ITSM Articles

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.
Ending the L1 vs L2 Escalation Wars

Ending the L1 vs L2 Escalation Wars: Rethinking IT Support Tiers

A ticket gets escalated, comes back marked “add notes before escalation,” gets reassigned, then returns with “should have been resolved at L1.” Meanwhile the end-user is still waiting. Eusoph Simba argues the ticket ping-pong between support tiers isn’t an escalation problem but a problem with how we frame support levels. He makes the case for treating every ticket as an issue to solve, escalating on capability rather than hierarchy, and a simple standard format that breaks the loop.
Neurodivergence in ITSM

Neurodivergence in ITSM: Why Being Called a “Legend” Feels Uncomfortable

This article by Daniel Breston is about neurodivergence in ITSM and was sparked (pardon the pun) by his attendance – and what he did and didn’t feel – at the Service Desk Institute (SDI) SPARK26 event.
Illustrated figure in a hat and jacket labelled ITSM Guide facing a server room representing the ITIL guiding principles

ITIL (Version 5) Guiding Principles: A Practical Guide for ITSM Leaders

ITIL (Version 5) describes the ITIL guiding principles as: “Recommendations that can guide an organization in all circumstances, regardless of changes in its goals, strategies, type of work, or management structure.” This article explains more.
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.
ITSM Benchmarking

ITSM Benchmarking – Your Chance to Get Involved

How would you rate your organization’s ITSM or ITIL-adoption success? Not just in terms of process or practice adoption, but in serving your parent business. To help, PeopleCert has created an ITIL Performance Benchmarking Model. Helped by defined ways for calculating key metrics.
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 Genealogy of AI Slop

The Genealogy of AI Slop: Generative AI Didn’t Invent It – It Learned It

There is a growing chorus complaining about “AI slop” in IT service management (ITSM). This article by Ian Clayton looks at how we had “slop” before we had “AI slop” and the connectivity between the two.
Illustrated checklist with colorful crayons representing the key ITIL (Version 5) changes from ITIL 4

ITIL (Version 5) Changes Explained: 20 Important Changes from ITIL 4

The release of the ITIL (Version 5) Foundation publication brings with it interest in what has changed from ITIL 4. This article shares 20 changes in ITIL (Version 5) compared to ITIL 4, including updates to the Value System, certifications, and AI governance.
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.
FinOps and ITSM

What the State of FinOps 2026 Means for ITSM

The FinOps Foundation has released its sixth annual State of FinOps survey, and ITSM is explicitly named as one of the key disciplines with which FinOps teams are now collaborating. If you work in ITSM and you haven’t been paying attention to FinOps, now’s the time to start.
ITIL 4 Service Value System Explained

ITIL 4 and ITIL 5 Service Value Systems (SVSs) Explained: Guiding Principles, Practices, and Service Value Chain

Much has changed in ITIL 4 and thus there’s a lot to get one’s head around! This article quickly explains what the ITIL 4 service value system is and what it contains: the guiding principles, governance, service value chain, management practices, and continual improvement.