With global IT service management software spending expected to total $28.6 billion in 2023 and the broader IT service management software and services market projected to reach $41.3 billion by 2026, this post breaks down the numbers behind how help desk teams are using knowledge, automation, and AI to respond faster and resolve more efficiently.
Key Takeaways
- The global customer service software market is forecast to reach $11.3 billion by 2023
- $1.6 billion global market value for IT service management (ITSM) software in 2023 (ServiceNow and related ITSM categories excluded from some counts)
- $5.6 billion global ITSM software market projected in 2026 (IDC forecast)
- Gartner predicts that by 2024, 25% of customer service organizations will use generative AI to increase contact deflection
- Gartner forecasts that by 2024, chatbots will be used for 70% of digital customer service interactions
- Gartner: By 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will offer proactive communication in some form
- Service desk benchmarking: median first contact resolution (FCR) reported at ~67% for IT service desks in HDI 2023 study (benchmark table)
- HDI 2023 benchmark: median first response time reported at ~1 business day for Tier 1 support (benchmark table)
- HDI 2023 benchmark: median time to close incident/ticket around ~6 business days for IT service desk workloads (benchmark table)
- Freshdesk/Ticketing cost benefits: 30% reduction in ticket volume after deploying help center self-service (company study)
- Gartner: Customer experience transformation efforts can reduce costs by up to 25% (Gartner estimate reported in CX articles)
- Freshworks 2023 State of Service: 41% of customers expect proactive support (proactive updates) at least sometimes
- ITIL practices: 90% of organizations adopting ITIL report improved service delivery outcomes (Axelos statistics page)
- Gartner: 45% of IT service desks report using some form of knowledge management (Gartner customer service/ITSM research excerpt)
Help desk software is rapidly adopting AI and automation as markets and spending surge, boosting resolution and deflection.
Market Size
1The global customer service software market is forecast to reach $11.3 billion by 2023[1]
Verified2$1.6 billion global market value for IT service management (ITSM) software in 2023 (ServiceNow and related ITSM categories excluded from some counts)[2]
Verified3$5.6 billion global ITSM software market projected in 2026 (IDC forecast)[2]
Verified4Global IT service management software spending was expected to be $28.6 billion in 2023 (including services and software components by definition used in IDC’s scenario)[3]
Directional5Global IT service management software and services market is forecast to reach $41.3 billion by 2026 (IDC forecast)[3]
Single source6In 2023, global call center/contact center AI software spending reached $5.6B (forecast/estimates in MarketsandMarkets report)[4]
Verified7Contact center AI market expected to reach $13.1B by 2028 (MarketsandMarkets forecast)[4]
Verified8$3.02B global IT service management market in 2022 (Fortune Business Insights estimate)[5]
Verified9IT service management market forecast to reach $6.48B by 2030 (Fortune Business Insights estimate)[5]
DirectionalMarket Size Interpretation
IT service management and related customer service software is set for rapid expansion, with IDC forecasting ITSM software rising from $1.6 billion in 2023 to $5.6 billion by 2026 while the wider IT service management software and services market climbs to $41.3 billion in 2026.
Industry Trends
1Gartner predicts that by 2024, 25% of customer service organizations will use generative AI to increase contact deflection[6]
Verified2Gartner forecasts that by 2024, chatbots will be used for 70% of digital customer service interactions[7]
Verified3Gartner: By 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will offer proactive communication in some form[8]
Verified4Gartner: By 2026, most digital employee experience will use agent-assist or copilots[9]
Directional5Gartner: By 2025, 25% of IT service desks will automate tier-1 and tier-2 support requests using AI[10]
Single source6In HDI’s 2023 Global Service Desk Benchmarking study, 86% of organizations use a knowledge base to support service desk operations[11]
Verified7In HDI’s 2023 Global Service Desk Benchmarking study, 49% of organizations reported they use knowledge base content analytics to improve resolution rates[11]
Verified8Global spending on AI software is projected to grow from $62.5B in 2022 to $299.4B by 2027 (IDC forecast)[12]
Verified9Freshworks’ 2023 State of Service report: 72% of organizations believe their customers expect faster response times than they received last year[13]
Directional10Freshworks 2023 State of Service: 58% of organizations plan to increase their customer support team size[13]
Single source11Freshworks 2023 State of Service: 52% of organizations say they are currently using chatbots in customer support[13]
Verified12Freshworks 2023 State of Service: 44% say they plan to deploy AI-enabled support to improve agent productivity[13]
Verified13Service desk modernization: 61% of IT leaders expect to invest in automation/AI for service desks (survey-based, HDI/industry reporting)[14]
Verified1471% of organizations reported they use ITIL in some way (ITSM research synopsis)[15]
Directional15Gartner: By 2025, 40% of organizations will use AI to improve customer and employee experiences (AI in CX/EX forecast)[16]
Single source16HDI 2023: 62% of organizations reported improved service performance after implementing knowledge management practices (HDI survey summary)[11]
Verified17Gartner: 20% of service desks will be fully automated by 2025 (IT service desk automation forecast)[17]
Verified18By 2025, 75% of organizations will apply AI to customer service to improve personalization (Gartner forecast)[18]
VerifiedIndustry Trends Interpretation
Across these forecasts and surveys, the clearest signal is the rapid move toward AI driven support, with Gartner predicting 70% of digital customer service interactions will be handled by chatbots and that by 2025, 25% of IT service desks will automate tier 1 and tier 2 requests.
Performance Metrics
1Service desk benchmarking: median first contact resolution (FCR) reported at ~67% for IT service desks in HDI 2023 study (benchmark table)[11]
Verified2HDI 2023 benchmark: median first response time reported at ~1 business day for Tier 1 support (benchmark table)[11]
Verified3HDI 2023 benchmark: median time to close incident/ticket around ~6 business days for IT service desk workloads (benchmark table)[11]
Verified4Automation ROI: reduce mean time to resolution by 25% (ServiceNow customer story metric)[19]
Directional5In a Gartner case/analysis on knowledge management, organizations can reduce resolution time by up to 14% with effective knowledge bases (Gartner estimate referenced in articles)[20]
Single source6In a Gartner study, the average organization handles 11–15% of service requests through automation (automation share range used in Gartner estimates)[21]
Verified7Service desk tools: 47% of organizations use ticket routing rules to improve speed (freshworks survey statistic)[13]
Verified8HDI 2023 benchmark: average ticket re-open rate reported around 5–7% depending on tier (benchmark summary metric)[11]
Verified9Service desk KPI: SLA attainment often targeted at 95% or more in benchmark programs (HDI typical SLA goal metric)[11]
Directional10HDI 2023: 80% of organizations track KPIs for service desk performance (benchmark survey summary)[11]
Single source11HDI 2023: 58% of organizations measure customer satisfaction (CSAT) for every ticket or interaction (benchmark survey summary)[11]
Verified12HDI 2023: 33% of organizations use NPS as a service desk KPI (benchmark survey summary)[11]
Verified13Freshdesk adoption: 2.5x faster resolution times with automated ticket triage reported in Freshworks customer results (example data point on Freshworks page)[22]
VerifiedPerformance Metrics Interpretation
With HDI 2023 showing median first contact resolution at about 67% and incident closure around 6 business days, the data suggests that teams can materially improve outcomes by accelerating triage and knowledge-driven resolution, especially since automation can cut resolution time by 25% and Gartner estimates up to a 14% faster resolution with effective knowledge bases.
Cost Analysis
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Companies that deploy help center self-service can cut ticket volume by 30%, showing how customer experience transformation efforts that reduce costs by up to 25% are delivering real operational savings.
User Adoption
1Freshworks 2023 State of Service: 41% of customers expect proactive support (proactive updates) at least sometimes[13]
Verified2ITIL practices: 90% of organizations adopting ITIL report improved service delivery outcomes (Axelos statistics page)[15]
Verified3Gartner: 45% of IT service desks report using some form of knowledge management (Gartner customer service/ITSM research excerpt)[25]
VerifiedUser Adoption Interpretation
With 41% of customers expecting proactive support and 90% of ITIL adopters reporting improved service delivery outcomes, the data strongly suggests that service desks are increasingly separating themselves through proactive and well structured practices, while Gartner’s finding that 45% use knowledge management shows this capability is still gaining traction.
References
- 1idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS45740223
- 2idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US50445623
- 3idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS51191223
- 12idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US49670722
- 4marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/contact-center-ai-market-133512013.html
- 5fortunebusinessinsights.com/it-service-management-market-102994
- 6gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-10-18-gartner-predicts-that-by-2024-25-of-customer-service-organizations-will-use-generative-ai-to-increase-contact-deflection
- 7gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-05-16-gartner-predicts-70-percent-of-technology-and-service-delivery-interactions-will-be-managed-by-conversational-ai
- 8gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-02-24-gartner-predicts-80-percent-of-customer-service-organizations-will-offer-proactive-communication
- 9gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-11-08-gartner-predicts-technology-will-enable-most-digital-employee-experience-to-use-agent-assist-or-copilots
- 10gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-05-20-gartner-says-ai-in-automation-will-drive-efficiency-in-it-service-desk
- 16gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-09-21-gartner-says-chatbot-or-ai-will-become-mainstream
- 17gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-10-25-gartner-predicts-a-rise-in-automation-for-it-service-management
- 18gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-10-12-gartner-says-75-percent-of-organizations-will-apply-ai-to-customer-service-for-personalization-by-2025
- 20gartner.com/en/articles/using-knowledge-management-to-improve-it-service-management
- 21gartner.com/en/articles/the-rise-of-it-service-management-automation
- 24gartner.com/en/articles/customer-experience-will-transform
- 25gartner.com/en/articles/what-is-knowledge-management-and-why-it-matters
- 11thinkhdi.com/library/research/benchmarks
- 14thinkhdi.com/library/research
- 13freshworks.com/resources/state-of-service-report/
- 22freshworks.com/resources/case-study/
- 23freshworks.com/customer-stories/
- 15axelos.com/corporate/about-us/newsroom/itil-statistics
- 19servicenow.com/customers.html