If we can’t define services in IT what chance do other teams have..? We start off talking about agile and how we might apply that way of working to service management - also how huge the opportunity is (with ESM) and how much bigger this is than IT.. Our guest is the sci-fi geek/rocker Akshay from Axelos who also gives us his entire life story – obviously rivalling Barclay’s long questions. Actually Akshay is a key part of the ITIL 4 team and ITIL product ambassador/evangelist. We explore the key question about how we can use service management principles outside of IT – is ESM actually a thing? Akshay clarifies his commitment to ‘service management’ as a broad concept, with some scepticism around what we are calling Enterprise Service Management. After talking about service management for 30 years its worrying that we still struggle to define ‘service’ as in service management – how can we expect people in other teams to get it..?  There is then a great discussion around the practical definitions of service and products – is service management also about improvement? Ultimately we talk about spades and shovels, nouns or verbs and how language matters! Soon we move on to drinking of course (including a non-alcoholic drink..!) and explore multiple types of cardamon pods.

Margo is the Product owner for ITIL 4, which has been built using product management techniques, as well as being about product and service management. We discuss eating our own dog food, using blueprints, journey mapping and personas. We also discuss how there is a real ‘marriage’ or convergence between product and service management, in a way that develops a balanced and sustainable approach to work and business life. This also leads into how we can develop service management beyond IT – and how we get the (ESM) message across. The discussion also keeps returning to people and the need to hold on to talent. As ever we move to discuss drinking – Margo suggests 2 - a first for the podcast..! A brilliant discussion on the future direction for ITSM.

In this episode we learn that Ian has X-ray eyes, but is not an Avenger. We are joined by David Cannon. David is a leading writer and consultant in the service management world. He has a great work goal – to drive the business skills of IT people - much needed! David’s experience includes recent and past authorship in ITIL – recently with the DITs book but also in V3, which he sees as a product of its time, like all best practice.. We also discuss the real meaning of Digital Transformation – not just to convert what we previously did into a digital format. ITSM/ESM also needs context and intelligence – obviously these are rare.. The discussion includes some great examples and insights from David, whilst Ian and Barclay focus on drink as usual….

Can AI help us to be better humans? Dan is a highly experienced product leader and entrepreneur in the automation and AI area. He brings a huge amount of experience an insight in to how Ai will change how we work – for the better. We discuss how technology can help us to be better people, spend more time with our family etc. Ai is not just about robots taking over our world – AI means ‘artificial’ i.e. not real / not human intelligence, and as leaders we have the opportunity to use this technology to replace work that is dull, dirty or dangerous. The challenge for real success is still around culture and what organisations can expect from tech - and this must be more than just saving costs and removing people. The message needs to be clear and we all need to clarify it… We also discover what a ‘quarantini’ cocktail is..! A really profound discussion on the future of work..!

Sami is CEO of Happy Signals and brings his vast knowledge and understanding of the user experience and employee experience of IT to the podcast. We discover the amazing fact that IT support services are doing really well - better than HR and Finance for service and satisfaction. Also that internal IT does better than external managed services - and that the experience varies noticeably across countries too. Some fascinating discussions around these stats and analysis, from perception not just hard transactional metrics. We also learn about Finnish gin for the podcast bar..!

In which we discover Erika’s past short career as a microbiologist and how she found her way into Service Management, ITIL and consultancy…and now of course as an ITIL 4 author. Her scientific approach really helps in how she works with clients to develop a practical and flexible approach – the value of using hypothesis...! Barclay asks the longest question ever, but Erika still answers all of it – everyone is exhausted and requires a drink. Erika’s suggested drink is the very colourful and appetising Aperol Flip. This is a great high energy discussion which focuses on the value of leadership and the need to change, even when this is challenging, In IT now we are improving people’s lives – ‘I want to change work life’ – Erika Flora.

In which Roy Atkinson of Clifton Butterfield drives his Jaguar safely and clearly through the minefield of customer experience to elucidate on the value of good CX and employee experience. Roy refers to some research he was involved with at HDI and itSMF USA on ESM – initially ESM was driven by IT but more recently now well out of IT and now owned by senior execs. Roy is also a Fellow of the Institute for Digital Transformation - get the CIO operating at a business level..! We discuss the ‘experience economy’, happiness, elements of ITIL (outside of IT) and Roy also describes his favourite whisky tipple…

In which Andie Kis of Devoteam describes one of her recent large ESM projects, how this has evolved and developed from an initial technology project into an organisational-wide transformation programme. Andie highlights the necessity of good self service at the core of the programme and the value of a common platform. Also, there is the need to use simple user-friendly language and terminology, as part of a ‘human-centred’ experience. We also learn Andie’s favourite (gin-related) tipple…

This episode features Knowledge guru Aprill Allen, discussing real life experiences of how we can get real value from knowledge management KCS, and how we are al knowledge workers. There are some brilliant nuggets of wisdom from Aprill in this session – We are all knowledge workers. KCS is important. If it’s ITSM, it’s not strategic enough,  Communities of Practice, Knowledge Workers are Knowledge Creators. Also we learn about Aprill’s Top Drink Tip: Spicy Bloody Mary.

Mark has been driving a full-on organisational-wide ESM programme over the last few years, well beyond the IT department. We learn a number of salient and practical tips on how to make this work and stay mostly sane. We learn Mark’s favourite tipple for the ED Podcast bar and how he can fix your car as well as your PC - and your ESM project.