Automation & AI Articles

Shadow AI in IT Support

Shadow AI in IT Support: When Employees Fix Problems Outside the Service Desk

It’s 9am and a sales manager hits a VPN error before a client call. Rather than wait on a service desk ticket, they paste the error into an AI tool and get a fix in seconds. The problem is solved, but no incident was recorded. Judin Joan Soundarya S of ManageEngine looks at what shadow AI costs problem management and security operations, and the practical ways ITSM platforms can regain that visibility without slowing users down.
Agentic ITSM

Agentic ITSM: Understanding the 4 Levels of AI Maturity in IT Service Management

Everyone is selling agentic AI, but the gap between the weakest and strongest versions is enormous. Manish Sharma of Rezolve.ai sets out a four-stage maturity model for AI in ITSM, from legacy retrieval through reactive assistants and process agents to true agentic systems that reason, act across connected systems, and catch problems nobody asked them to look for. He also offers the questions to put to any vendor claiming agentic AI.
The ITSM Industry’s Repeating Failure Pattern

The ITSM Industry’s Repeating Failure Pattern

For over 20 years, ITSM has repeated the same failures. Through ABC cards, Paul Wilkinson reveals how culture, leadership, and behavior – not tools or frameworks – consistently derail success. As AI becomes the latest “shiny new thing,” the question remains: why hasn’t the industry learned?
Value, Silos, and Why You Need to Think Before You Build

Value, Silos, and Why You Need to Think Before You Build

The mismatch between producer effort and user value is something Mark Smalley, IT Paradigmologist and author of nine books on digital and service management, has been thinking about throughout his career. In this article on the first episode of Roman Jouravlev’s Conversations with Giants series, Mark covers several ideas that have held up across four decades in ITSM.
AI Readiness: Is Your Organization Ready for AI?

AI Readiness: Is Your Organization Ready for AI? It Depends

AI is already here. The level of AI inclusion in ITSM tools and platforms is quite remarkable when you look at it closely. The question isn’t whether to engage with it — it’s whether your organization has the right foundations in place to make it work. Trust, governance, and a clear reason for adopting it in the first place are what separate the organizations that get results from those that don’t.
What I Learned from SDI SPARK26

Superheroes, Service Desks, and Chaos Monkeys – What I Learned from SDI SPARK26

The Service Desk Institute (SDI) held its annual SPARK conference in Birmingham in March. In this article, you’ll find an overview of what Vawns Murphy sees as the best bits, including top tips and advice from the presenters. 
Break the 1–3x ITSM Implementation Cost Rule

How AI Will Break the 1–3x ITSM Implementation Cost Rule

The rule of thumb in ITSM has long been that implementation costs one to three times the software license. Richard Mendis of Bytemethod.ai makes the case that agentic AI finally breaks this calculation, by taking on the configuration, documentation, and maintenance work that consumes the bulk of implementation budgets.
AI Help Desk Software

AI Help Desk Software: How LLMs, AI Agents & Chatbots Are Transforming IT Support

In this article, learn how artificial intelligence (AI) help desks powered by LLMs and AI agents automate IT support, reduce Tier 1 tickets, cut costs, and scale IT support operations.
The Hidden Cost of IT “Papercuts”: Why ITSM Automation Is a Business Continuity Strategy

The Hidden Cost of IT “Papercuts”: Why ITSM Automation Is a Business Continuity Strategy

It’s the small issues that can kill your team. It comes from the tiny cuts: the password resets, access tweaks, profile changes, and “just a quick question” tickets that never make a headline but never stop arriving either. ITSM automation will help – this article explains how.
AI in ITSM

AI in ITSM: How AI Is Transforming IT Service Management

Artificial intelligence is changing IT service management for the better. In this article, discover how AI in ITSM is transforming ITSM – from automation and predictive incidents to smarter knowledge and better end-user experiences.
ITIL (Version 5) Explained

ITIL (Version 5) Explained: What’s New, What’s Changed, and Why It Matters

ITIL (Version 5) is here, and many questions are being asked. This article answers some of the most frequently asked questions. Including wht ITIL changed and what the key differences from ITIL 4 are.
AI Survey 2026

AI Survey 2026: The Rise of Agentic AI Adoption in ITSM

We’re running a second 2026 AI survey just four months after our previous one. It repeats a similar AI survey from early 2025. This time, however, there’s a far greater focus on where the ITSM community is with Agentic AI rather than AI per se.
2026 ITSM Trends

2026 ITSM Trends: What the Community Actually Wants Help With

Each year we ask the ITSM community what topics they want help with. Here are the 2026 results, how priorities have changed over six years, and what it all means. Spoiler: GenAI has fallen off a cliff and nobody wants to talk about people anymore.
The MSP Agentic AI Execution Gap

The MSP Agentic AI Execution Gap in Service Delivery

70% of MSPs say they’re using agentic AI. Only 10% are primarily using it where it counts. And according to new Omdia poll data, MSP’s customers are already further ahead. The report digs into the execution gap, the cost of hesitation, and why investors are increasingly factoring AI maturity into MSP valuations.
2026 ITSM Risks

The 2026 ITSM Risks Leaders Are Underestimating

The biggest ITSM risks for 2026 span four areas: people challenges, including exclusion and talent shortages, process maturity gaps in AI adoption, technology risks from unauthorized AI use and poor data quality, and value delivery failures from focusing on tools over outcomes.