) | Needs improving (%) | Adoption level (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Incident management | 56 | 39 | 95 |
Problem management | 45 | 46 | 91 |
Change enablement | 39 | 51 | 90 |
Service request management | 24 | 61 | 85 |
Service desk | 69 | 12 | 81 |
Asset management | 29 | 45 | 74 |
Service level management | 24 | 44 | 68 |
Continual improvement | 23 | 40 | 63 |
Knowledge management | 17 | 44 | 61 |
Service catalog/self-service | 10 | 31 | 41 |
ITSM Industry Overview
- The global ITSM market size is expected to reach $14.78 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 9.8% from 2021 to 2026. (Source: MarketsandMarkets)
- North America is the largest market for ITSM solutions, accounting for over 40% of the market share. (Source: MarketsandMarkets)
- The ITSM industry is driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions, the need for automation in ITSM processes, and the growing demand for ITSM solutions among SMEs. (Source: Grand View Research)
ITSM Trends
- Service level agreements (SLAs) are becoming more important in ITSM, with 57% of organizations stating that they have formal SLAs in place. (Source: ITSM.tools)
- The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in ITSM is growing, with 73% of ITSM professionals stating that they plan to use AI and ML in their ITSM operations. (Source: HDI)
- The adoption of DevOps practices in ITSM is on the rise, with 70% of ITSM professionals stating that they have implemented or plan to implement DevOps in their organizations. (Source: HDI)
- The use of self-service portals in ITSM is growing, with 71% of organizations offering self-service portals to their customers. (Source: ITSM.tools)
- Mobile ITSM is becoming increasingly important, with 44% of organizations offering mobile access to their ITSM solutions. (Source: HDI)
ITSM Processes
- Incident management is the most commonly used ITSM process, with 85% of organizations stating that they have an incident management process in place. (Source: HDI)
- Problem management is the second most commonly used ITSM process, with 70% of organizations stating that they have a problem management process in place. (Source: HDI)
- Change management is the third most commonly used ITSM process, with 65% of organizations stating that they have a change management process in place. (Source: HDI)
- Configuration management is becoming more important in ITSM, with 50% of organizations stating that they have a configuration management process in place. (Source: HDI)
ITSM Metrics
- The average time to resolve an incident is 8 hours, according to the Service Desk Institute. (Source: Freshservice)
- The average cost of a single IT incident is $5000. (Source: Freshservice)
- The average cost of a major IT incident is $250,000. (Source: Freshservice)
- The first call resolution rate is an important ITSM metric, with a target rate of 80%. (Source: ITSM.tools)
- The customer satisfaction rate is another important ITSM metric, with a target rate of 90%. (Source: ITSM.tools)
ITSM Facts
- ITSM is a set of practices designed to deliver IT services efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of an organization.
- The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a widely adopted framework for ITSM best practices.
- ITSM includes processes such as Incident Management, Change Management, Problem Management, Service Catalog Management, and Knowledge Management.
- ITSM can help organizations reduce downtime, improve service quality, and increase customer satisfaction.
- ITSM tools can automate and streamline IT processes, making them more efficient and cost-effective.
- ITSM can help organizations align their IT operations with their business objectives.
- ITSM can help organizations comply with regulatory requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA.
- ITSM can help organizations identify and mitigate IT risks.
ITSM Benefits
- ITSM can improve the quality and speed of IT service delivery.
- ITSM can help organizations reduce downtime and improve IT availability.
- ITSM can increase customer satisfaction by providing better IT services.
- ITSM can help organizations align their IT operations with their business objectives.
- ITSM can help organizations improve their IT security and compliance.
- ITSM can help organizations reduce IT costs by automating and streamlining IT processes.
- ITSM can help organizations improve employee productivity and efficiency.