From bonuses to job perks, many companies spare no effort to keep employees from leaving. Yet, when it comes to technology, those same companies don't hesitate to discard the old in favor of the latest tools on the market.

While economic pressures and rapid technological advancements make new tech adoption feel inevitable, moving too quickly can cause companies to take one step forward and ten steps back. The truth is, adopting new technology for the sake of it may not even be necessary -- most companies already have the tools they need.

According to a recent Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report, 80% of IT decision-makers surveyed agree improving ITSM at their organization would raise employee satisfaction with the IT department; yet only 22% say their organization provides ITSM in a very effective manner. What exactly sets apart companies that have successfully harnessed new technology from those that get bogged down by its complexity?

IT complexity remains the biggest puzzle CIOs need to solve

Nothing worth doing is ever easy, and reaping the time and cost efficiencies of advanced ITSMs is no exception. The greatest challenges often lie with disruptive legacy system integrations, which can frustrate both employers and customers. Overwhelmed by disjointed systems, users might neglect security protocols and expose themselves -- or the entire system -- to fatal data breaches, costing the company money and consumer trust. According to respondents what makes IT complex in their organization is that not all features in the tools and software are used (cited by 51%), systems and applications are not integrated well (48%), employees need to use too many tools and software (41%), IT upgrade and maintenance costs are high (39%) and the IT infrastructure lack flexibility, scalability, and adaptability.

To not be left behind, CIOs need to prioritize unification tools and ensure timely system upgrades without adding new burdens to disparate technologies. As things stand, less than half of the respondents surveyed say that their organization has ITSMs that are very effective at providing employee self-service requests (44%), responding to user incidents and problems (34%), and informing employees of how they can access IT systems (29%).

While these statistics paint a grim picture, companies that execute ITSM simplification well can capitalize on this opportunity to pull ahead with a more efficient workforce. On the flip side, those who rest on their laurels experience even greater difficulty untangling data and pipeline-related problems down the road.

How to develop an effective approach to ITSM

Here's how to take your ITSM from a cluttered, chaotic mess to a well-oiled machine ready to take on a digitally-driven economy:

Decade-old workflow automation is unlikely to spark joy. According to Gartner, organizations spend up to 30% of their IT budget on redundant or underutilized tools. This includes duplicate systems used by different departments that do the same thing. Take a good look at what's actually being used, and don't hesitate to axe those that have collected digital dust. From there, you'll get a clearer picture of what upgrades your ITSM exactly needs instead of purchasing a system that does most of what your tech stack can already accomplish.

Not everything that surfaced from your initial audit needs to be acted upon immediately, especially in this economy where not everyone has the luxury of purchasing every possible software upgrade. Instead of contorting yourself into decision paralysis, draw up a ranked list of priorities based on how often employees have raised certain issues and their impact on your business.

Don't pat yourself on the back for making an informed ITSM upgrade just yet. IDC expects 90% of companies to experience IT skills shortages costing $5.5 trillion in delays by as early as 2026. The good news is that you can get ahead of the curve by simply investing more time and effort into training to ensure that employees actually use the ITSM you've purchased as intended.

Automate ITSM maintenance to focus on innovation

With the right ITSM integration locked in, companies can stretch their advantage even further by automating IT processes. In the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report, survey respondents expect that their organizations could enable more seamless experiences for end users (60%) and use predictive analysis for organizational decision-making (48%) by reducing ITSM complexity.

Take Eastern Washington University for example -- Before ITSM automation, some 12,000 students and support staff circled expensive help desk systems to bombard IT technicians with requests. Since upgrading their campus IT services to a cloud-based system, however, the once infamous system has transformed into a widely-used, award-winning one within a short span of six years.

The beauty of this is that your IT team will be freed from tedious tasks such as user provisioning and software distribution. Think about it this way: Every manual ticket your team doesn't have to process is another moment they could spend developing that game-changing digital initiative you've been working towards.

Find out more about solving the IT complexity puzzle by downloading the report, "The Service Management Advantage: Helping CIOs Turn IT into a Strategic Powerhouse".