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Providing IT help desk support within an organisation isn't an easy task and in many companies it has evolved to become a completely reactive rather than proactive service. Today's support professionals find themselves responding to all kinds of user-led IT deployments, whether they are part of a major business initiative or merely a fad, there is little time to think strategically.

The help desk's next big challenge is how to support the trends of Hybrid IT and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), both of which were featured in Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2014 issued earlier this year. In five years' time, Hybrid IT and EMM deployments are predicted to be at their peak, meaning IT estates will look radically different. To make this transition as smooth as possible, it is vital that support teams get back on the front foot and prepare for change.

Flexibility with Hybrid IT
Over the coming years, CIOs will demand even more flexibility and control over their IT estates. This will inevitably mean a move away from the still prevalent infrastructure-centric models towards a more business-centric approach.

Too often though, it's an either/or proposition. Companies are forced to choose a cloud tool that doesn't really do everything they need it to, or a premise-based solution that may not be able to service their entire organisation. What is needed is a single solution that works in either a cloud-based or premise model, while sharing a common centralised console that offers the ability to deliver world-class service while maximising operational efficiencies with reduced cost and complexity.

This flexibility allows organisations to standardise on a single service management solution with fit-for-purpose deployment models that allows for the use of both operating and capital expense budgets. With a hybrid solution, they have the flexibility to deliver whatever happens. Hybrid IT has therefore taken most of the risk out of companies locking themselves into a decision, and such a model protects the company against unforeseen changes in their business. Any IT team relying on tools that cannot support hybrid environments will face significant challenges in improving service quality in the future.

In fact, today’s CIOs are saying Hybrid IT is future-proofing their decisions. With a hybrid model, wherever the market goes, wherever technology goes, they will be prepared.

The impact of mobility
According to industry analyst EMA, 87 percent of business professionals use a PC and at least one mobile device to complete their daily work. With statistics like this, it's hard to underestimate the impact mobility and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programmes are having on the service desk. Indeed, Gartner estimates that fewer than ten percent of most companies' current incidents are mobile device related and by 2016 this could grow to 25 percent.

Empowering a mobile workforce is essential to meet business goals and remain competitive, yet most CFOs would not entertain the idea of increasing IT headcount to just cope with the associated increase in incidents. Companies must therefore make EMM part of their core IT strategy so that they can proactively ensure corporate control, security and compliance, whilst still allowing employees freedom over how and where they work. And how this technology integrates with the service desk will be a critical factor in maintaining and even improving service levels as the tide of mobility rises.

Conclusion
Trends such as Hybrid IT and EMM are here to stay. Both are in relatively early stages of development, but are evolving at speed. Service desks must keep pace with this change by deploying solutions today that don't just cope with tomorrow's IT trends, but can actually help to shape them.