The next step in workplace transformation is “invisible technology”, according to new research from Lenovo, with IT leaders aiming to integrate seamless, automated support that fades into the background of workflows.

Polling 600 global IT leaders, the consumer tech giant’s latest report, Achieving Invisible IT, reveals that nearly half (49%) say their top priority is building a more productive and engaging employee experience, with 79% aspiring to deliver proactive support that minimises disruption for staff.

At the moment, Lenovo found that most enterprises are suffering from disjointed digital workplaces. The study found that, on average, firms manage almost 900 applications across multiple clouds, with employees forced to rely on fragmented, inefficient platforms for IT support.

IT leaders recognise the problem, with 3 in 4 decision makers agreeing that slow and manual IT processes are impacting their workers, leading an overwhelming majority (83%) to target predictive and proactive issue resolution based on hyper-personalisation. 

It’s thought this approach could lead to some major benefits, like allowing IT staff to spend more time on higher-value tasks (39%), improvements for end-user productivity and experience (21%), and even reducing the need for user-facing roles, letting IT workers move to other functions (28%).

Already, firms are trying to integrate these invisible support structures into resolving IT issues and even detecting them before they occur. Though just 16% claim to be able to anticipate disruptions proactively, almost two-thirds (65%) of firms are harnessing automation to ensure service issues are found automatically. 

But progress is slow. Only 21% have achieved predictive issue resolution, and 84% of IT leaders said that their systems are right now incapable of predicting disruptions.

Major hurdles include complex support processes that need untangling before streamlining (51%), high costs and limited budgets for IT change (47%), and skills gaps within operations teams (43%), an issue compounded by resistance to change among IT staff (36%).

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AI is an obvious answer to at least some of these problems. Lenovo found that 40% of enterprises are planning to use person-driven services backed by AI next year, with the tech allowing far greater personalisation, expected to provide improvements in experience (30%) and greater productivity (50%), as well as a reduction of support costs (30%).

The report claims that the combination of predictive, proactive IT support and AI-powered self-service will allow firms to realise their visions of a “level zero” helpdesk, where IT issues are resolved without any human intervention.

“Invisible IT means smarter IT,” said Rakshit Ghura, VP and general manager for Lenovo Digital Workplace Solutions.

“Organisations have spent years modernising their digital workplaces, but many remain hindered by fragmented systems and slow, manual support processes.

“By making IT invisible through predictive, proactive, and personalised support, enterprises can empower employees to focus on what truly matters: innovation, collaboration, and performance.”