Which ITSM Topics Will Interest You, and Your Peers, in 2019?

Which IT service management (ITSM) topics would you like to see our content focus on in 2019? Please take our quick poll and then read on to find out more about a year in the life of ITSM.tools’ content and readership, and to see how we shaped our content plan around last year’s votes.
“I Want 100% Security!” – Improving Security, the Jedi Way

Does the information security world owe a huge debt to the wisdom of Star Wars? And is there a way to improve your organization’s security approach and posture using the wisdom of Jedi? Security authority Daniel Card explores.
Bringing Agile and ITSM Together for Better IT and Business Outcomes

Here Nancy Van Elsacker Louisnord provides insight into how service desk professionals can bring together the agile methodology and IT service management (ITSM) for increased value creation; and looks at the current uptake of Agile in ITSM referencing latest industry statistics.
What’s the Problem with Incident and Problem Management?

Here Aale Roos questions whether the combination of incident and problem management is an obsolete model, how risk management can help, and where Cynefin fits into the equation.
ITSM Future Readiness – Please Take the 2019 Survey

Building off of our 2017 analysis, this article introduces a new ITSM.tools survey that we hope will help IT service management pros to better understand where the future of ITSM is heading and what they should be thinking about (and then doing).
Does Your IT Organization Have the “Good Skills”?

This article by Matthew Burrows focuses on the state of skills, using the Digital Skills Landscape 2018 report, from SkillsTx and BSMimpact, to highlight the current state of skills availability in IT. Are we overly humble in our opinion of our skills or is it the reverse?
ITSM is Dead. Long live Artificially Intelligent Service Management

Here Ian Aitchison introduces his concept of “Artificially Intelligent Service Management,” described as ITSM, but with a rich and creamy layer of artificial intelligence on top – like icing on a cake. Sound hungry? We mean interested… click-through to read more.
“Run and Reinvent” – a New Mantra for IT and ITSM Professionals?

ITSM pros have spent a long, long time working with a remit to “do more with less.” Then, more recently, the much-more-suitable mantra of “better, faster, cheaper” has come into vogue; but this still overlooks the separation of IT activities, and costs, related to two distinct business needs. Read why here.
Does the Service Engineer Ever Get the Right Credit?

This article looks at what happens when a major incident occurs and how the involved service engineer’s work is regarded. Are you giving them the incentives and credit that they deserve?
5 Steps to a Better Problem Management Process

If you’re looking to improve your problem management process, while juggling it with incident management, then striking a balance between them is key. And luckily, it’s not too difficult to achieve! Here Hannah Price shares her top 5 tips for both reactive and proactive problem management success.
How IT Can Lead Employee-Focused Service Management Strategy

We need to rethink the service delivery process and shift our mindsets as service providers away from that of closing tickets (submitted by end users) to instead prioritizing the needs of employees first! But how do you successfully do this? Here you’ll find five tips to get you started.
Changing ITSM – Let’s Talk Customers, AI, and Mental Health

In this article, Sophie Danby looks back at a recent industry conference and uses it as a platform to discuss the changing face of ITSM, the ever-growing importance of customer service, the industry focus on Artificial Intelligence, and why we – in ITSM – need to focus more on the darker side of mental health.
Automation Tools: The 10 Best Office Automation Tools

Being an IT Manager is a big role with a lot of pressure, but it’s easier with tools that help you automate your tasks. Here Ben Lang lists 10 office automation tools that make it easier for IT managers to keep their offices running smoothly – and make the entire company more productive.
The Top 10 People Issues of ITSM (and the ABC of IT)

Best practice adoption failure is often blamed on tools and processes, but in reality these failures are actually caused by people issues. It’s not just limited to best practice though, here Paul Wilkinson looks at the top ten people-related barriers to ITSM success.
Change Management Article: Creating an Efficient CAB

A successful Change Advisory Board (CAB) is a disciplined one! Looking at attendance, process, and other governance aspects, Jan Vromant suggests a set of rules to follow for success that will enable you to transform your CAB into a BECAB – or “brutally efficient” CAB.