Of all service desk contact volume, as much as 40% could be solved through IT self-service, but only 5% of issues actually are solved by IT self-service, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2015, the majority of IT organisations will have less than 10% of the contact volume managed by IT self-service.

"IT self-service is a great concept, enabling and empowering end users to solve their own IT problems, thereby allowing support organisations to gain efficiencies through a reduced incident and request workload, " said David Coyle, research vice president at Gartner. "However, building a best-in-class IT self-service portal does not guarantee that end users will utilize it."

Following extensive client research, Gartner analysts have identified four common myths that organisations have regarding IT self-service. Gartner believes that these myths and the associated realities, in combination with low IT service desk maturity, are the factors that prevent IT organizations from successfully delivering IT self-service.

Myth: IT self-service reduces costs.
Reality: IT self-service will reduce Level 1 support.

IT self-service does have the opportunity to reduce the cost of IT service and support by moving end-user issues to a lower cost level. However, self-service works well only for specific record types (mainly how-to requests, FAQs and password resets), so organisations should understand that implementing self-service will reduce volume only for those call types. Some issues will still require a call to the IT service desk and/or the assistance of a support technician.

"Organisations that fail to understand the demand mix of service and support will not be able to predict or measure the influence of self-service," says Coyle. "In addition, IT self-service requires upfront and ongoing investment in staff resources and tools like knowledge management and password reset. The bottom line is that if the investment in IT self-service is higher than the return associated with reducing support costs and increasing end-user productivity, then self-service will actually increase costs."

Myth: IT self-service is a one-time investment.
Reality: IT self-service requires constant care and feeding.

IT self-service is not a "set it and forget it" option, and IT leaders need to constantly understand how IT self-service is being leveraged, and whether end users are getting value from the offering. End users can be aware of the existence of IT self-service support and still not understand how it functions, how it can and should be leveraged, or the benefits it can provide. This requires marketing efforts, specifically to users who may not be aware or users who do not find value in the offering or prefer calling the service desk.

Ongoing efforts also include the maintenance of the knowledge base where articles need continuous updating. Articles that do not fix the problem or that are difficult to understand do not lend themselves well to the credibility that IT self-service portals need to establish. Also, the wider the range of services supported, the more difficult it becomes to keep these knowledge articles up to date.