TLDR: A new report from SolarWinds indicates that generative AI (GenAI) is dramatically reducing incident response times for IT Service Management (ITSM) teams, leading to significant efficiency gains and substantial cost savings. Organizations leveraging GenAI are resolving incidents nearly 18% faster, saving an average of 4.87 hours per incident.
AUSTIN, Texas – October 21, 2025 – A groundbreaking report released by SolarWinds, a prominent provider of IT management software, highlights the transformative impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on IT Service Management (ITSM) operations. The ‘2025 State of ITSM Report’ reveals that teams adopting GenAI are experiencing a significant reduction in incident resolution times, fostering greater efficiency and allowing IT professionals to focus on strategic initiatives.
The comprehensive report, which analyzed over 2,000 ITSM systems and more than 60,000 aggregated and anonymized customer data points collected between August 1, 2024, and July 31, 2025, establishes a clear performance gap between organizations that have integrated GenAI into their workflows and those that have not. The findings demonstrate that what began as an efficiency play is now fundamentally reshaping team structures and redefining the ITSM experience.
Key findings from the report include:
Faster Resolutions: Organizations utilizing GenAI in ITSM saw their average incident resolution time drop from 27.42 hours to 22.55 hours. This translates to an average saving of 4.87 hours per incident, representing a 17.8 percent reduction in resolution time.
Significant Performance Gap: The disparity is even more pronounced when comparing GenAI adopters to non-adopters. Non-GenAI customers recorded an average incident resolution time of 32.46 hours, nearly 10 hours slower than their GenAI-enabled counterparts. This represents a 30.5 percent improvement for organizations that have adopted GenAI.
Cumulative Time Savings: Across all GenAI-enabled organizations, a staggering 323,343 hours were collectively saved over the past year due to quicker incident resolutions.
Tangible ROI: The report underscores the financial benefits of GenAI adoption. For a mid-sized IT team managing 5,000 incidents annually, these time savings can amount to 24,350 hours of recovered work each year. Based on an estimated cost of $28 per hour for a help desk professional in the U.S., this equates to an annual saving of over $680,000.
Lauren Okruch, Senior Manager for ITSM at SolarWinds, emphasized the strategic importance of these findings. “By leveraging GenAI, ITSM teams can reclaim time and resources once spent on routine tasks, enabling them to focus on strategic initiatives that drive real business value,” Okruch stated. She added, “Looking ahead, embracing technologies like GenAI isn’t just about efficiency—it’s a strategic imperative for organizations aiming to innovate, stay ahead of change, and transform IT from a support function into a proactive driver of growth.”
The report details how GenAI-driven capabilities, such as automated ticket responses, intelligent knowledge article recommendations, and incident summaries, are instrumental in achieving these efficiency gains. These tools automate tedious tasks, allowing IT professionals to dedicate their expertise to more complex problems and innovation.
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Beyond mere efficiency, the adoption of GenAI is also fostering a cultural shift within ITSM. Organizations embracing GenAI tend to exhibit a more mature and innovation-driven approach, indicating a readiness to integrate self-service, knowledge management, and automation, which in turn promotes broader organizational innovation. This transformation positions IT departments not just as support functions, but as proactive drivers of business growth and value.
