Beyond ‘How We’ve Always Done It’: Systemically Transforming the Employee Journey with Hornbill
Warwickshire County Council will share how a systems thinking approach transformed its Starters, Leavers and Movers (SLaM) process across IT, HR, Facilities, Security and Finance. Replacing 17 disconnected forms with guided and integrated workflows in Hornbill, they cut email traffic by 92%, saved 3,675 hours annually, and strengthened security and employee experience. This session explores how executive sponsorship, cross-department collaboration and a willingness to challenge “we’ve always done it that way” delivered measurable operational and cultural change.
Transforming Service Delivery at the University of Cambridge: A people-first journey empowered by process and platform
Discover how the University of Cambridge reimagined IT service delivery across a complex, federated environment. Learn how a people-first approach, empowered by process excellence and a modern ITSM platform, improved data visibility and reporting while enabling teams to take ownership. We’ll share practical lessons, honest reflections, and how working with the right partner is helping us plan the next steps in our transformation journey.
A Blueprint for Moving from Ticket-Centric to Autonomous Operations
For years, the IT service desk has been structured around the ticket. Incidents, requests, and alerts all flow into queues, where analysts triage, route, diagnose, and resolve. But as environments become more complex and user expectations rise, ticket-centric operations are reaching a breaking point.
It’s time to flip the model.
Most AI and automation tools on the market today focus on speeding up ticket handling, but still assume the ticket is the core unit of work. In this session, we’ll explore how putting AI and automations in front of legacy ticketing tools are reshaping the future of IT. Rather than starting with a ticket, modern IT operations start with AI-driven detection, reasoning, and action and escalate into a traditional manual workflow only when human judgment is truly required.
If your team is overwhelmed with alerts, stretched thin by repetitive tasks, or struggling to meet user expectations, this session will give you a realistic, tactical look at how to build an automation-first foundation and make tickets the exception rather than the rule.
Teach Your Workflows to Think (So You Don’t Have To).
If your IT service management automation still depends on hard-coded rules and rigid workflows —you’re working way harder than you need to. In this session, we’ll show you how AI is flipping traditional service automation on its head, making workflows more adaptive, less brittle, and surprisingly human-friendly.
You’ll see how you can use agentic AI to dynamically guide decisions, accelerate fulfilment, and eliminate the overhead of constant rule-tweaking. We’ll explore how customers are cutting ticket volumes, speeding up resolutions, and delivering faster self-service—without scripting everything in advance or hiring a team of botsmiths.
Whether you're just starting to automate or looking to level-up legacy logic, this session will help you rethink what’s possible when your workflows are smart enough to think for themselves.
Are You Ready for ESM? A Practical Readiness Framework for Enterprise Service Management Success
Many organisations rush into Enterprise Service Management without understanding their true readiness, leading to failed implementations and frustrated stakeholders. This session introduces a practical readiness framework that helps organisations honestly assess their position before embarking on ESM adoption. Drawing on real implementation experiences, we explore the critical success factors that determine whether your organisation can successfully extend service management beyond IT—examining cultural maturity, governance structures, process standardisation, and stakeholder alignment. Attendees will gain actionable insights to identify gaps, build compelling business cases, and avoid the common pitfalls that derail ESM initiatives before they deliver value.
Velocity shock: 7 rules for Agentic AI survival
The agentic era marks the biggest shift in ITSM since the rise of ESM. But recent research tells us 85-95% of organisations aren’t seeing a measurable impact from AI. Adoption is high, but transformation is rare. As AI moves from tools to autonomous actors, leaders must rethink experience, efficiency, ownership, and trust. This keynote explores what agentic ESM looks like—through the lenses of employees, service teams, and the board. Backed by
global research and data, it reveals how data quality, psychological safety, and new measures of value determine whether agentic AI becomes a competitive advantage or an existential risk.
A 7-step roadmap for practical AI adoption in ITSM
One of the key differences between effective AI and failed AI in ITSM is preparation. From data quality and process maturity to model choice and governance, successful AI adoption depends more on preparation than technology alone. But, for many service desk teams, the challenge is knowing where to start with AI adoption without disrupting established ITSM practices.
To address this, we'll discuss a 7-step roadmap that helps IT teams build a strong foundation for AI adoption. It covers establishing reliable datasets, identifying workflow bottlenecks, and implementing the right guardrails. We will also examine a scenario to explore how structured AI adoption can translate into tangible outcomes.
Implementation Without Drama: A Practical Guide for ITSM Teams
Rolling out a new tool shouldn’t feel like a high‑wire act. We’ll share a proven approach to reduce risk and stress: readiness sprints, stakeholder mapping, and success metrics that matter. Expect actionable checklists and real‑world examples that help you launch confidently and keep momentum long after go‑live.
Automate Your Way to CMDB: From Static Records to Living Ecosystems
The CMDB is critical for ITIL-based service management, yet often fails due to manual upkeep and outdated data. This session explores how automation can transform the CMDB into a dynamic, self-sustaining ecosystem. We’ll cover theoretical models for automated discovery, additions or updates, and enrichment, ensuring real-time accuracy and compliance. Learn how governance and ITIL principles adapt when machines maintain configuration data, and why this shift is essential for resilience and continual improvement in modern service management.
No Longer Science Fiction: Putting AI to Work for SMB Service Desks Today
Cut through the hype and discover how SMBs and MSP service desks can harness practical AI solutions that make a difference. This session shares actionable strategies for integrating AI into your IT support operations—improving efficiency, enhancing user experience, and driving measurable business outcomes. Learn how resource constraints and organisational complexity impact AI strategies, ensuring recommendations are simple to execute for leaner teams. With a focus on the unique needs of SMBs, you’ll leave with a blueprint for low-risk adoption, proven use cases, pitfalls to avoid, and an understanding of how to identify the AI opportunities that will matter most.