Jon Holgate, Head of Infrastructure at The University of Cambridge, will be taking to the stage at SITS 2026 for Transforming Service Delivery at the University of Cambridge: A people-first journey empowered by process and platform
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
At the scale we are operating at Cambridge, it’s not about a single project landing—it’s about creating an environment where people feel in control of the services they run, understand the impact they’re having, and can continuously improve things.
When that change happens, you see better outcomes for users, but also a real lift in morale and professionalism across the teams.
How did you get into service transformation and what made you want to take a people-first approach?
I didn’t set out to “do transformation” as a concept; it usually starts with something not working as well as it should.
In complex environments like universities, you quickly realise that process and tooling only get you so far. The real constraint is almost always clarity, ownership, and how people work together.
A people-first approach isn’t a ‘soft’ approach, it’s actually the most effective way to deliver sustainable change, because it addresses the root cause rather than just the symptoms.
What’s the one change that made the biggest difference to how your teams work day to day?
Clarity of service ownership and accountability.
Once staff and managers understand what they own, how it performs, and what “good” looks like, decision-making becomes faster and more consistent.
It also creates a natural pull for better tooling, better data, and better processes, rather than pushing those things onto teams.
What are you most looking forward to at SITS?
Speaking to peers about how they are tackling similar challenges. There’s a lot of common ground across sectors, such as complex estates, rising expectations, constrained resources, etc.
It’s always valuable to compare approaches, particularly where organisations have found simple, pragmatic ways to make progress.
What do you want visitors to take away from your session?
That meaningful improvement doesn’t come from a single transformation programme or tool, it comes from sustained, incremental change that teams can actually absorb.
SITS – Service Desk & IT Support Show, taking place at Excel London 13-14 May 2026.
For further information, please visit www.servicedeskshow.com.