Introducing Dr James Stanger, Chief Technology Evangelist at CompTIA. James is a recognized authority and active consultant in IT service management, security analytics, penetration testing, open source, and workforce development. An award-winning author, blogger, and educator, he has worked with organizations worldwide, including IBM, Tesco, Dell, and the University of Cambridge.

We spoke to James ahead of his talk at SITS in May. 

1. What’s been the proudest moment in your career?

Recently, I was in Antwerp, Belgium for a meeting of technical support professional leaders. During the meeting, I was approached by a 30-something IT professional who had made the change from being a primary school worker to being an ITSM analyst in less than a year. She thanked me for helping create videos and offerings that helped her make that transition quickly. I’ve been lucky enough to have many experiences like this over the years. I know how lonely it is to not know what to do next, or not have a place to go with my current skillset. Being able to help people avoid those feelings, get into great careers, and support businesses is by far the most important thing I do.

2. What tips would you give Service Desk & IT Support Professionals looking to drive their IT services forward?

To me, ITSM is all about customer experience (CX). If support professionals want to move forward, then focus on the key metrics that make customers successful. Once you have those metrics in focus, you’ll then stop boiling the ocean and start focusing on relevant skills and relevant IT services.

Moving forward with the most relevant IT services involves a data-driven approach to transforming the services you provide, and transforming your worker skillsets. Nothing is more transformational to an organization than education. But, just training folks won’t move the IT services needle forward. You need to focus on the trifecta of data gathering, data analysis, and key technical skillsets.

3. What’s your most memorable work moment?

Years ago, I was asked by a CEO of an MSP to create a set of pen testing service offerings. She wanted to help her small company move from traditional technical support into security. Based on her request, I started gathering data about the most effective pen testing service services, procedures, and applications. I did some competitive analysis. But, the data kept driving me elsewhere.

Instead of simply focusing on providing an answer to the CEO’s ask, I started asking more, well, penetrating questions about what businesses really needed when it came to security. I listened to the data, which told me that the next best step for her MSP wasn’t providing pen testing services: The next best step was to provide security analytics services – something related to pen testing, but actually quite different. I recommended that the MSP focus on security analytics and SOC services during the CEO’s quarterly senior management meeting. My most memorable work moment was the CEO’s reaction just after my report: She stood up, initially looked a bit confused, kind of shook her head in an almost-exasperated way, and then smiled at the group and said, “This is brilliant – you ignored everything I asked for. You followed the data, and we now know what to do for the next five years.”

4. What are the key points you’ll be covering in your seminar session at this year’s SITS?

The organizations that are winning the ITSM day are those that are successfully mapping their technology, workers, and processes to customer experience (CX). IT services and skills without a business partner context are a bit like listening to someone play a guitar randomly without regard for the tune being played. So, as you focus on upskilling workers, focus on capturing CX data, and how specific IT skills can drive a specific business outcome. That way, you’ll be able to create and re-invent relevant IT services.

5. What are you looking forward to the most at SITS?

The key thing I’m looking forward to at SITS is interacting with people from around the world. I attend events around the world – from London to Los Angeles, from Cambridge to Cape Town, and from Tokyo to Toronto. SITS is well within the top 5 events, because the sessions are so relevant, and everyone is so willing to share ideas, perspectives, and experiences.

Dr James Stanger’s session titled ‘Are you (and your workers) eXperienced?’ will be held at SITS, The Service Desk & IT Support Show, on 10-11 May 2023 at ExCeL London. You can now register for your free ticket here.