Shift Left and Shift Right: Balancing Efficiency and Experience in IT Service Management

Discover how Shift Left and Shift Right strategies work together to transform IT Service Management.

In IT Service Management (ITSM), continual improvement often revolves around one core idea: delivering better service outcomes with greater efficiency. Two strategies that help achieve this are known as Shift Left and Shift Right. Although they sound like opposites, they work best when implemented together, helping IT teams improve both operational performance and user experience.

Understanding “Left” and “Right” in the Workflow

When we talk about “shifting left” or “shifting right”, it helps to visualise a workflow drawn from left to right, representing how work moves through different stages or actors. However, the meaning of “left” and “right” changes depending on the type of workflow:

1. Service Support Workflow (Typical ITSM Model)

In this workflow:

• The left side represents the end-user or customer environment, where incidents and requests originate.

• The right side represents the technical and backend teams, such as infrastructure, application, and development support.

So when we Shift Left in ITSM support, we move capabilities like troubleshooting, automation, and resolution. closer to the user. The aim is to empower users and first-line teams to solve problems that previously required escalation.

2. Service Development and Operations Workflow (DevOps Model)

In this workflow:

• The left side represents development and pre-production environments, where coding, testing, and validation happen.

• The right side represents the live production environment, where real users interact with services.

Here, Shifting Right means bringing testing, monitoring, and learning closer to the live environment. This allows teams to validate real-world performance and continuously improve services based on actual usage and feedback.

Both “Shift Left” and “Shift Right” follow the same principle: move activities closer to where they can create the most value, whether that is enabling faster support or gaining better insights from real user behaviour.

What Is “Shift Left”?

Shift Left means moving support and resolution capabilities closer to the end-user. The goal is to empower users and frontline teams to handle common issues and requests without escalating to higher support levels. However, Shift Left is not only about moving things towards users. It can also happen between support tiers or layers.

In a typical IT support structure, incidents and requests flow from Level 1 (Service Desk) to Level 2 (Specialist Support), then Level 3 (Developers or Vendors). Each level represents a step further to the right in the workflow, involving deeper technical expertise but also longer resolution times.

A Shift Left approach encourages handling more of these issues earlier, at Level 1 or even through self-service, by equipping those layers with better tools, knowledge, and automation. The closer the resolution happens to the source of the issue, the faster and more efficient the overall service becomes.

In practice, this often involves:

• Expanding Self Service Portals and knowledge bases.

• Implementing chatbots or virtual agents to assist users instantly.

• Training first-line support teams to handle more complex issues.

• Automating routine tasks such as password resets, access requests, or software installations.

Example

Traditionally, when an employee needed to install a software package, they might have raised a request that required approval and manual fulfilment by second-line support. With a Shift Left approach, this process could be automated and approved instantly through the Self Service Portal, enabling the user to install the software themselves within minutes.

The result:

• Faster resolution times.

• Reduced workload for higher-level support teams.

• Increased end-user satisfaction through autonomy and convenience.

What Is “Shift Right”?

Shift Right focuses on learning from real-world environments by moving validation, observation, and feedback closer to the live production stage.

In DevOps and operations, this includes:

• Using A/B testing and feature toggles in live systems to observe user behaviour.

• Implementing real-time monitoring to measure performance, reliability, and user experience.

• Gathering experience feedback from end-users after interactions.

• Analysing incident and change data to guide future improvements.

Example

Imagine a new update is rolled out to a collaboration tool. Instead of relying solely on lab testing, a Shift Right approach continuously monitors system performance and user satisfaction in production. If users report slower response times or connection issues, that data feeds directly back to development teams for improvement.

This approach ensures IT learns from authentic user experience, not just pre-release assumptions.

Why Both Matter

Shift Left improves speed, efficiency, and empowerment.
Shift Right enhances learning, resilience, and experience.

Together, they form a continuous improvement loop:

1. Shift Left empowers users and reduces escalations.

2. Shift Right captures real-world feedback and operational insights.

3. The insights inform smarter automation, training, and design – feeding back into Shift Left improvements.

When both strategies work together, IT organisations deliver faster, smarter, and more human-centred services.

Shift Left and Shift Right in ITIL 4 Practice

Below are examples of how Shift Left and Shift Right complement each other across common ITSM processes:

• Incident Management:

  • Shift Left: Enable users to resolve common issues through knowledge articles and automation.

  • Shift Right: Analyse post-resolution feedback and performance data to refine content and tools.

• Request Fulfilment:

  • Shift Left: Automate fulfilment for standard requests such as password resets or access changes.

  • Shift Right: Monitor completion success rates and user satisfaction with the process.

• Problem Management:

  • Shift Left: Encourage frontline teams to identify recurring issues early.

  • Shift Right: Observe production data to identify systemic root causes and long-term fixes.

• Change Enablement:

  • Shift Left: Empower teams to implement low-risk changes quickly and confidently.

  • Shift Right: Validate changes post-deployment using real-time monitoring and user feedback.

The Human Element

Both strategies rely on a learning culture and cross-team collaboration:

• Empower Service Desk analysts with training and trust.

• Encourage open communication between operations and development.

• Treat user feedback as a core performance indicator, not an afterthought.

Bringing It Together

Shift Left and Shift Right are not opposites. They are complementary strategies that connect efficiency with experience.

By bringing resolution closer to the user (or lower tiers) and learning closer to production, IT teams can build a truly adaptive service management model; one that balances efficiency, reliability, and user satisfaction.

How is your organisation approaching Shift Left and Shift Right? Have you found the right balance between efficiency and experience? Share your insights and talk to us today.