The Key to ITSM Success: Designing Your Portal Around End-User Needs

Often overlooked within organizations, the IT helpdesk is nevertheless a critical component in improving service quality for users. While providing simplified access through a single point of contact — email, web portal, or phone — improves operational efficiency, ITSM web portals represent a true cultural shift because they empower users to find answers and solutions independently.

However, users must first embrace this new approach. Modern web portals need to be intuitive, user-friendly, and tailored to users’ actual needs. Too often, ITSM projects remain owned exclusively by the IT department. Without a proper analysis phase involving users from the beginning, the solution risks being perceived as an additional burden rather than a way to improve their experience.

Here are some recommendations to help avoid that outcome.

Overlooking users: a significant risk for organizations

According to Gartner, 41% of employees were already adopting technologies without IT department involvement in 2022, a number projected to reach 75% by 2027. This trend is accelerating with generative AI: Gartner now predicts that 40% of organizations will experience a security incident related to unmanaged AI usage — often referred to as shadow AI — by 2030.

Shadow IT refers to applications, services, or digital tools used within an organization without approval or oversight from IT teams — from personal messaging tools used for professional purposes to SaaS platforms purchased outside established procurement processes. Today, it also includes AI assistants that many employees adopt with good intentions but that may process sensitive information without proper governance.

The reasons are often the same: employees feel that IT teams are not listening closely enough to their needs and that the solutions provided do not match their expectations. As a result, they look for alternatives and create their own workarounds. However, these solutions introduce significant risks for organizations, including uncontrolled spending, software license management issues, security gaps, and non-compliance with privacy regulations such as Quebec’s Law 25.

Raising awareness about these risks is essential. Users need to understand that the ITSM platform is designed to better support them by providing a secure, structured, and user-friendly solution adapted to their needs. The goal is not to add another tool they do not understand or use effectively.

How can you effectively involve users from the beginning of ITSM portal design?

A best practice when designing a web portal users will actually adopt is to draw inspiration from leading consumer digital platforms: simplicity, continuous availability, and personalization. This aligns with what Gartner identified in its February 2025 Market Guide for IT Service Management Platforms: organizations that achieve the most value from their ITSM solutions are those that design them first around the user experience, and second as a management tool.

Here are four key points to consider:

1. Understand users’ willingness to adopt an ITSM self-service approach. Identify the most common reasons users contact the IT department and determine with them which requests could be resolved independently through self-service.
2. Identify priority use cases to demonstrate value quickly. These may include password resets, software requests, or replacement of faulty equipment. In practice, however, the most impactful use cases are often industry-specific: a municipal supervisor submitting a work order for damaged signage, or a CIUSSS manager initiating the onboarding of a new nurse — with access badges, Microsoft 365 accounts, and clinical application permissions automatically configured through connected workflows.
3. Apply, whenever possible, the management principles and user experience patterns found in consumer digital applications. Users will recognize familiar navigation and interaction patterns, making adoption easier.
4. Promote and communicate the web portal across the organization. User adoption requires education and ongoing communication so employees can quickly identify the use cases that directly apply to them.

The ITSM web portal: a platform for collaboration between teams and users

The next generation of the Octopus web portal is built on preconfigured models based on ITIL best practices — including healthcare, municipalities, education, and the public sector. You never start from scratch: you benefit from proven structures built through hundreds of implementations in your industry.

The portal offers:

• A modern and customizable interface inspired by consumer applications. Users recognize familiar navigation patterns, making the platform easier to adopt.

• A conversational experience powered by an integrated AI assistant. Users no longer need to know which form to complete. They simply describe their request in natural language, and the assistant classifies the request, routes it to the appropriate team, and immediately provides relevant answers from the knowledge base. This evolution was highlighted by Gartner’s September 2025 Magic Quadrant for AI Applications in IT Service Management, demonstrating that AI-powered ITSM is entering a more mature phase.

• Continuous communication between IT teams and users. Users can participate more effectively in incident resolution — for example, by sharing their screen during a technical issue — and receive real-time updates on their requests.

• Structured self-service supported by an ITIL-based knowledge base. First-level requests can be resolved directly through the portal, allowing incident management teams to focus on more complex issues. Resolution times decrease while service level commitments are maintained.

• Higher user satisfaction, a key indicator of ITSM project success. Self-service reduces delays associated with human intervention, provides immediate value, and improves collaboration between users and technical teams.

To see how a well-designed web portal can transform ITSM adoption within your organization, request a demo.