Enterprise Digital - the podcast

We share the platform at SITS with David Wright, Chief Value and innovation Office from SDI, at the Service Desk and IT Support Show in London. Brilliant discussion relating to some recent SDI research, on the positive improvement in the perception of IT since Covid, recent changes, the impact of the pandemic – ‘this has moved things forward by 5 years, we’re all back, we’ve moved in and now we are talking about the future of the Service Desk and what this means in the new digital workplace. Experience management and new engagement… and much more. David talks 10 to the dozen, this is a dynamic and positive discussion – of course, we end up in the bar drinking Welsh beer..!?!?

Our guest is the chairman of Pink Elephant in North America, and has been working in the industry since before ITIL was a twinkle in anyone’s eyes… Originally from the UK North East and a keen Sunderland fan, Dave has lived in North America for over 30 years. Dave brings some real life pragmatic feedback on what organisations are still actually doing in terms of developing their (IT) services – and in IT that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot of the new ‘shiny’ stuff. Still a lot of core ITSM questions to answer and some basic courses are still the most popular..! This is a really useful and practical discussion to bring us all back from the brink of ‘shiny-ism’... Of course, we end up at the bar as ever.

Our guest this week is Matthew who is an experienced ITSM expert from Skills Tx, with a focus on skills and competencies through his work with SFIA. We discuss all aspects of people development, from mental health to management, training, and development, and how we can move from a focus on knowledge to an understanding of what it means to develop real experience and competency. Learning to drive requires time and practice, not just reading the rules and details in a book. Matthew provides some insights on how organisations and countries (yes) are developing practical approaches.

We start with fish as possible cheap labour – yes. But then move on seriously to review the podcasts to date, our guests and topics over the last year. So many great sessions to review across the industry. We’re all getting out a bit more and attending events – we’ll also be at the SITS show in London 11th/12th May. Some of the themes keep coming back around the importance and need for focus on people, and experience – that’s what we’re talking about more and more, not just about Ai and bots… It’s also great to be in the same room with people..!. With Ian and Barclay.

This week’s guest is the multi-talented Karen Ferris – as author, trainer, consultant, who ‘accidentally’ wrote a book on Change – ‘Balanced Diversity’. We discuss a lot of current topics initially, from the value of horse-power and internet enabled cows to experience management. We also focus on the approach that Karen espouses in Balanced Diversity. The good new is that its quite straightforward – it’s about the ’why’, having good conversations and ongoing dialogue to engage people and bring them with us. Part of the challenge is to get people on board and remove their fears and uncertainties. All this takes time of course and that’s why many projects fail due to lack of realistic planning and the need for re-work. There’s a great example that comes up about how ‘nobody planned the pandemic’ – but still everyone ‘got it’ – ie had a shared sense of commitment. Thanks to Karen for a great discussion and also for getting up in the middle of the night to join us

This week’s guest is Tim Flower, a highly experienced IT thought leader and podcaster, with a wealth of varied experience across our industry. He is the Director of Business transformation at Nexthink and host of the Digital Experience DEC podcast.  The discussion centres around the developing world of Experience Management, XLAs, SLAs, SLDs, - with a focus on the ‘A’ – i.e. the ‘agreement. ‘ An XLA takes a village’ - we discuss, and also look at the current realistic and practical uptake of XLAs, and other aspects of how we can improve collaboration and data assimilation around service delivery, particularly in the new word of work… And yes we end up in the bar...

What do we mean by Experience Management? How do we make it work? Should we co-create experiences..? Are we going too far with this? Our guest this week is Greg Sanker, who works as CIO periodically, as well as podcasting, tweeting and authoring on ITSM and IT management. The conversation moves swiftly around enterprise and IT service management, then we look at experience from a fascinating ‘governance’ perspective. It’s not just asking people about their experience, maybe its also about already knowing this… Somehow we end up agreeing and having a drink at the bar.

This weeks’ guest Alan Berkson is Director of Analyst Relations for Freshservice – ‘the coolest job I the world’ – well he would say that. However, as we learn it is a much misunderstood and important role, that requires an understanding of everything going on in a company. Alan joined Freshworks in the early days in an ‘evangelist’ role – this has now grown into a major global brand.  The discussion focusses on various key aspects of trust – (PET)  Proactivity, Engagement and Transparency. Alan also draws on some clear distinctions around thought leadership and marketing, and how vendors can work with analysts to gain insight. After a really constructive and engaging chat, as ever we end up discussing exotic drinks in the bar.

This session's guest is the whirlwind of attitude, behaviour and culture (ABC) - Paul Wilkinson, of Gaming Works. Paul energy levels come from a daily diet of plutonium sandwiches, washed down with rocket fuel. Paul is the original service and value evangelist, who has preached the need for developing ABC rather than just processes or tools or other 'shiny' things. The discussion is focussed on how practically develop and improve culture, communications and other good behaviours that actually make a difference for success.  We need to use real language rather than jargon to improve communications, not just simply follow processes. If you want to learn about ABC and how simulations can be effective – listen on… Paul also claims to be retiring, but no one believes this

Listen to our guest Sally and you hear passion, commitment, focus, enthusiasm and a real understanding of what is needed to make service management successful. Sally was already a successful service management practitioner before she joined NHS digital – the IT and digital part of the UK NHS organisation. We discuss some eye-watering stats and the scale of change, particularly with Covid over the last 2 years, moving from 500K users to 60 million…!! We hear some great advice for modern/digital service management – the need for flexibility, recognition of people and of course the need for a clear sense of shared purpose. We need to know not only what we are expected to do but also why and this builds commitment and purpose – i.e. the passion!!. This must be our most motivational episode to date – play it to your team and stand back…!!!