IT service management forms the backbone of any forward looking IT infrastructure.  Whether it’s the latest trends, techniques or strategies, the content in this channel will help you optimize your organization's IT operations.

IT Support Outsourcing is at an inflection point, and there are no shortage of stumbling blocks to navigate. How do we clear these hurdles and journey towards successful IT Support Outsourcing relationships? It’s time to dissect and address the issues that can make or break the outsourcing experience. 

Leveraging over three decades of experience, Jeff Rumburg, Managing Partner of MetricNet, will dive into real-world case studies, analyzing these obstacles and providing practical solutions to overcome them. 

In this enlightening webcast, you’ll get to:

• Review the 11 major failure modes in IT outsourcing relationships and their impact on performance. 
• Unearth effective strategies to dodge these pitfalls and ensure a mutually beneficial outsourcing contract. 
• Learn how to establish a non-zero-sum perspective in an IT outsourcing contract, fostering a mindset of shared success. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to go beyond the surface-level challenges and dig into the root causes.

IT Support Outsourcing in 2026: Rising Above the Typical Challenges

Managed Service Providers face mounting pressure to adapt to rapid shifts in technology, increasing cyber threats and tightening demands around regulation and compliance. Making all of this more complex is the increasing role of artificial intelligence and living up to customer expectations in an “I want it now” world.

We’ll ask a panel of top MSPs which trends – including the role of AI in automation, constant cyber threats and the challenges posed by tool sprawl – they’re focused on as 2026 approaches.

Expect to hear how:

· AI can deliver ROI and make your MSP business more efficient.
· To tailor cybersecurity offerings for customers in an increasingly hostile environment.
· To scale your business by focusing on high-margin services, building strategic partnerships and automating operations.

How Top North American MSPs Are Navigating the Shifting Tech and Business Landscape

AI is both a technology that MSPs have to deliver and support for their customers as well as holding the potential to transform their own operations. There is a need to deliver AI solutions that are secure, meet compliance regulations and produce the anticipated productivity gains. 

Given those demands, how are MSPs reacting to AI and what potential does it have to positively transform the life of a managed service provider and their customers?

The MSP AI Journey: How AI is Impacting the World of MSPs

Is your IT support team struggling to meet performance goals? Without benchmarking, it’s impossible to know how you stack up against industry peers or where to focus improvement efforts. 

In this webcast, Jeff Rumburg, Managing Partner of MetricNet, will demonstrate how to use benchmarking to identify performance gaps, set realistic goals, and implement actionable strategies for improvement. Attendees will learn how to leverage benchmarking data to achieve world-class IT support performance.

Benchmarking Your Way to World-Class IT Service and Support

The hype about AI is everywhere, and organizations are rushing to buy and use AI-powered tools and technologies. But where can the powers of AI and automation do the most good and provide tangible improvements? Is AI going to wind up being just another “shiny new thing” that fails to live up to the marketing promises, or will it make substantial improvements in the working lives of IT service consumers? 

One surefire way to make sure you are getting results that make a real difference is to know where speed and ease matter most. (Hint: Not everything has to be fast to be better.) Gathering and analyzing experience data from your service consumers and acting on what they tell you—in other words, being data-driven—takes the guesswork out of bringing new technologies into your toolkit. 

Key takeaways: 
- Why experience goes far beyond the legacy satisfaction data. 
- The consequences of inside-out thinking and how experience data helps avoid it.
- Making your investment in AI-powered tools produce the best results and better ROI. 
 
About the speaker
Roy Atkinson serves as CEO and Principal Advisor for award-winning advisory firm Clifton Butterfield, LLC, and is a Top 10 Thought Leader in both IT Strategy and IT Operations, according to Thinkers360. He is a certified Experience Champion and certified ITXM Professional. He has written and spoken extensively on the topic of AI in ITSM.

The Future of ITSM: Using Experience Data to Dial-In AI and Automation

Digital disruption and cybersecurity threats are fundamentally changing how businesses deliver IT services. Organizations must simultaneously protect their infrastructure, speed up innovation, and meet rising customer expectations - creating a complex balancing act for IT leaders who need to demonstrate clear business value while maintaining operational excellence.

The integration of ITIL4 and Agile methodologies provides a robust foundation for modern service delivery. This unified approach breaks down traditional barriers between development and operations, enabling teams to innovate rapidly while maintaining service quality. By combining ITIL4's structured governance with Agile's adaptive planning, organizations can create resilient IT services that evolve with business needs while keeping risks in check.

In this session, Maria Sansom (Digital Delivery Manager) delves into key concepts, such as continuous improvement and adaptive planning and explores how combining ITIL4 and Agile can drive efficiency, boost innovation and supercharge value creation. 

Key takeaways:
- Understand Synergies: Learn how ITIL4 and Agile practices complement each other to enhance digital delivery.
- Implementation Insights: Gain practical strategies for integrating ITIL4 and Agile in your organization.
- Overcome Challenges: Discover common challenges and effective solutions for implementing these methodologies.
- Measure Success: Learn how to measure the success of ITIL4 and Agile practices in driving operational excellence.
- Customer-Centric Approach: Understand the importance of customer-centricity in optimizing digital delivery.


About the Speaker
With a decade of experience in the telecommunications industry, Maria Sansom is an ITIL4 Master and Prince2 Agile certified professional. They bring five years of expertise in Service Management, ensuring efficient and effective service delivery.

Next-Gen Service Delivery: The ITIL4 and Agile Formula

To drive efficiency with ITSM, companies should understand the components needed to manage their current and future digital technology estate. While this may sound simple, there are significant pressures on digital technology platforms on top of governance requirements and time allotted for incident resolution. As they say, “the devil is in the detail.” 

Companies must consider the complexity within their service management system as well as their incident response and resolution plans when considering ITSM goals. 

This webinar will challenge your understanding of good ITSM practices and focus on the key concerns to driving efficiency with ITSM, by asking companies: 
1) What are the efficiency challenges your organization should focus on? 
2) Why should you prioritize the drivers for efficiency? 
3) How can operational resilience compliance assist you in meeting the key challenges?  

Tune into this session presented by operational resilience expert Steve Yates, as he explores ITSM challenges and covers the importance of this function and its criticality within compliance. 

By the end of the session, you will be able to:
- Form an understanding of the challenges facing efficiency for ITSM.
- Consider the challenges within ITSM you should consider for prioritizing efficiency.
- Be aware of why operational resilience should be a key operational requirement.

Why is ITSM so Critical for Operational Resilience?

What does it take to build a service desk that consistently delivers exceptional performance? 

In this webcast, industry thought leader Jeff Rumburg will share insights from MetricNet’s database of top-performing service desks. He’ll discuss the key drivers of success, including workforce management, technology investments, and leadership practices. Attendees will learn actionable strategies to elevate their service desk performance and benchmark against the best in the industry.

How to Build a High-Performance Service Desk: Lessons from the Best

How can IT organizations provide great employee and customer experiences using ITSM principles? By ensuring they provide a solid and reliable system and application environment. ITSM promises to get you there, but many organizations stop after some basic practices because it gets too hard or labor intensive.

Using AI and automation both within ITSM management suites and to integrate other tools in the environment makes it a lot easier to succeed by being able to leverage the reams of data available from monitoring, security and other tools. However, you still need a business-oriented plan and an ITSM operating model that gets you there. 

This session from Influencer Phyllis Drucker will demonstrate how to use AI or automation to deliver the ITSM foundational items needs and a solid operating model that sustains a human-focused operational approach.

Kicking ITSM Up a Notch With AI And Automation

Service delivery is at a breaking point. Every day, headlines scream about another major outage or security breach, while stakeholder demands and system complexities skyrocket. IT leaders are at a crossroads: how can they navigate these challenges and come out on top?

Join Jeffrey Tefertiller - Founder of Service Management Leadership for this session to dive into the game-changing potential of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and intelligent automation. Discover how these technologies can be seamlessly integrated into your existing systems to exceed stakeholder expectations and explore practical strategies for incorporating these powerful enablers, focusing on the right timing and methods to maximize impact. 

Key Takeaways:
- Grasp the current landscape of service delivery challenges.
- Gain actionable strategies for integrating AI and intelligent automation.
- Understand the benefits of these technologies in enhancing stakeholder value.
- Learn the optimal timing and methods for successful implementation.

The C-Suite Blueprint: Solving Service Delivery Challenges with AI and Intelligent Automation

Are you prepared for the future of IT support? Emerging technologies and shifting customer expectations are reshaping the industry. 

In this webcast, industry thought leader Jeff Rumburg will explore the trends and predictions that will define IT support in 2025. He’ll discuss AI, automation, remote support, and other innovations that are transforming the landscape. Attendees will learn how to stay ahead of the curve and position their organizations for success in the years to come.

The Future of IT Support: Trends and Predictions for 2025

Join Jeff Rumburg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at MetricNet, as he explores how AI is revolutionizing IT service management. Using case study examples, Jeff will share practical insights on how these technologies have driven significant improvements in service delivery, focusing on measurable outcomes such as reduced ticket volumes, improved resolution times, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Attendees Will Learn:
- Real-world examples of AI integration within IT service management and the measurable benefits achieved.
- Practical strategies for implementing AI technologies to optimize IT service operations.
- Metrics and KPIs critical for evaluating the success of AI integrations in IT services.

Enhance IT Service Management with AI: Proven Strategies and Metrics for Success

Is the Service Portal dead? If you think it is, this session is for you!

We’ll look at the impact of AI and other emerging technologies on human-centered support design, focusing on the service portal. This session covers the foundational elements of building a human-centered service experience and how emerging trends will impact that design.

Key topics and takeaways include:
- Designing the service portal as a contact channel in an omnichannel support design.
- Information and application center.
- Entry for walk-up services.
- True self-service (vs. just logging a ticket).
- Replacement for the corporate intranet.
- A dive into the ways generative AI changes knowledge management and the service portal.
- A look at the self-service experience of the future: Will it happen in the portal? What replaces the portal if it doesn’t?

As participants will learn, until tools mature beyond the service portal, it will always need to be built. Learn how to build it from an expert in the field who focuses on the human experience, designing portals customers love!

About the Speaker
Phyllis Drucker, the 2023 HDI Lifetime Achievement Award winner, is a service management and leadership expert with over 20 years of experience in Business/IT Strategy, enterprise service management, governance, customer service, and support. She is an expert in Service Management tool design, including the service portal and service request catalog, HR automation, leadership, and team building. Her specialty is looking at innovative approaches to how people work that use today’s digital solutions: taking advantage of technological advances to transform how service and support are delivered.

The Service Portal Reimagined: AI, Human Design, and Beyond

Individual processes and practices are easy. There I said it. 

Standing alone, Incident Management, Change Enablement, Problem Management et al can improve quickly. After an initial spurt of improvement, pretty soon you are living with marginal gains but still missing real opportunities. 

The interfaces between the processes and their associated the value chains are the real future of service management. 

This presentation will show you how to manage key interfaces and the opportunities that presents to your stakeholders.

Service Integration and Management – The Key to Enterprise Transformation

Explore the transformative role of AI metrics in IT service and support with AI-Driven Success: Metrics That Matter. Jeff Rumburg delves into the critical AI metrics that are reshaping the landscape of IT service management. This session provides a comprehensive look at how these metrics not only enhance operational efficiency but also drive success in the era of AI.

Key Takeaways:
- Deep dive into essential AI metrics for IT service success.
- Strategies for implementing and interpreting AI metrics effectively.
- Insights from real-world case studies of AI-driven service improvements.
- Future trends in AI metrics and staying ahead in the IT industry.

This presentation is tailored for IT professionals aiming to harness AI for superior service delivery and operational excellence.

AI-Driven Success: Metrics That Matter

Most organizations are busy improving or transforming their IT operating model by introducing new ways of working (e.g. DevOps, ITIL 4, Lean Portfolio Management) and modernizing their IT management tool chain (e.g. DevOps tool chain, ITSM platforms, AIOps / Observability tools, CICD pipeline, etc.). 

But despite all our efforts we are still not in control! We lack transparency and traceability across our value streams, the CMDB is not up-to-date, we don't what applications we have, or what cloud resources are used. We have siloed teams and fragmented processes. We have no control on value, risk and costs. 

This is all due to fact that we miss the most important ingredient as part of our ITSM approach: DATA 

Data is the fuel for your IT service management processes. Without a solid data foundation (and common data model) your IT organization will run slow at pace, inability to take the right decisions, frictions, inability to automate IT processes, longer lead time for resolving incidents, and so on. 

ITSM data is for example about service / application portfolio, service catalogue, enterprise architecture and the CMDB, but also about all activities e.g. epics, features, changes, incidents, service requests, vulnerabilities as well as contracts, licenses, and so. 

This presentation will explain how a DATA DRIVEN approach to ITSM can deliver better value, safer and sooner, while optimizing user experience. By taking a data driven approach the system can be fixed and revolutionize the way the IT operates.

About the Speaker
Rob Akershoek is senior IT Management / DevOps architect at DXC and Co-Chair of the IT4IT Forum within The Open Group. He helps IT organizations to transform to become a lean and agile service provider, ready to manage the new digital ecosystem consisting of a hybrid cloud and multi-vendor sourcing landscape.

Data Driven ITSM- A New Approach to Manage Digital

For years, ServiceNow has been investing in AI and Gen AI for Service Operations (ITSM and ITOM). These investments are automating incident routing, identifying anomalies, providing assist recommendations, and predicting and preventing service disruptions.

During this webinar, Beyond the hype: AI and Gen AI from ServiceNow, discover how ServiceNow can help your organization reimagine IT service and operations through AI-enabled workflow automation. You’ll learn:

-The value of AI and Gen AI to the enterprise
-Key AI and Gen AI use cases from ServiceNow
-How to move ahead on your AI and Gen AI journey

Beyond the hype: AI and GenAI from ServiceNow

Managing alerts and incidents in today’s hybrid-cloud landscape presents significant challenges. Fragmented visibility and siloed data across on-premises and cloud deployments can disrupt traditional ITSM workflows, hindering incident resolution and proactive problem prevention. 

Explore how AI for IT operations (AIOps) can empower ITSM in hybrid cloud environments. Using AI and ML, AIOps streamlines and accelerates incident management within complex architectures.

Learn how you can use AIOps to: 
• Boost efficiency and speed: Automate tasks, streamline workflows, and resolve incidents faster. 
• Improve visibility and proactive Insights: Use a comprehensive view of your IT ecosystem and automate root-cause analysis. 
• Conquer hybrid-cloud complexity: Overcome configuration management challenges by simplifying data collection and enriching alerts and incidents across the IT stack.

Intelligent ITSM: Future-ready event and incident management with AlOps

Business in 2024 calls for a shift in the ITSM landscape, with the mainstream role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transforming workplaces. AI and its cutting-edge fact, generative AI bring to the forefront the importance of enhancing employee experiences, and ways to achieve it. It is also important for IT leaders to choose the right AI tools to avoid unnecessary tech spends while balancing organizational efficiency and productivity.

Join us for an in-depth discussion on the promise AI holds in ITSM, especially in transforming employee experiences, its challenges and how Freshworks is at the forefront of this AI revolution.

Here’s what you can expect to learn::

● The power of AI in enhancing employee experiences
● Facets of AI, with a special focus on generative AI
● Challenges in implementing generative AI
● Freshworks at the forefront of the AI revolution and its role in enhancing employee experiences through Freshservice and Freddy AI
● Best practices in implementing generative AI

Leveraging AI in the evolving and transformative ITSM landscape

The Future of ITSM

The evolution of IT service management (ITSM) stands at a crucial juncture, shaped profoundly by the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), network operations (NetOps), and security operations (SecOps). 

This presentation delves into the transformative impacts of these technologies on ITSM, forecasting a future where ITSM not only adapts but thrives in the complexity of modern digital ecosystems.

The Once and Future ITSM

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