Ticket Volume – IT Podcast

Based on her experience working with teams to introduce the tool, Mariena shares advice on how to reduce the fear of Generative AI, and some strategies on how to incorporate it into businesses and people's everyday tasks. Along this, she explores the process of upskilling and gives out recommendations for those looking to expand their expertise and get into something new. To finish off, she brings up the work she does with data analysis, focusing on root cause analysis and the importance of introducing insights from support teams for engineers to make improvements based on systemic and data driven analysis. Mariena Quintanilla is an Independent Consultant that works with startups on data quality testing and support systems. She has honed her skills as an organizational leader by helping to build customer facing engineering teams focused on customer data, custom data solutions, and technical support for data products. Prior to this, she spent 10 years in Product and Engineering.

In Service Management, business process design lays the foundation upon which everything else arises. David Mainville makes the point that robust business processes are the starting point of any solid strategy, as they are what brings together the business with IT. He breaks down everything that should be included in the design process to make it accurate and complete from the start. David also talks about the Navvia Process Designer, his own software company, and touches on some of the most frequent mistakes related to process building, and what he sees coming in the future for this field of practice. David Mainville is the CEO and Co-Founder of Navvia and a well known member of the Service Management community. Before this, he got his start as a Field Engineer and progressed through Senior Technical and Management roles over 13 years to eventually become National Manager of Professional Services at Amdahl Canada.

When looking to improve ITSM processes, Ryan argues that the focus should be put on learning from practice. He shares his experience of ten years as an ITSM consultant, pointing out how important it is for organizations to look inwards, avoid working on autopilot, analyze the why’s behind their operations, and, when possible, come to their own conclusions for where and how to improve. To finish off, Ryan touches on knowledge sharing, identifying the need for it to be short, functional, and practical to engage with. Ryan Ogilvie has worked for the last ten years as an independent ITSM Coach and Consultant for Blackfriar Consulting. In the past, he has also served as Service Management Lead and ITSM Consultant at Shaw Communications, as an IT Process and Procurement Analyst at CalFrac Well Services, and other ITSM related roles at Burnco Rock Products, Interpipeline, and Agrium.

A proper Knowledge Management strategy is essential to an efficient IT support offering. However, achieving this may present some challenges. It requires time, effort, consistency, and, most importantly, to create awareness of its relevance. But all hope is not lost! In this live session, Liz Bunger and Michelle Stumpf dive deep into the factors determining Knowledge Management success, including the Knowledge-Centered Support function, the knowledge funnel, and the path from knowledge to an article. Plus, they share tips and tricks for documenting, writing, and measuring. Liz Bunger is the KCS Program Manager at Motive, where she develops and implements the strategy for the Customer Support Knowledge program. Prior to this, she was the Business Program Management - Knowledge at Paychex. Michelle Stumpf is the Head of Knowledge Management at Celonis, a KCS-certified trainer, and a Knowledge Management strategist. She has solid experience developing and implementing enterprise-level taxonomy, metadata, and governance strategy. Previously, she was the KCS (KM) Practice Director at RightAnswers and the Content-Knowledge Information Architect at Verizon.

Neal Travis brings on the importance of building community, fostering strong relationships, and encouraging effective communication within a Customer Support team. He shares his current experience in AIHR, focusing on the work he does to motivate connections and share knowledge throughout the support team. Neal also talks about his experience with Support Driven, a community for Support professionals, and how his participation allows him to grow and improve in his day to day tasks. Neal Travis is currently the Support and Admissions Manager for AIHR, an online learning and edtech company, and an active participant of the popular Support Driven community. He has collected over a decade of experience in Customer-Centric Roles, getting his start managing customer and sales teams in retail Telecom.

Have you ever wanted to leave your current position and become an ITSM consultant? Here’s a little help in that direction! ITSM independent consultant and mentor Sophie Hussey shares her work process and how ITIL4 continues to provide a solid structure that allows organizations to focus on simplifying processes and finding what really is adding value to their workplace. For this, she specifically points out the importance of Change Enablement and Risk Management and lists other frameworks and strategies that she incorporates to her program. Sophie Hussey has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry and since 2022 has dedicated herself to ITSM independent consulting, serving as Director for Lapis Consulting Services. She has also worked in different roles that go from Support Analyst and Service Desk Team Leader to Head of Service Management at companies like Lewis Group and Lowell.

Help desk staffing gets more and more complex over time. How do you know when to hire, how to hire, and how many people to hire at the service desk? If you don't know, we have a panel to try to answer that for you! Jacob White, Kincy Clark, Simone Jo Moore, Daniel Breston, and Matt Beran discuss staffing for service, available models, and training to build the best IT support team. Jacob White is a Consultant/Advisor with a rich background in Sales and Support. Before that, he was the Head of Customer Service at Adaptiva and the Director of Technical Support Engineering at CrowdStrike. Kincy Clark is the Founder of OneStudy.ai and the former Director of Support at Bolt. He has over 12 years of experience in team leadership, Program Management, strategy, operations, communication, and technical experience. Simone Jo Moore is a renowned author and coauthor guiding organizations and individuals in adopting a "Humanising IT" perspective. She's been in HDI's Top 25 Industry Thought Leaders for the last five years and is a WomenTech & DevOps Institute Ambassador. Daniel Breston is a retired coach, blogger, speaker, and writer with more than 50 years of experience in IT. He's currently a board member of itSFMF UK, and once in a while, he picks up his old habits with part-time mentorships and workshops.

The power of emotional intelligence capabilities in leadership shouldn’t be underestimated. Building upon her experience in IT and in learning and development, Deborah Monroe makes the point that strong psychological awareness and a people-centric approach can take you a long way. And, not only that, but it is also measurable and science-based information that has to be taken seriously. To finish off, she shares some practical insights on her experience with HDI training. Deborah Monroe, also known as the people person in IT, is currently the president of Ignite Achievements International, and HDI Faculty Member at Informa Tech. She also works as Subject Matter Expert at Gerson Lehrman Group, Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Network, and Rehabilitation Enables Dreams. Before this, Deborah served as a facilitator for over 30 years for Oxford Health, Spherion, Visiocom and STI knowledge.

Following simple, straightforward, and adaptable rules to design Service Management processes was what Stefan Kempter had in mind when putting together the YaSM (Yet Another Service Management Model). However, as the name smartly implies, this idea doesn’t stand alone. Here, Stefan shares the process behind the making of the model, how it brings together different ITSM framework principles, and what organizations get from implementing it, including documents, templates and diagrams that avoid having to start every process from scratch. To finish off, he also gives out some valuable advice for other process-geeks like him. Stefan Kempter is the Founder and current Managing Director of IT Process Maps GbR, Germany. He is also author of the YaSM Service Management Model and ITIL Process Maps. Stefan started off as a Pre-Sales and Technical Consultant at Signalbau Huber, served as Head of IT Architecture and Strategic Planning at ADAC, and spent five years as a Process Consultant at IDS Scheer AG.

Abby Sininger is taking her first steps in IT having landed an internship as support analyst at GRE and shares her insights into what it’s like working on the front line of a help desk. As a young adult making her way into this field of work, she talks about which skills she believes are most important for the job, her educational background and current studies, and how she first got interested in tech through the program Women in STEM. Finally, Abby gives out some advice for people with similar interests and professional goals, and goes through what she expects for her future. Abby Sininger is a Computer Science Major at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota and an aspiring software developer with a passion to inspire women to join STEM fields. She has served in roles as an administrative assistant at Simonson Lumber Company, a manager at House of Pizza, and recently landed a role as IT support analyst at Great River Energy.

ITSM is all about serving the people. And that counts for both sides of the equation. IT industry veteran James Gander walks us through the power of simulations in ITSM training and service desk environments. He highlights their ability to encourage communication and collaboration amongst teams, and real-life experiences over pure books and theory. He also shares some recent projects, such as The Project Phoenix and MarsLander, and examples of remote simulations.

James Gander has over 30 years working in the IT industry. In 2010 he left full-time employment and started serving as Managing Director of Gander Service Management. He worked in the past in many IT roles at different companies like Xansa, Waikato District Health Board, Genesis Energy, the University of Auckland, Northpower, and Carter Holt Harvey. James is also a contributor to VeriSM and has made appearances on other IT media channels, like The ITSM Crowd, Karen Ferris's Conversations, and more.

There's no point denying that IT Asset Management is a vital business process. However, implementing a strategy and improving it is no easy task. Matt Beran and David Foxen go over the most common ITAM challenges (and how to solve them). Plus, David's vast experience on the topic helped him collect (and share!) some epic fails, stories, and learnings. David Foxen has dedicated his career to IT Asset Management. He's the Founder and Principal Consultant for SAM Beast Consulting Ltd and was named the ITAM Consultant of the Year in 2022 by "The ITAM Review." He has also founded the ITAM Volunteers, which helped organizations struggling during the COVID pandemic through ITAM.

Co-founder of the ITSM Academy almost 20 years ago, Lisa Schwartz knows a thing or two about how to effectively train help desk staff in their jobs. Here, she goes through the training approach that went from classroom to microlearning, highlighting however the importance of not losing the sense of community. She also shares some practical strategies to stay relevant in teaching, such as adapting to different learning types and undergoing simulations and role changings. Finally, for the company's side of things, Lisa goes through advice on how to make sure they really are getting value out of the training investment. Lisa Schwartz got her start in hospitality and applying Service Management standards, and currently specializes in ITSM, ITIL, Agile, DevOps and VSM training. She is also the Co-founder and CEO of ITSM Academy, Founding Partner for XLACollab, and the Co-founder for the DevOps Institute.

How do you build a strong team culture? And what makes up solid leadership to do so? Gregg Gregory, a practiced expert, provides some key points on teamwork and guiding positions, and how to keep up both productivity and morale across the workplace. He goes through the foundations of what makes up an efficient team: teamwork, team culture, leadership, ground rules, and shared core values. He also shares some advice for leaders, such as the importance of sharing the whys, adapting to changing scenarios, and consulting behavior models to organize your team’s positions. Gregg Greggory is an experienced trainer and consultant, and a national leading authority in the areas of teamwork, leadership, and organizational culture. He has worked with over a thousand companies to build highly effective employee training and development strategies to build more cohesive teams. Gregg is also the host of the podcast “The Teamwork Advantage” and the author of two books on Leadership, “ONE Team - ONE Dream” and “The GPS of Leadership”.

Hardware and Software Asset Management are the two sides of the IT Asset Management equation. This means, one simply can’t exist without the other. ITAM professional David Foxen takes us through the importance of IT Asset Management and where both practices stand today, especially after the pandemic, the steady movement towards remote work, and the supply chain issues that were faced along 2021. He points out how central being mindful about HAM has become for cost saving opportunities and the current shift of focus in SAM from compliance to a customer service mentality. David Foxen is an ITAM Professional and principal consultant for SAM Beast Consulting Ltd. He worked doing ITAM at companies like Aeroflex, Santander, Arup and Johnson Matthey, among others. He also started ITAM volunteers, an organization that helped companies struggling to adapt Asset Management during the pandemic and currently serves as a committee member for ISO.

Building upon his own work at Power Design and his years of research on the topic, Joshua Nelson dives into the world of Experience Management (XM) and the different processes it works along. He goes through some key components to put it into practice and develop an XM strategy, such as the single point of contact for end-user experiences, XLAs, the relative importance of metrics (and which ones are worth looking out for), and the value of relationship building. Joshua Nelson is Director of Technology Experience at Power Design, Inc. and the best selling author of “Leadership Distilled, Serving with Purpose”. He also has a PhD focused in Business Administration and Management, Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Management from California Intercontinental University. Formerly, he was a Program Manager for the district of Pasco Coun County.

There are various phases of improving Service Management. However, the path might not be entirely clear. But worry not because in this Ticket Volume live episode, Doug Tedder shares an ITSM implementation roadmap! He and Matt discuss where to start, how to mature, and what "good" looks like. Get ready to dive into IT value maximization! Doug Tedder is an IT Consultant and author specialized in helping businesses improve and leverage their use of IT organizations. He currently assists organizations in ITSM plan development, process implementation plans, ITSM and strategy roadmaps, and more. His experience also includes some remarkable roles as the President of itSMF USA, the Director of Managemetn Systems at The priSM Institute, and the Manager of Service Delivery at Roche Diagnostics.

Building upon his years of experience with Configuration Management, Allen Dixon gets practical and dives deep into how to build a successful CMDB. He provides insights on what to prioritize through the building process, shining a light on the importance of clean and valuable data, communication with customers, the difference between a CMDB and an inventory, and the significance it has for Change Management. He finally puts together opportunities and gaps for future improvements to look out for. Allen Dixon is an ITIL-trained professional with over two decades of IT experience across industries such as healthcare and automotive. For the past nine years, he has been dedicated to IT Service Management and ITIL process implementation. He is a valued contributor to the book "VeriSM: Unwrapped and Applied" and has recently been named as DB Shanker's, Head of Regional Service and Operations Management for the Americans.

Frameworks are very popular in the Service Management world, and Organizational Change Management (OCM) is no exception. Karen Farris, an expert in the matter, explores the field in the current landscape, where change is becoming more frequent and faster. Based on the guidelines of her published – and recently updated – book, she goes through the OCM framework, explores the OCM process, and provides advice to leaders looking to implement change successfully. Karen Ferris is an Independent Organizational Change Management and Leadership Guide, as well as a Service Management Expert at Macanta Consulting. She has published books on Organizational Change and workplace resilience, and has served in the past as a Practice and Service Manager at Proactive Services and National Australia Bank.

How to measure knowledge in IT in a standardized way? Where does experience outside formal education chip in on this equation? Mathew Burrows brought his years of experience with the global skills and competency framework SFIA and with his company SkillsTX to unfold some possible answers to these points. Whether you’re recruiting, managing teams, or looking to stay relevant as a professional, he goes through successful learning processes, including both theory and applied learning, and encourages all professionals to create both a skills profile and a development plan. Matthew Burrows is an internationally recognized thought leader, a SFIA Accredited Consultant, Assessor, and Trainer and the Co-Founder and President Emeritus of SkillsTX. He works with companies and governments to improve their Digital Skills Management Maturity. In the past, he also served as President of the Institute of Service Management and as a contributor to Service Management and Project Management standards and publications.

What does it take to run a successful help desk? And what does it mean to win an award for it? From the motivational push that comes with it, to what the path to this reward looks like in the first place, Moe Suliman shares how to keep things running at high levels of purpose and productivity. He breaks down what it means to be a good help desk agent and focuses on the importance of providing them with a safe work environment to learn, a team work feeling, and clear models to look up to. Moe Suliman is currently Information Technology Help Desk Manager at Wajax. He is also the winner of the Best Service And Support Manager Of The Year 2023. Moe served a wide range of roles in IT, before finally getting into Service Management. He was Service Desk Manager for Axon Medical Technologies, Maeve's International Software, Rio Can Real Estate Investment Trust.

As with most professional domains, but especially in IT, staying relevant and updated is an everyday job. In this episode, ITIL author Anthony Orr brings on his long years of ITSM experience and leads us through what this looks like for him. He shares with us his chosen channels to stay informed, recommendations for IT teams and leadership roles, and gives us a sneak peak of what might be coming in ITIL 5 and the imperative importance of adopting business focus. Anthony Orr is an ITIL and Executive ITSM Advisor-Consultant. He has been serving at HDI for over six years and is also currently a Solution Director for SDI Presence. In the past, he has worked for some of the most well known brands in ITSM, amongst which you can find Honeywell, the Department of Veteran Affairs, Axo, and BMC Cherwell.

As a true advocate for building and maintaining team morale, Sandy Confer brought all her experience on fostering team engagement whilst managing a service desk. She highlighted the importance of keeping teams motivated, having fun, and working together at all times, and, most importantly, provided a wide range of different strategies, practical tips, ideas, and activities to do so. Sandy Confer is an IT Support Specialist with many years of experience in the field. She served as a Technical Support Associate for many years at Brodart, and is currently working in education as IT Support Specialist at Penn State University.

As organizations grow in complexity and there is an increase in the visibility of corporate organization and interconnected processes, Value Streams have taken the center of the stage. Waseem Ahmed shares some key guidelines on how to get started with Value Stream Mapping for IT. He points out the importance of beginning with a strong service design and the need to keep a close eye on the continual improvement of the whole service lifecycle.

Waseem Ahmed has a long history of system and service experiences working in different roles and companies. Amongst them, he operated as Virtualization Service Delivery Manager for American Airlines and Vice President of Production Operations Core Technology Infrastructure for Citi. He currently serves as the director of IT Service Management at BECU, a not-for-profit financial cooperative.

The current transition to an ESM approach can’t only rely on IT-based practices, processes, and frameworks. Certified coach John Worthington unlocks the power of Unified Service Management and explains how adopting this method can help achieve the standardization of services across the whole organization. He highlights its simplicity and the fact that it is able to support all coexisting frameworks as its strongest points to create a solid and stable foundation for enterprises to count on. John Worthington is an ITIL V3 expert, an XLA master, and a certified USM coach. He has over 40 years of experience in Information Technology. John began his career managing sales for a custom app dev team at Unisys and doing sales and quality improvement at AT&T. He moved into Service Management and business development for a few companies before starting MyServiceMonitor. He now serves as a major contributor and fan to the expansion Unified Service Management method in the United States.

Employee Experience is a determining factor that can sink an organization or make it stand out, and mastering it is not an option these days. To help you thrive, Jon Leighton (Nexthink) and Emily Schlick (Vizient) share some practical advice on how to improve employee experience. Jon Leighton has been the Head of Customer Engagement and Advocacy at Nextink for four years. Before this, he's been in BMC Software, was the VP of Customer Success at 4me, and the Service Desk Leader at Southhampton City Council. Emily Schlick is the Sr. Director of Technology Strategic Business Operations at Vizient, Inc. Prior to that role, she's been the Director of Digital Employee Experience and Strategic Initiatives at Cigna and the Sr. Manager of Employee Experience at Express Scripts.

Patti Blackstaffe breaks down the main challenges and opportunities that digital leadership roles face towards the future. Building upon a Systemic Approach, she focuses on three main points: adapting to the ever changing landscape, making the necessary cognitive shift to successfully do so, and, at the center of it all, striving for collective cohesion by understanding the organization systemically, focusing on building both internal and external relationships, and providing enough power, autonomy, and communication instances with all team members. Patti Blackstaffe is currently CEO and Transformational Specialist at Global Sway and serves as a fellow for the Institute of Digital Transformation. She has spent 20 years leading digital transformations, organizational change, and governance in tech environments, and has also co-founded three companies along the way.

Jeevan Lobo has piled up an impressive amount of leadership knowledge throughout his career, and is eager to share what he learned. In this episode, he walks Matt through his role as a Cross-Functional Manager, and how he transitioned to his current position as Security and Governance Leader. In addition, he shares some tips on how to implement new processes in an organization, measure success, and get teams actively involved. Jeevan Lobo is currently the Vice President of Security and Governance in Citibank He is an ITIL Expert, and has over two decades of experience in IT. Jeevan has worked over the years across Consulting, Managed Service providers, and Captive organizations, with multiple stakeholders from all over the world, and in a wide range of industries, such as Financial institutions, Health & Life Sciences, Energy & Utilities, and Retail. His areas of expertise include Cross-Functional Leadership, Digital Transformation and Risk & Control.

While digital transformation isn't a prerequisite to improving customer experiences, it sure helps! However, it's not that simple. If you're trying to upgrade your digital experiences (or just looking to measure the perception of services and products better), join Matt Beran and Nate Brown (Arise) on this live session to understand and overcome the blockers and friction that tend to get in the way of great experiences.

Nate Brown is the Senior Director of CX at Arise and Co-Founder of CX Accelerator. His primary focus is helping employees understand the customer journey and how they play a role in improving it. Some of his previous experience includes being the Chief Experience Officer at Officium Labs and the Head of Customer Experience at UL.

David Barrow, an all-round passionate and expert on the matter, discusses with our host the guiding principles of ITIL 4, where understanding how to co-create value is central. We examine why it's time to enable IT teams to work with suppliers and customers to deliver value, and why value creation must be extensively integrated into organizations and their supply chain. Then we look into a few practical ways to start applying this in your organization. Finally, David gives us a small sneak peek into some concepts described in his new book.

David Barrow is an IT professional, with 30 years of experience working with IT across multiple industries, and the recently published author of ‘Co-creating value in organizations with ITIL 4‘. He is an ITIL 4 Strategic Leader recognised by BCS, The Chartered Institute for Information Technology, as a Chartered IT Professional and Fellow. He is also a Contributor to VeriSM's Service Management for a Digital Age. David worked as a Service Desk Analyst at IBM, where over the eight years he was there, became a process owner. Since then, he has taken on different roles that go from Business Relationship Management to Service Delivery Management at Fidelity Cab Gemini, and Rackspace. His consulting experience is also quite broad with roles in Design and Enterprise Service Management.

Author of The Service Desk Handbook, Sanjay Nair talks to us about his book, where he compiled and organized the main elements of a well functioning Service Management tool. He points out the importance of having a good team, with the right people, and building a strong foundation for your help desk from the start. Then, he refers to his current work and emphasizes on the value of certifications, an accurate CMDB, and the challenges of implementing new work processes.

Sanjay Nair is an ITIL and COBIT certified Service Management professional with over 26 years of experience in the field. He’s also the author of The Service Desk Handbook. Currently, he is the Manager of IT Operations at Knet. Sanjay has also previously served as Help Desk Manager at Automated System Company and he ran the Network Operations Center and Service Desk at the National Bank of Kuwait.

ITIL expert Markus Bause goes over some of the changes that have been made to the framework, and explains what the recertification scheme really implies and how it supports and offers relevant improvements. He also discusses the importance of orchestrating a combination of frameworks in order to adapt to different scenarios, and looks into possible future improvements – for which communication and cooperation with the community of users is crucial. Markus Bause is currently the VP of Product at PeopleCert and has more than 25 years of experience working with ITIL training and implementations. He has worked as a consultant and director for SERVIEW and as a consultant for Maxpert GmbH, as well as having served as an ambassador for Germany for the DevOps Agile Skills Association (DASA).

Some people are born to lead, and Tony North is a natural. With over 18 years of managing teams, he knows there are always new ideas, tools, and things to try out. Join the second session of Ticket Volume Live to discuss how to lead people in Service and Support, how to put together the best IT team, and the latest trends to pull this off. Tony North is the Senior Manager of IT Service at King County, WA. He is a service leader, Agile Program Manager, speaker, and veteran, with 20 years of experience in Service and Support. Before his current role, he was Manager of Technical Support at Sinclair Digital and Senior Manager of ITSM at Seattle Genetics.

Adopting environmentally friendly measures is currently a central concern for all industries, and the tech world is not an exception. Mark Bradley walks us through what sustainability in IT really means, why it is our responsibility, and some possible next steps, challenges and opportunities, as well as the importance of getting educated on the subject and promoting collaboration between vendors. Mark Bradley is the Senior Product Manager at Flexera. He has over 20 years of experience in the IT Industry and has gone through different roles until diving into IT Leadership and Service Management. He has worked for companies such as Zurich Life Bank, JP Morgan, Motorola and HP.

The ultimate goal for tech should be to improve people's everyday life, both employees and customers. Rocky McGuire (Unisys) shares with us what leaders should be putting their eye on, and some of the crucial parts of running a world class service desk team. He points out the value of investing in people, serving the community, and finding purpose in the workplace. He also takes a look into the future, where proactive and predictive solutions should be central and the customers' holistic experience should be priority. Rocky McGuire is the Experience Manager at Unisys, an award winning HDI Certified Service Desk. He has worked for many years in service and support experience for the IT Industry. Starting out as a service desk agent, he then took on a leadership role as a Team Lead Training Coordinator. He finally transitioned first into an Operations Manager and then into an Experience Manager.

Training can be seen from the trainer's or the trainee's perspective, and Sean McClean (ServiceNow) does both! He shares some thoughts on how acknowledging that training is a service improves the teaching and learning experience, and at the same time, he talks about certifications and why they're not enough by themselves. Sean McClean has been a Master Technical Trainer and Training Evangelist at ServiceNow for 12 years and the Principal at Katalyst Now for almost 18 years. He's a speaker, as well as a self-defined professional listener and certification hound.

As enterprise technology rapidly evolves, the Change Advisory Board (CAB) has become less relevant. But is it CAB, or is it Change Management that’s dead? Greg Sanker delves into these concepts and explains how organizations can successfully manage change. Greg Sanker is the Director of IT Support at Taylor Morrison. He's a consultant, speaker, and author with more than ten years in the ITSM industry. His areas of expertise include ITIL, Organizational Management of Change, Global IT Operations, IT Operations Management, and Business Processes Alignment.

Barclay Rae, consultant, author, and IT Service Management expert, analyses the changes in technology brought about by AI and goes through the environmental perspective. In this wide-ranging talk with Matt, he also highlights the importance of people in experience management.

Barclay Rae is a consultant, author, ITIL4 architect, and SDI standards co-author. His experience spans hundreds of service improvement projects, mainly in IT Service Management, but also in CRM, Contact Centre, and other service delivery areas.

What is the NIST Cybersecurity Framework? David Moskowitz, co-founder and Executive Director of the DVMS Institute, explains how organizations can leverage this framework's guidance to become adaptive, cyber-resilient digital businesses. Delve into this in-depth talk with Matt to check out fundamental concepts of cybersecurity.

David Moskowitz is the co-founder and Executive Director of the DVMS Institute LLC. He's the lead author of the Create, Protect, and Deliver Digital Business Value Series, including “Fundamentals of Adopting the NIST Cybersecurity Framework” and “A Practitioner’s Guide to Adapting the NIST Cybersecurity Framework."

By 2025, 50% of IT organizations will have established a DEX strategy, team, and management tool, up from 15% in 2022, according to a recent report. Ian Aitchison, VP of Product Management at Nexthink, dives into the benefits of implementing a Digital Employee Experience (DEX) strategy in ITSM. Listen to his insights about this hot topic and stay ahead of the curve.

Ian Aitchison is a senior software product portfolio leader and VP of Product Management at Nexthink. He is a public speaker on topics related to Digital Experience, ITSM, ESM, Automation, AI, and business technology futures. He is also co-host of the Enterprise Digital podcast.

Even though measuring is a considerable part of Experience Management, it's not the only aspect that matters. Doug Rabold (Amwell) is an advocate — and expert — of creating sentiments and building feelings. In this episode, he shares some insights into what experience should be, what Disney taught him, how he connects with others, and what he foresees as the future in Service Management.

Doug Rabold is the Senior Manager of Customer Support at Amwell and Chairman of the Board at HDI. He's a thought leader, author, international speaker, and certified trainer with a vast experience in Customer Experience, Service Delivery, and Sales.

Experience can be difficult to seize. Surveys are the default go-to option, but that doesn't mean they're always the right move. Pasi Nikkanen (HappySignals) shares some insights to use them wisely and explains what to do after obtaining the data. 

Passi Nikkanen is the Co-Founder, Chief Growth Officer, and Podcast Host at HappySignals. He has more than 20 years of experience in SaaS companies, where he went from working in Sales to Project, Portfolio, Strategy, and Leadership positions.

What do the industrial revolutions have to do with Service Management? Michael Cardinal walks Matt through the history of Quality Management - from Taylorism to the Ishikawas - to understand how the notion of quality was shaped. 

Michael Cardinal is a consultant and the Director of Business Process Management at Thirdera. Previously, he was a Practice Manager at TEKsystems and a Senior Instructor at ITSM Academy. But he's a history teacher at heart (a role he developed for over 20 years). As so, he's eager to track down the roots of new ideas and to reflect on how history can impact the present and future.

Though the concept (and concern) of experience is typically related to customers, employee experience shouldn't be overlooked. Sally Mildren talks about its relevance and the relationship between experience and revenue. Plus, she shares some tips to start implementing small but meaningful changes in your Standard Operating Procedures.

Sally Mildren is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Boss Lady Consulting and ClarityPX. She has an extended background in healthcare, including a tenure in Kaiser Permanente as a Marketing Director and Centene Corporation/Coordinated Care as the Vice President of Customer Experience and Marketing. 

Managing a service desk is not only about ensuring that everything works, but also to look for opportunities to improve. Jason Turner (Princeton University) has A LOT of experience in that department and shares his methods to measure agent performance and boost service desk quality. Find insights on cold monitoring, scorecards, personalized feedback, and more!

Jason Turner is the Associate Director of Customer Support at Princeton University. He has over 20 years of experience in IT support, and his past tenure includes being the Service Desk Manager at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the IT Support Center Manager at Pinnacle Foods Corporation, and a Solutions Director at Technisource.

The change from ITIL v3 to ITIL 4 was not merely a number. David Billouz (ITIL Master) discusses the core differences of scope, talks about Value Streams, and introduces us to the world of Value Management. Plus, the importance of building an ITSM community and giving something back to others.

David Billouz is an ITIL Master, ITIL 4 Co-author and Assessor, and ITIL v3 Expert. He's currently a Partner at NH Prague Knowledge Centers and the President at OCIRIS. He also has experience as an ITIL Product Ambassador for AXELOS and an Auditor at PeopleCert.

Doing IT support for schools is not easy, but neither too complex. Casey Rutherford shares his experience building a service desk, helping teachers with new technologies, integrating platforms, and automating processes.

Casey Rutherford is the Director of Educational Technology and Innovation at Faribault Public Schools, but he's a teacher at heart. Prior to that, he was a Physics and Math teacher for 16 years.

Expanding the Service Management mindset outside the IT department certainly has its challenges and roadblocks. Darren Rose (FSP) shares his thoughts on the matter and offers ideas about where to start, how to deal with the difficulties and put stakeholders in your pocket, and how to adapt to change and provide autonomy to your teams. Plus, he reflects on the two types of service touchpoints needed to provide good service.

Darren Rose is a Service Management Consultant at FSP and has worked for more than 15 years in the construction industry in roles related to service delivery. He's an expert in ITSM and ESM implementations, as well as Service Architecture and Design.

Providing business value is perhaps the most desired (and complex) outcome for organizations. Ken Wendle (Edify ITSM) shares his *V*A*L*U*E Formula and explains why the execution part should be at the foundation to truly deliver value. Plus, he delves into the differences with the Business Model Canvas and describes how to combine them.

Ken Wendle is the Founder of Edify ITSM, where he's been an Instructor, Consultant, and Speaker for over 10 years. Prior to that, he worked for 15 years at HR and almost seven at Anheuser-Busch Companies. He's the author of "The *V*A*L*U*E Formula" and was distinguished with the Ron Muns Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

The term "Sustainable IT" was first introduced in IT publications in 2021, but it's not something new. Antonina Douannes explains its extent, shares the three key areas to put it into practice, and reflects on the right mindset to make these efforts count in the shortest possible time.

Antonina Douannes is a Digital and IT Sustainability Leader and ITIL 4 Lead Editor. With 15 years of experience in the digital and IT industry, she's the Co-founder and Executive Coach of Watermelon & FETA, a coaching program for aspiring leaders.

Have you ever felt like you were taking a course just because you needed to fill a gap in your resume? Lisa Schwartz (ITSM Academy) and David Ratcliffe (Pink Elephant) talk about the right mindset to study, the difference between learning and training, and the significant gap they detected among alumni regarding ITSM.  

Lisa Schwartz has been the Chief Executive Officer at ITSM Academy for the last 18 years. She's also a Founding Partner at XLACollab, and a Co-founder and Board Member of the DevOps Institute.  

David Ratcliffe has been President of Pink Elephant for the last 31 years. He's also a blogger, industry commentator, and speaker, passionate about providing real-life, practical insights.

It's more and more common for companies to work with multiple suppliers of services. But how can they make something cohesive out of the diversity? Claire Agutter shares the fundamentals and benefits of working with sourced services and using a SIAM approach to manage them.

Claire Agutter is currently the Director at ITSM Zone and Scopism. She's a Service Management trainer, consultant, author, and Chief Architect for VeriSM. She was recognized as an HDI Top 25 Thought Leader in 2018 and 2019 and was nominated as one of Computer Weekly's 50 Women in Tech.

Though spreading the benefits of ITSM to the rest of the company can be tempting, the result might not be as promising as you thought. Phyllis Drucker shares some tips and thoughts to start on the right foot, create a foundation that acknowledges the diversity and complexity of all the areas involved, and set the right expectations.

Phyllis Drucker is an author, keynote speaker, Service Management thought leader, and Enterprise Service Management guru. Her areas of expertise include governance, customer service and support, process design and implementation, project management, and team building. 

70% of transformations fail, and Paul Wilkinson knows exactly why. Find out the five common reasons for this to happen, and discover how a (not so) new shiny thing can actually help. Plus, he talks simulation games, continual improvement, and reflection.

Self-described as the "retired pointy-fingered-grumpy-old-man-in-IT, Paul Wilkinson was the Business Development Director at GamingWorks for 19 years. With over 40 years of experience in the IT industry, he's an expert in helping organizations adopt IT management-related best practices and translate the theory into practice through the use of business simulation games.

Once an ITSM professional (and knowledge management expert), Aprill Allen changed career paths five years ago to fully dedicate herself to being the COO of a joint venture capital firm with her husband. In this episode, she explains how she managed to take the leap, and how her former knowledge (pun intended) was essential for her new role. Plus, she shared some couples' advice for those who want to follow her lead and invest with their spouses. 

Aprill Allen is currently the co-founder and COO of Tractor Ventures. She has 13 years of experience in Customer Service and Network Operations and over 10 years as a specialist consultant in Knowledge Management to customer and internal IT teams. 

Optimizing business processes is not an easy task. Lorn Campbell (Innovation Consultant for CDW) believes this can be done with just a bit of therapy. Learn how he conducts interviews and simulations to understand the company's purpose, provide a controlled experience, and achieve an innovative change based on empathy.

Lorn Campbell has been in the consultancy field since 1995 and is currently an Innovation Consultant for CDW, where he helps customers improve their IT, employees, and customer workflows. He's an expert at facilitating the delivery of complex projects through immersive experiences.

Employee experience is a hot topic among companies, and Maddie Blumenthal (QSTAC) is here to help. She gives some great advice on how to measure it in a way that's as close to reality as possible - spoiler alert: just sending a survey won't do - and talks employee retention, onboarding, and how the IT department is absolutely crucial to all of this.

Maddie Blumenthal is VP of Customer Success at QSTAC and has an extensive experience in the field in companies such as FieldPulse, Verizon, Rainforest QA, and Bazaarvoice.

There's data-driven, there's personalized, and there's trying to fake it all. No one knows the difference best than Roy Atkinson. Tag along to hear a fresh perspective on Customer Experience, a revaluation of the concept of Information Technology, and a wish to not forget about the customers' individual experiences when designing processes.

Roy Atkinson is one of the top influencers in the Service Desk and Support industry. He has contributed to books on Customer Service, Social Media, and IT Change Management. He was named one of the Top 50 Customer Service Experts of the Decade by Nextiva, and his expertise has been featured by The Economist, Social Media Today, Computer World, BizTech Magazine, and more.

Yet-another-ITIL-auhor, Mark Smalley is here to talk experience, reflect on happiness at the workplace, and share some of his thoughts on "High-velocity IT" and its spin-off, "Reflections on High-velocity IT." An absolute must for Service Management professionals out there!

Self-defined as The IT Paradigmologist, Mark Smalley is an ITIL author and co-author, IT Management consultant and trainer, advisor, and former ambassador of organizations such as DevOps Agile Skills Association and ASL BiSL Foundation. His main area of interest is the management of IT systems and services.

With half a century in IT, Daniel Breston has seen it all. Here, he shares some learnings on one of his favorite topics (Value Streams). Plus, he advises leaders on how to properly enable (and not "empower") their teams and gets a bit mad when Matt mentions the concept of "best practices" — all while mentioning Batman and quoting Sherlock Holmes.

Daniel Breston is a retired coach, blogger, speaker, and writer with more than 50 years of experience in IT. In his own words, he has been "in almost all roles in IT, from Service Desk to CIO." He's currently a board member of itSFMF UK, and once in a while picks up his old habits with part-time mentorships and workshops.

Simone Jo Moore's fresh take on how to look at work more healthily and efficiently is definitely worth a look. In this episode, she shares some ideas about Flow Science and explains how to be "in the zone" without overstaying our welcome.

Self-defined as a "framework mixologist," Simone Jo Moore is a renowned author and coauthor guiding organizations and individuals in adopting a "Humanising IT" perspective. Among her books, you can find "VeriSM Unwrapped and Applied" and "ITIL 4 High-velocity IT." She's been in HDI's Top 25 Industry Thought Leaders for the last five years and is a WomenTech & DevOps Institute Ambassador.

Looking for your first job in IT? Then this is what you need to listen to. Kevin Apolinario (a.k.a Kevtech IT Support)'s efforts to lower the entry bar for IT are well known, and in this episode, he shares some questions to ask hiring managers, what skills are indispensable for help desk agents, how to show your experience in your resume, and a fresh perspective on whether you should get certified.

Kevin Apolinario is Senior Desktop Engineer at Confidential and Senior Technical Trainer at a Technical Skills Development Platform. Better known as Kevtech, his YouTube channel "Kevtech IT Support" is followed by 37K people looking to build a career path in IT.

If you're planning on taking the ITIL 4 certification (or are in any way related to it), this episode is a must. Katrina Macdermid (ITIL master author) sheds some light — not without a bit of controversy — on the fundamentals of ITIL 4, what it went wrong, and what it got right. Join the conversation, and take with you the recipe to create effective value streams. Katrina Macdermid is a consultant, educator, and IT Service Management Maturity Assessor. Her experience includes tenures at Jetstar Airways, Qantas, and Amadeus. She won three global awards in training and is an advocate of incorporating Human-Centered Design into ITSM

What do IT and HR have in common? If you were thinking about tearing down silos once and for all, Greg Sanker (Taylor Morrison) has proof that'll back you up. In this episode, Matt and Greg discuss the need for communication between departments, the common concerns of areas that don't seem quite similar on the surface, and the way synergy could drive success.

Greg Sanker is the Director of IT Support at Taylor Morrison. He's a consultant, speaker, and author with more than ten years in the ITSM industry. His areas of expertise include ITIL, Organizational Management of Change, Global IT Operations, IT Operations Management, and Business Processes Alignment.  

For far too long, technology has been seen as the most important thing, not the experience of those consuming that technology. Jon Leighton (Nexthink) is here to say otherwise. Find out what a people-centric organization entails and how you can approach that in your organization.

Jon Leighton has been the Head of Customer Engagement and Advocacy at Nexthink for more than three years. Before this, he's been in BMC Software, was the VP of Customer Success at 4me and the Service Desk Leader at Southhampton City Council.

It's time for a bit of disruption! Tammy Ward and Niko Miller (ATB Financial) walk us through what it's like to expand a people-first culture into every process of a company. From a shift to collaboration and a focus on mental health to an effective process to recruit staff that doesn't depend on a single person, they've transformed the service desk, the IT department, and the leadership in their company.

Tammy Ward is currently Managing Director, Team Member Collaboration & Enablement at ATB Financial, where she's been for the past 9 years as a People Leader. Previously, she's been in many roles on a help desk for energy companies in Canada.

Former Best Buy Sales Associate, Nikolas Miller is the Senior Manager of End-User Support at ATB Financial, where he has also served as Product Manager and IT Analyst since 2017.

Problems are everywhere, but you have to know what to look for to find the ones that really make a difference when solved. Experienced Problem Manager Brian Skramstad offers a view inside his head (and his processes) and provides a detailed description of how to work with data and make every effort count to solve problems right at their root cause (and not with just a band-aid).

Brian Skramstad is the IT Service Management Principal at Allianz Technology. He's been in IT support roles for over 20 years in companies such as Medtronic and Thomson Reuters. His main focus is on Problem and Incident Management.

As organizations continue to innovate and push the boundaries of capabilities, we can't help but wonder if ITIL reflects that learning. David Cannon (nfiniti3) attempts to answer that and lends a helping hand to understand how the practices in ITIL reflect a broad spectrum of maturity and are giving cutting-edge teams enough to chew on for now. Plus, he discusses tooling-led maturity, increasing IT value, and how cost modeling will bring up skeletons in your closets.

David Cannon is the Executive Vice President for nfiniti3. He's an ITIL expert with many years in the industry and a variety of companies and roles. Some of his former positions are Chief Strategist in cybersecurity firms, Consulting Director for Forrester, and Director of an ITSM Practice at BMC.

In small IT teams, the first and last tiers are exactly the same. Danny Kateli (Manager of IT Operations at Midrex) knows this by heart and shares some tips on loyalty, learning processes, and employee retention. If you were wondering how to keep your team motivated, how to engage with them, and how to facilitate a family-like environment that keeps your teammates around, this is the episode for you!

Danny Kateli is a retired military officer with experience in facilities management, recruiting, project management, and leadership. He worked as an IT Field Delivery Manager and IT Service Delivery Manager at CompuCom with a focus on process optimization. Afterward, he moved onto his current role as the Manager of IT Operations at Midrex, where he's in charge of network infrastructure, data center maintenance, IT security, and the Service Desk.

Melissa Teater (Director of Support and Experience at Jamf) shares her experience creating a Service Management Office to help expand a 20-year organization globally. The goal is to implement ITIL best practices across the company — hoping that a Service Management backbone would provide stability and scalability to their processes and platforms. 

Melissa Teater is a 25-year veteran of Information Technology infrastructure, support operations, and service level management. She has extensive experience developing strategic support solutions for global operations, focusing on exceptional customer experience. In her career, she has also led large teams to thrive through employee development, continuous improvement, and process efficiency. Melissa is a communication expert with the ability to integrate managed service providers to suit business needs.

Your resume should be more like a brochure — and less like a research paper. Robert Fedoruk (ServiceNow expert and a.k.a. The Duke) gives unfiltered advice on how to make your resume stand out from the pile. Spoiler alert: it all has to do with outcomes.

A self-described big mouth, Robert Fedoruk is known for being blunt and speaking his mind. He has over 14 years of experience in the ServiceNow ecosystem. He's a freelance consultant, coach, and speaker. Plus, he's the co-host of "CJ & The Duke Podcast."

What do experience, ESM, and leadership have in common? Jason Wischer — consultant at KANINI and renowned leader — expands on the relations between these areas and gives a few tips on how to mix perspectives to be a good leader. So, if you want to make purple, listen on!

Jason Wischer is an advisor and consultant at KANINI, passionate about customer experience. Before becoming a freelance consultant, he spent some time at Crossfuze, Batteries Plus Bulbs, Thomson Reuters, and HDI.

Why does experience management work so well? From org change to service management and an optimization framework, Alan Nance (XLA Collab) answers the questions about this newly popular approach to improving services and products.

Alan Nance is a leader in Experience Management, specifically in XLAs. He is the Co-Founder and President of XLA Collab, Advisory Board Member for HAL24K, and External Advisor on data, digital, and innovation strategy for the Royal Schiphol Group.

Trend or fad? Mauricio Corona (BP Gurus) has been following AI uses throughout the world, from Mexico to the Middle East. He bedazzles audiences by showing how humanoids can provide service, including in the ITSM industry. In this talk with Matt, he shares global trends on ITSM, enabling products and services using artificial intelligence, and implementing robots as part of an omnichannel communication strategy.

Mauricio Corona travels around the world bringing service management and business maturity to many countries while collecting experiences of the use of AI and robotics. He's the Chairman and Owner of BP Gurus, an active SDI Chief Transformation Officer, board member at ACIS_IT, Head of AI graduate programs at Universidad La Salle (Mexico), and Professor at Actuarial Science Faculty STEM Anahuac (Mexico).

Who's better to talk about IT4IT than one of the framework creators? Lars Rosen spills the beans about what to expect from IT4IT version 3.0, shares his experience using the standard, and even walks down memory lane to explain to Matt how such a collaborative work is pulled off. It all started with an idea no one wanted to listen to and ended up being a robust alternative to ITIL. And here's the story, in first person.

Lars Rossen created the first version of the IT4IT Reference Architecture, which formed the basis for the standard in The Open Group. He's currently Micro Focus Fellow and CTO and continues to be the lead architect for the IT4IT initiative. He's an engineer and a researcher with an MBA focused on technology management and a Ph.D. in computer science.

Megan Engels' (VP of IT Support for Peoples Bank) answer to "What keeps you coming back to work every week?" fires up a much-needed talk about the people on the service desk. How to approach them, how to motivate them, what soft skills are essential, and how to know if this is the job for you. A key episode for managers and agents alike.

Megan Engels is the IT Support Manager for Peoples Bank. She's an experienced IT leader concerned about making IT accessible for everyone. She's got over 20 years of experience at Peoples Bank and almost 15 in IT.

Kevin Clark (ITSM consultant) has quite a unique career path. Along with Matt, they tried to figure out where good service comes from (spoiler alert: everywhere!). Catch their full talk on ITIL, difficulties of ESM, and the basis for a great ITSM solution.

Kevin Clark has 15 years of experience in IT service. He's a self-described passionate advocate for excellence and quality in Service Management, with a particular interest in the machinery behind good service. He's currently a Senior Consultant, and he's worked with brands such as ServiceNow and HP.

Aaron Davenport, Software Asset Manager at HCA, breaks down software asset management and talks first steps, roadblocks, GDPR, and certifications. He even surprised Matt with an asset management strategy walkthrough!

Aaron Davenport is a software asset management specialist, process owner, and organizational change expert. He also has an MBA in IT Business Administration. He's currently a senior consultant specializing in license optimization, and he's worked with companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Flexera Software, ServiceNow, Oracle, and Adobe.

Suresh GP (Top 25 Influencer in ITSM and Global Ambassador of the DevOps Institute) goes beyond service management to discuss with Matt how to bring value to a business through DevOps and SRE. Plus, he digs into customer experience and teases an opportunity for IT to stay relevant.

Suresh GP is a founder and managing director at TaUB Solutions. He has more than 19 years of IT experience in areas such as service management, IT governance, business relationship management (BRM), agile, and DevOps.

Matt and Rae Ann Bruno (ITIL, metrics, and processes trainer and consultant) deep dive into user experience to explain what Experience Level Agreements are and why they matter. Plus, they reflect on the relationship between SLAs and XLAs and answer the crucial question of who should be in charge of implementing them.

Rae Ann Bruno has over 15 years of management experience, with an emphasis on process re-engineering, employee development, and business alignment of IT services. She's a consultant and trainer in various areas of ITIL, knowledge-centered service, service desk improvement, communications, internal marketing, metrics, and ITIL process improvement. Rae Ann is currently the President of Business Solutions Training, Inc.

Not everyone can lead; some people are just drawn to it. NJ Robinson (expert in IT leadership) joins Matt to explore how leading in IT is different, the three types of team members, and how to adapt to each one.

NJ is a collaborative, forward-thinking IT leader with a 10-year track record of applying leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills to transform under-performing teams and make good teams great! He's a national speaker and leads in his current role for the 794th Communications Squadron. Find him on LinkedIn and hi-techleader.com.

Governance is a balancing act of speed and risk. Best Buy's Dan Aragon certainly has some experience on this topic, and he doesn't hesitate to share! Join Matt and Dan's discussion on managing processes, maturity, governance, and incident management for a take on those subjects.

Dan Aragon is a passionate and caring service management practitioner experienced in building practical and successful service management delivery teams and processes that create value in organizations. He has years of experience owning IT processes in Financial Services, Health, and Retail organizations. His most recent experience as a Director of IT Service Management Process at Best Buy has him pushing Service Management governance to do more for the organization.

What is, what isn't, what should be and what shouldn't be service management. Join Matt on a philosophical chat about IT with the former IT Skeptic - yes, we asked what happened with our favorite blog (and he answered!).

Rob England is known for contributing to ITIL Service Strategy, The Unicorn Project, The Agile Manager, Open Management, The DevOps Handbook, and as the lead author of the VeriSM digital framework. Founding groups like itSMF New Zealand and WellyBAM (Business Agility Meetup), Rob connects IT professionals across regions and continents. Working with Dr. Cherry Vu as part of their consulting team for Teal Unicorn, they change organizations and leadership with a myriad of business challenges.

Join IT Industry Analyst Matt Beran to chat about service management, technology, business, and news and trends for improving IT experiences in general. Every week, he discusses a different topic with an IT leader - from ITSM and cybersecurity to networking and more! Never miss an episode by subscribing to our profile. Ticket Volume is powered by InvGate, your gateway for better IT.