The Service Desk Institute (SDI) has been connecting service professionals across the world since 1988 and is the leading global community for everyone working in the service and support industry. Our mission is to inspire service desks and support teams to be brilliant.

With a passion for providing industry best practice and sharing knowledge, SDI is dedicated to guiding, inspiring, and connecting ITSM, service desk and support communities. A respected, trusted and independent advisor to the industry, SDI has inspired thousands of organisations and professionals around the world to embark on journeys of service improvement and to be the best they can possibly be. For more information, visit www.servicedeskinsitute.com

As organisations adopt experience data to optimise and enhance IT services, one critical question remains: how do we ensure the experience data truly improves the employee experience?
In this webinar, Sakari Kyrö from HappySignals explores how experience data—real feedback from end-users—can be used for better IT decisions. By aligning AI behaviour with what users actually experience and expect, organisations can avoid common pitfalls of automation and build systems that drive satisfaction, reduce friction, and deliver real value.
Join us to discover how bringing human experience into ITSM leads to better outcomes in day-to-day operations—from faster resolutions and fewer escalations to higher employee satisfaction and trust in digital services.

Top 3 Use Cases for using experience data in ITSM

This session explores how SCC has embedded Experience Level Agreements into its workplace strategy. Mark Franzen, UK Digital Workplace Experience Leader, shares how SCC evolved its approach from advisory and personal development to day-in-the-life analysis and outcome-based delivery. Through internal transformation and customer case studies, the session highlights how XLAs have helped uncover pain points, improve productivity, and reshape service conversations around what truly matters to end users.

Experience First: SCC’s XLA Journey Towards Measurable Outcomes

What if you could tap into millions of employee voices to guide your IT improvement strategy? In this session, we’ll explore the most common challenges employees face in their interactions with IT—and the proven methods organizations have used to overcome them. Backed by real-world feedback data, we’ll uncover:

- The main reasons for unhappiness in IT support is why the Service Portal often frustrates more than it helps.

- How to reduce ticket reassignments and improve resolution speed

- Why chasing high satisfaction targets can backfire - and what to do instead.

Whether you're just starting your ITXM journey or refining your continual improvement practices, this session will equip you with actionable insights that turn experience into measurable impact.

Turning experience into action: Common improvement areas as told by millions of people!

Power Design's journey supplementing traditional Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) has shaped customer and employee experiences.

Josh begins by contrasting SLAs—focused on technical, process-based metrics—with XLAs, which prioritize user satisfaction, emotional impact, and journey-based outcomes. Using Power Design's ATLAS program as a case study, Josh demonstrates how the team reimagined operations to align with their mission, leveraging the innovative XM Tree framework.

This visual tool roots strategy in the customer journey, mapping touchpoints, identifying "Moments of Magic," and tracing outcomes back to foundational values.

Attendees will discover how Power Design's shift to XLAs empowered teams to exceed expectations, foster loyalty, and deliver memorable experiences that go beyond the numbers—transforming metrics from mere measurements into drivers of business success and customer delight.

From SLA to XLA: Turning Metrics into Magic

This session explores a user-centred approach to improving digital operational services, with a focus on making systems simpler, faster and more effective for all stakeholders. It highlights the importance of understanding both the practical and emotional experiences of users, gathering feedback and using insights to continuously enhance service delivery. Watch now to learn about the transformation of services in complex environments, including the challenges of integrating digital solutions in setting where traditional processes, such as printing, remain essential. The session emphasises how direct engagement with users can reveal critical insights, leading to meaningful improvements in service design, delivery and the overall user experience.

Tipping the Scales of Justice with XLAs

Get ready for a real-world business adventure! In "Scaling Peaks, Breaking the Service Sound Barrier: Unisys' Supersonic Leap to Experience," Patrycja Sobera reveals how Unisys made a bold move in 2020. The company shifted from a traditional IT provider to a global leader in experience management. Patrycja Sobera, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Workplace Solutions at Unisys, is a pioneer in experience management. She was instrumental in the company's bold 2020 pivot to Experience Level Agreements (XLAs), shifting the focus from traditional IT metrics to the actual human experience.

Under her leadership, Unisys created its first Experience Management Office, driving significant improvements in client productivity and employee engagement.

In 2020, Unisys reinvented itself by becoming the first major IT provider to center its business on experience. The company rebuilt its solutions around Experience Level Agreements (XLAs), which measure how employees and customers actually experience technology. Today, as a Global Founding Member of the XLA Institute, Unisys helps set industry standards. 

Patrycja's story is proof that betting on customer and employee experience can drive significant business success.

Scaling Peaks, Breaking the Service Sound Barrier: Unisys' Supersonic Leap to Experience

The Experience Economy is a rapidly evolving landscape, prompting a massive rethinking of experience design and management. In this dynamic environment, both commercial and public organizations are questioning how their culture, work methods, and leadership will evolve.

During the "Market of Ideas" session, Sarah Nicastro will facilitate an engaging dialogue with attendees and industry experts to explore the future of Experience Level Agreements (XLAs) and the direction of experience management. She will delve into the critical questions shaping this new era, guiding a collaborative exchange of insights on the path forward. This interactive session is a unique opportunity to contribute to the ongoing conversation about business transformation and the role of leadership in a human-centric economy.

The Market of Ideas

Every day, your team pushes the same boulder up the mountain - tickets pile up, users complain, and tomorrow brings the exact same challenges. But what if that rock could stay at the top? What if your service desk could actually prevent problems instead of just reacting to them?

The most successful IT teams have discovered something revolutionary: every major incident leaves breadcrumbs. This session reveals how Freshservice's intelligent incident management and CMDB capabilities help you connect those dots before disaster strikes.

What you'll discover:
o Predict before you react: Use Freshservice's incident patterns and CMDB relationships to identify brewing problems before they explode
o Connect the invisible dots: Map asset dependencies and change impacts that most teams never see coming
o Turn chaos into clarity: Transform scattered incident data into actionable intelligence that actually prevents future fires

This session is perfect for IT leaders tired of playing defense and ready to get ahead of their next crisis.

Your CMDB is lying to you: What Greek tragedies teach us about incident management (and how to fix yours)

How does a College based in Lancashire UK, become the first academic institution and public sector organisation to achieve 'World - Class' Service Desk Certification status? 
How did the IT Services department go from “uncertifiable” to 5-Star, and what impact and value has this created?

Join us for an exclusive session with Runshaw College’s Head of IT Services Alex Harding, as he shares their story, the challenges they faced, and the measurable outcomes they achieved.

In this webinar, you’ll discover:

• Runshaw's inspiring Service Desk Certification Journey
• Challenges and obstacles 
• How Runshaw improved productivity by +23% despite increasing ticket volumes
• How customer satisfaction (CSAT) rose from 4.5 to 4.96/5, climbing every year post-Certification.
• What it takes to embed a culture of continual improvement and sustain world-class performance.
• Return on Investment (ROI) figures to shout about.

Whether you’re a CIO, IT service leader, or service desk manager, this is your chance to hear real-world insights from a team that proved the ROI of IT support, gained industry recognition, and built trust across their organisation.

 Don’t miss the opportunity to learn how your service desk can follow in Runshaw’s footsteps and achieve staggering results like theirs.

The Road To World Class: How Runshaw Became The 1st Educational Organisation to Achieve 5 Star Certification

In this session, we will explore how Virtual Personal Assistants (VPAs) are revolutionizing service desk operations, enabling teams to "Automate, Elevate, Innovate". This session is designed for service desks seeking to harness AI and automation for greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Discover how AI has evolved into essential business infrastructure, representing a "fundamental paradigm shift" where AI agents actively solve problems. This empowers your team to become smarter, faster, and truly future-proof.

Rina will guide you through the "AI Paradox," demonstrating how to implement AI and automation to enhance—not replace—the human touch.  You'll learn to balance operational efficiency with emotional intelligence (EQ) by building automation strategies that preserve personalization and reinforce trust. 

This talk isn't just about improving your service desk; it's about building a high-impact, future-proof career in IT Service Management (ITSM). Rina will introduce her book, "The ITSM Playbook®," as your strategic roadmap to navigate corporate challenges and build a career path to a six-figure salary. Learn to communicate your impact beyond technical jargon, securing your seat at the leadership table.

The Super Agent: How a VPA Makes Your Team Smarter, Faster, and Future-Proof

Designing with intent: shaping trusted digital workers to serve with confidence and care

AI may grab the headlines, but Intelligent Automation (IA) is where real transformation happens. IA serves as the container that unites all automation tools and methods—including AI—into a coordinated system designed to deliver human-centered, outcome-driven results.This session explores how to achieve a sensible blend of human and AI-supported work—where assistants help you do more, stress less, and protect the quality of your results. Whether you operate in healthcare, finance, government, manufacturing, or within an IT organization, the principles of IA apply across all service-driven industries.You’ll learn why assist before you agentify is the smarter approach, how governance and guardrails sustain trust, and how data management ensures automation remains safe and meaningful. We’ll also decipher the emerging field of agentic AI—exploring the discrete designs and roles of assistants and agents—alongside the growing skills of prompt crafting (for assistants) and prompt engineering (for agent design). Finally, we’ll look at how cost control through measured consumption keeps innovation sustainable.This is automation done right—human-centric, outcome-driven, and ready for the next evolution of service management across every service-based enterprise.

When AI Works with You: The Human Side of Intelligent Automation

This session guides organizations on checking if they are ready for AI. It explains how to assess goals, data, infrastructure, skills, and culture before adoption. The focus is on setting clear expectations and starting small to avoid failure.

How to Assess AI Readiness for Service Delivery

While organizations are rushing to adopt AI, the question of governance and risk management is becoming more and more important.

How to balance the benefits of early adoption and effective management on AI risks? ITIL offers a practical AI risk management approach based on the ITIL 6C model for AI capabilities. It allows to identify and assess AI risks in the organization’s context and find relevant and effective countermeasures.

Watch this session to learn about:

·        The typical AI risks

·        The ITIL 6C model for AI functional capabilities

·        A practical approach to AI risk assessment and management.

AI in ITSM: the 6C model for planning and risk management

The three most common root causes of failed Changes are failed communication, poor underlying documentation(CMDB), and not getting “the right” approvals.  These 3 distinct causes all have a common denominator the processes required to execute well contrast with natural human behavior.  Communication is always a challenge in large organizations. No one enjoys keeping the CMDB up-to-date, and it’s easy to forget every single person who should approve a change and we end up going with the default people. AI can address each of these root causes efficiently and effectively. In this session you’ll be introduced you to a new process with AI augmentation that aligns with natural human behaviors. We’ve infused this process into our change enablement function and haven’t had a roll back since.

Utilizing AI in your Change Management/Enablement

AI is transforming service desks—but if we’re not careful, speed can come at the cost of connection.

In this session, Dr. Josh Nelson explores how to implement AI and automation in ways that enhance—not replace—the human touch. As service operations scale, the challenge isn’t just doing more with less. It’s doing better with intent.

You’ll learn how to build automation strategies that preserve emotional intelligence (EQ), personalize interactions at scale, and reinforce trust in every experience. Drawing from real-world insights, Josh will show how to identify where automation adds value—and where human connection still matters most.

Key takeaways:

How to scale service without losing personalization or empathy

Where to apply automation for real impact (and where not to)

Balancing operational efficiency with emotional intelligence

Building AI-driven workflows that feel intentional, responsive, and human

Walk away with a framework for delivering smart, scalable service—without sacrificing what makes it personal.

AI Meets EQ: Automating Service Without Losing Human Connection

Enterprise resilience today is defined less by how quickly organizations recover, and more by how proactively they respond. IT service management has long been central to this resilience, providing stability when disruptions occur. Now, weaving AI into core ITSM practices can further reinforce that resilience and add a stronger proactive edge.

But as of today, AI in ITSM is just getting started with smarter ticketing that is driven by intelligent triaging, ticket summarization, and, at best, conversational assistance for L1 requests. While useful, these capabilities alone are not enough to drive resilience. 

To achieve true resilience, AI must be deeply infused into core areas such as major incident response and change management. Join us for this 20-minute session where we explore the limitations of current best-practice ITSM without AI and then reimagine how AI advancements can enable faster, smarter, and more resilient incident response and change implementation. 

Key takeaways:

Explore a seven-step AI roadmap for ITSM that guides organizations in strategically integrating AI across everyday workflows.

Embrace an AI-assisted, human-led incident response strategy, where AI supports incidents diagnosis and delivers crucial insights, enabling IRT members to act faster and minimize downtime.

Minimize change risks with AI agents acting as shadow change managers, suggesting foolproof rollout plans, detecting conflicts early, and ensuring safer change implementations.

Shaping Enterprise resilience with AI-driven ITSM that moves with the times

This webinar explores the practical applications and transformative impact of artificial intelligence and automation across American industries in 2025. Based on comprehensive analysis of current market developments, we examine how AI has evolved from experimental technology to essential business infrastructure, reshaping everything from consumer interactions to enterprise operations.The presentation demonstrates that we are witnessing not merely incremental technological progress, but a fundamental paradigm shift where AI agents actively solve problems rather than simply respond to queries. This transformation is supported by unprecedented infrastructure investments and breakthrough capabilities that are democratizing access to sophisticated automation tools.

Transforming America's Technological Landscape in 2025

As the Experience Management Office (XMO) becomes a more common feature in organizations, the discussion on the right tools to support it is becoming more lively. Many organizations are building their own custom tools, while software companies are offering a range of solutions. There is a frequent question about how tooling will evolve in the Experience Economy, which tools will adapt from the "Service Economy," and what new ones will emerge.

Tooling In The Age of Experience

We embarked on our journey towards achieving 5-star world-class accreditation with a vision to benchmark our operations against the industry’s best, thereby elevating our service to clients. This pursuit stemmed from a desire for self-improvement and a commitment to providing exceptional support aligned with Clifford Chance's strategic direction.
 
Our journey began with an in-depth analysis of our Service Desk, identifying areas for improvement and leveraging our existing strengths. We developed a strategy with clearly defined measurable goals focused on service quality. Implementing this strategy involved comprehensive staff training, upgraded technologies, and process reengineering to maximise operational efficiency and responsiveness. The benefits of this journey have been substantial: marked improvements in customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and team morale.
 
Benchmarking against industry best practices provided a clear roadmap, ensuring we stayed aligned with world class standards. Throughout this process, our focus always remained on the client by fostering a culture of feedback and continuous improvement, we exceeded client expectations.
 
Our approach to recruiting and retaining the right talent was crucial because it ensured we had a skilled and motivated team capable of driving our initiatives forward. This approach highlighted the importance of building a strong workforce to achieve operational excellence and sustained success.

A pivotal factor in our success has been our unique partnership with Microland who manage our service desk in Bangalore, India. This open and transparent relationship was decisive in driving our service desk transformation. Microland’s clear communication and genuine commitment to our goals have empowered us to effectively tackle challenges, continuously innovate, and achieve exceptional results.

The Journey to 5 Star Service

In this session, Smrity will explore various methods to measure user satisfaction, such as Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS). These metrics can be efficiently gathered using survey tools like ServiceNow, Happy Signals, and eSurvey. Smrity will also discuss the role of sentiment analysis, identifying the ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘why’ of user sentiments.

Using two case studies from real-life customer interactions, Smrity will demonstrate how best practice can improve customer satisfaction, including prompt response times, effective communication, technical proficiency, and strong problem-solving skills. Smrity will emphasize the importance of focusing on the bottom quartile of service desk professionals to enhance overall service performance. By identifying their challenges and providing targeted support and training, organizations can significantly uplift the performance of the entire team.

Enhancing User Satisfaction in Service Desk Operations

The road to excellence consists of multiple improvement steps. Learn about recent ITIL developments designed to provide enterprises with practical recommendations for achieving improvements that enable business goals.

Discover how ITIL can help improve the Service Desk... and much more.

The University of Glasgow has been on a service improvement journey for a number of years now (who hasn’t?), which has led to a stronger focus on common bonds between teams and lines of business, together with (where possible) a common approach to Service Management through shared measures, processes and platform.

In this presentation, Mark will walk through some real world examples of these in action.

Using common measures, processes and platform to improve service delivery

In the current economic landscape, CIOs face the challenge of driving digital transformation with constrained resources. The 2024 Freshservice IT Service Management Benchmark Report (FBR) provides crucial insights for IT leaders to optimize operations and implement effective solutions efficiently.

Join us as we explore service management capabilities designed to help your organization achieve service excellence and operational efficiency. This session will emphasize the advantages of benchmarking and evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs) to enhance IT services and demonstrate IT’s business value.

Key takeaways:
* Driving Continuous Improvement: Learn how benchmarking can foster ongoing enhancements in processes, products, and services.
* Critical KPIs for IT Service Management: Understand the seven essential KPIs and their application in measuring and improving IT service management.
* Strategies for Workforce Efficiency: Discover methods to boost employee satisfaction and agent efficiency, contributing to a high-performing workforce.
* The Impact of Generative AI: Explore the transformative potential of generative AI and its implications for IT service management.

Elevate IT Performance: Key KPIs and Benchmarking Strategies to drive business value

Discover how your service desk can flourish, just like NHS South, Central and West, through a well-designed and implemented set of processes, procedures, and practices. Learn how to onboard new customers seamlessly, deliver value faster, and achieve outstanding customer engagement and satisfaction.

Plus:

- Designing and communicating effective processes

- Accelerating value delivery

- Enhancing customer satisfaction

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from their service improvement journey and explore strategies for your own success.

Transforming Service Delivery in NHS IT while achieving SDC

Drawing on his experiences as a service desk leader at Waitrose, John Lewis, Wipro and Fifosys, Barry will be discussing how to set you and your team up for success as you embark on a journey to build best practice and utilise benchmarking in your Service Desk.

Starting with Why?

In the fast-paced world of help desks, there are always opportunities for improvement. The key is selecting the right processes and metrics to focus on. In this webinar, you’ll learn

1. How to identify the most impactful metrics for benchmarking
2. Strategies for implementing small, continuous process improvements
3. Leverage data to track and measure service performance

Join us to learn how a smart approach to benchmarking can drive significant performance enhancements and keep your help desk on the path to continuous improvement.

Elevate Your IT Service Desk: The art to finding the right metrics to benchmark for maximum impact

Guiding Service Desks towards greater success and influence within an organisation—the principle of building bridges. Building bridges means connecting people, processes, and technology through best practices to create a seamless, efficient, and forward-thinking environment. It’s about how a service desk can lead by example, setting the standard for excellence that others in the organisation will want to follow.

Building Bridges – How a Service Desk Can Lead by Example within a organisation

Best Practice & Benchmarking For Service Desk Excellence

Key Takeaways:

* Cross-team collaboration best practices: Operations teams are challenged due to limited visibility and collaboration with their counterparts in development and support. Learn ways to connect software development, IT operations, and IT support teams to reduce silos and improve teamwork.
* Change Enablement Practices: Teams are embracing innovative change enablement practices, such as automating risk models and integrating CI/CD pipelines. These practices help manage standard and high-risk changes more efficiently, reducing bottlenecks and saving time.
* Incident Management Innovations: Highlighting the importance of proactive incident management, including the use of playbooks, smart on-call scheduling, and team swarming. These innovations help reduce alert fatigue, improve incident response, and foster better coordination during major incidents.

Key Innovations in Modern Operations Management

Service Desk

Help Desk

Atlassian

Collaboration

Best Practice

Benchmarking

Incident Management

Automation

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IT Service Management

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Key Innovations in Modern Operations Management

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Service Desk Institute (SDI)