Automation & AI Articles

Illustrated ITIL control tower rising above a digital landscape representing the ITIL (Version 5) framework

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

ITIL (Version 5) is here, and the questions from practitioners have started. This article works through the most common ones: what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what the key differences from ITIL 4 are. Roman Jouravlev, editor of ITIL and creator of the Conversations with Giants series, walks through the practical implications for anyone already running ITIL 4.
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: What the Community Actually Wants Help With

Every year we ask the ITSM community what topics they want help with, and the 2026 results are in. This article covers what the community is asking for, 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.
How AI Helps Service Desks

AI-Assisted Service Desks

If you’re wondering about AI-assisted service desks, this article and the videos it links to are for you. Discover how AI-assisted service desks transform ITSM, especially for lean teams – improving speed, experience, and scalability across the business.
Context-Aware Remote Support

Context-Aware Remote Support – the Future of IT Service Management

No matter where an employee is, they expect consumer-grade speed and simplicity. However, their issues are increasingly intertwined with complex networks of devices, SaaS applications, VPNs, and networks that you may not fully control. In this article, discover how context-aware remote support closes the IT resolution gap, reduces MTTR, improves security, and transforms ITSM for hybrid work.
Pushing the Boundaries of Major Incident Response

Pushing the Boundaries of Major Incident Response with Agentic AI

Instead of relying solely on traditional major incident management workflows, IT teams need to diversify and modernize their approach by infusing intelligence into their incident response flows. This article explains how IT incidents and major incidents are detected, analyzed, and resolved better with AI.
2026 ITSM Content

2026 ITSM Content: What IT Service Management Topics Do You Need Most?

What do you need help with next year? Take our quick 2026 ITSM Topics poll to help shape the articles, guides, and practical content ITSM.tools puts out. The aggregated results also give us an early read on the hottest trends in ITSM right now, and where the industry conversation is heading in 2026.
2026 ITAM Outlook

2026 ITAM Outlook: Focused AI, Strong Governance, and the End of Tool Sprawl

What does the 2026 ITAM outlook include?Ian Cahall sees two major shifts taking hold: AI moves from hype to governed, targeted adoption, and multi-tool sprawl will shift to deeper execution on a primary platform.
The State of AI in IT for 2026

The State of AI in IT for 2026: Adoption, Trust, Value, and Reality

The 2026 State of AI in IT Report shows that AI in IT adoption is accelerating for 2026. This article explores survey insights from IT professionals and end-users on AI maturity, trust, ROI, barriers, and real-world ITSM impact.
Reimagining Knowledge Systems in ITSM with AI

Reimagining Knowledge Systems in ITSM: Moving From AI-Assisted to AI-Native

Knowledge has always been the backbone of ITSM excellence. However, even with immense effort invested in documenting, classifying, and organizing knowledge articles, most knowledge systems still fall short of meeting expectations. This article explains how AI helps.
How Analyst Reports Guide Service Management Progress

Setting the Standard: How Analyst Reports Guide Service Management Progress

Diving into analyst reports is an efficient way for organizations to learn what top vendors are offering, what users are experiencing, and what trends are emerging from an unbiased source. This article looks at the opportunity of analyst reports including The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Service Management Platforms, Q4 2025 report.
AI in ITSM

AI in ITSM – 4 Key Points

This article provides you with a 2025 “temperature check” of AI in ITSM based on a recorded webinar and the creation of a new survey-based AI in ITSM report. The “AI in ITSM” stats are shared in another ITSM.tools article.
AI Reduces Risk in IT Change Management

How AI Reduces Risk in High-Impact IT Change Management

Read how AI can make a lasting impact in IT change management. ITSM practitioners can begin moving away from a risk-prone, manual IT change management (or change enablement) process toward a highly controlled, predictive, and agentic ITSM framework.