We are pleased to announce the launch of Betty Bee, our new AI-powered knowledge assistant created to help members search trusted content, access resources, and find answers more quickly.

A faster way to find trusted answers
Designed to make it easier to navigate itSMF UK’s growing library of resources, Betty Bee helps members locate relevant information, explore guidance, and connect with useful content in a simple conversational format. The assistant is grounded exclusively in itSMF UK content, including member area resources, website information, blogs, white papers, and event recordings, making it easier for members to discover the knowledge already available to them.

What Betty Bee can help with
By asking simple questions, members can use Betty Bee to:

• Find guidance and best practice: “What is the best way to manage communications during a major incident?”
• Locate publications and resources: “Where can I find recent white papers or blogs on artificial intelligence in service management?”
• Prepare for learning and development: “Which webinars or event recordings could help me learn more about incident management?”
• Stay informed about events and opportunities: “What upcoming itSMF UK events are relevant to artificial intelligence or service management?”

Betty Bee is intended to save members time, improve access to trusted knowledge, and support a better experience when searching for guidance, learning opportunities, and member resources.

Designed for the Service Management Community
Unlike general-purpose AI tools, Betty Bee has been created specifically for the itSMF UK community. It supports members by helping them to locate information within our trusted resources, whether they are looking for practical guidance, professional development content, event information, or insight from the wider service management community.

“Betty Bee represents an important step forward in how itSMF UK supports its members,” said Graham McDonald, itSMF UK General Manager. “By making our knowledge and resources easier to search and explore, we are helping members find trusted information faster and get more value from the content, events, and learning opportunities available through itSMF UK.”

How you can access Betty Bee
Betty Bee is available as follows:

• FULL SEARCH ACCESS: available to members only by logging in to the member area.
• SNEAK PEEK: limited access, for those who are not yet members.
• CONFERENCE VIEW: for questions about ITSM26 and to help build your perfect itinerary.

It's not just the barbecues that are sizzling this year. Book a Summer Sizzler discount place at itSMF UK's Annual Conference today and you'll save £140 on the price of a two-day pass!

ITSM26 brings together service management practitioners from across the industry for two exceptional days of education and networking. With sessions from organisations as diverse as ITV, VOIS (Vodafone), University of Birmingham, Irwin Mitchell, Barclays Bank, Aegon, Bupa, The Salvation Army, Mastercard, Kings College London, AtkinsRéalis, Ministry of Defence, Square Enix, IPO, Legal & General, Department for Transport, Pearson, BT, Digital Health & Care Wales, Northumbria University and Capital One, there's something for everyone in our four-track line-up of speakers. 

There is a problem, though. With so many sessions to choose from (51 in total), you'll need time to create your dream agenda. So why not start now? On our conference page you'll find links to our popular schedule builder and preview guide, providing all the information you need to identify the presentations most relevant to you and your organisation.

Don't delay - start planning today!

BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY!

The new Chair is Lucy Banks, Global Head of Problem Operations and Head of Service Governance at Barclays, who started her career as a Technology Apprentice in 2015.

“Alongside my day job,” said Lucy, “I’m studying for a Level 7 Master’s Degree Apprenticeship and was fortunate to be recognised as itSMF Young Professional of the Year in 2022. Throughout my career I’ve benefited from the support of some incredible people, but what I often lacked was a wider community of peers navigating similar challenges and opportunities. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get involved in the Youth Cabinet.”

Deputy Chair is Ethan Hall, Transition Analyst at The AA, who joined the business five years ago, starting in insurance sales before moving into a marketing coordinator role and, more recently, transitioning into ITSM.

“I’ve been in my current role for around seven months,” he said, “which means I’m still relatively new to the profession. That’s exactly why I’m passionate about being involved with the itSMF Youth Cabinet. I believe young professionals should have a voice in shaping the future of our industry and creating opportunities for others to learn, develop and build rewarding careers in service management.”

Over the coming weeks and months, Lucy and Ethan will be focusing on building a strong sense of community, identifying opportunities to influence the future of ITSM and developing initiatives that help attract and support the next generation of professionals entering our industry.

Their ambition is for the Youth Cabinet to be a collaborative, inclusive and action-oriented group where everyone has the opportunity to contribute ideas, share perspectives and help shape initiatives that make a tangible difference.

For more information, please contact Lucy (youth.chair@itsmf.co.uk) or Ethan (youth.deputy@itsmf.co.uk) or itSMF UK Board sponsor Chris Kingsbury (chris.kingsbury@cgi.com).

• Editorial: Are you making the most of your membership?
• 5 reasons why ITSM26 should be your next conference. Claire Burn reflects on two days very well spent at our flagship event.
• Life as ITSM young professional of the year. Chloe Mackay of VOIS talks to Rhys Elis Jones about her recent achievements.
• ITIL version 5, AI, and the return of grown up service management. Barry Corless considers why accountability, governance, and judgement matter more than ever in an AI-driven world.
• SIAM Body of Knowledge: what’s in the latest refresh? Michelle Major-Goldsmith and Simon Dorst explain what’s new.
• The biggest barrier to continual improvement is ITIL v3. Ian MacDonald considers some common reasons why continual improvement is hard to introduce, and explains why ITIL might be partly to blame.
• Women in ITSM: insights and inspiration. Vawns Murphy reflects on a day spent learning from women leaders and discovering the real strength of community.
• AI governance does not start with AI. AI has made many organisations look again at their existing IT governance practices. Kaimar Karu considers how ready we are for AI governance, and how we should prepare for its challenges.
• Avoiding ITSM tool implementation pain. Chris Good has seen too many organisations fall into the same traps when rolling out a new service management platform. Here he explains how to avoid them to give your investment the best chance of success.

VIEW THE NEW ISSUE

As a Cabinet member, you’ll:

• Promote ITSM to students and early career professionals
• Feed a youth perspective into itSMF councils and initiatives
• Help shape events, content, and community engagement
• Act as an ambassador for the ITSM profession.

We’re looking for any number of members to join. You don’t need years of experience – just passion for the profession and a desire to help shape its future.

Please share this message within your organisation. We are specifically seeking expressions of interest from individuals aged 18–30. Those outside this age range are very welcome to register as allies, supporting the group through mentoring and guidance.

If you have colleagues who may be interested, please encourage them to contact membership@itsmf.co.uk to express their interest by 30th April.

Once the Cabinet is established, we’ll host an online kick-off session to bring everyone together and set priorities for the year ahead. We’ll also appoint two key members:

• Youth Cabinet Chair
• Youth Cabinet Deputy Chair 

The Chair will engage directly with the itSMF UK Board on a quarterly basis, giving young professionals a real seat at the table.

We’d love to have you involved. 

Chris Kingsbury – itSMF UK Board Sponsor, Youth Cabinet

FELICITY ASHLEY (opening keynote)

Felicity Ashley isn’t just an inspiring speaker – she’s a business-critical voice for today’s corporate leaders. What makes her truly unique is not only the fact that she rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic while unknowingly battling cancer, but also her rare combination of real-world leadership experience and personal resilience.

With over 20 years of leading marketing for major global brands, Felicity brings first-hand insights on high-performance leadership, managing change, and navigating uncertainty.

She has worked with top-tier clients such as Barclays, Salesforce, Aston Martin, Centrica, National Grid, Santander and Publicis, helping leaders transform their teams and thrive in times of change.

In May 2025, she marked three years since her cancer diagnosis by completing the world’s highest marathon at Everest Base Camp, and in June 2026, she will row 2,800 miles across the mid-Pacific becoming one of fewer than 10 women to have rowed two oceans.

LAURA ELLIS (day 2 keynote)

Laura Ellis is a technologist, journalist and keynote speaker on AI, with a focus on emerging technology, machine learning, disinformation, and data.

Laura has worked on news teams in radio, TV, and online and led two regional news and current affairs teams through significant technology change, establishing the BBC’s first end-to-end digital newsroom.

In her current role she focuses on ensuring the BBC is best placed to take advantage of emerging technology and takes a particular interest in ethics, personalised and automated journalism, machine learning, generative AI and media provenance.

Laura is a popular speaker on how to onboard AI as a society and in industry and on managing technological change and leadership.

MAISIE ADAM (awards special guest)

Maisie Adam is a comedian, writer and broadcaster from Yorkshire, widely regarded as one of the brightest rising stars in British comedy. With her sharp observational style, quick wit and warm, self-effacing delivery, she has built a reputation as a standout performer both on stage and on screen, as a solo performer and as a regular on panel shows and podcasts.

An award-winner early in her standup career, Maisie has become a familiar presence on television. She has appeared on shows including Live at the Apollo, A League of Their Own, Mock the Week, and Have I Got News for You, and she was the champion of series 20 of Taskmaster.

Maisie also co-hosts the award-winning podcast Big Kick Energy with friend and fellow comedian Suzi Ruffell. Celebrating women’s football through humour and accessible analysis, the show was named Sports Podcast of the Year at the Sports Broadcast Awards just five months after launching.

For more information about ITSM26, or to book your place at our Early BIrd rate, visit www.itsmf.co.uk/itsm26

The next title in this series is on Change Enablement. Following a pattern established with earlier papers, we are seeking volunteers to participate in a one-hour interview on Change Enablement, discussing the following topics – and related issues – with our research leader, Marida Lotz-Henning.

• How is Change Enablement viewed in your organisation?
• What has changed in the market in recent years and how has it affected the way you deliver Change Enablement?
• How do you measure Change Enablement?
• How do you celebrate success, and how do you communicate that success, with whom, and when?
• What challenges does Change Enablement face?
• With the benefit of a magic wand, what would you do to improve your current Change Enablement practice?

Your insights and experience would be greatly valued in helping us create a clear picture of Change Enablement in 2026. Please contact us by 3rd April to register your interest.

Recently, we’ve also contributed as a reviewer for the NEW ITIL Performance Benchmarking Model (ITIL PBM), led by Dmitry Isaychenko.

The ITIL Performance Benchmarking Model is intended to provide a structured approach for assessing how effectively an organisation uses and manages digital technology, using a limited set of benchmark-ready metrics to compare performance against industry peers.

As part of the launch, we’d like to invite itSMF UK members to take part in the first international ITIL Performance Benchmarking survey to help establish industry benchmarks for digital technology management.

In return, participants will receive the full benchmarking report (Q2) that will provide insight into how your organisation compares with industry peers across key strategic focus areas.

See links below:
 The ITIL PBM: https://www.itil.com/organizations/itil-performance-benchmarking-model
 The survey: https://forms.gle/Q6YLgYgZm4upx6b6A
 

What makes itSMF UK’s conference different from other industry gatherings is the strong voice of the user community; the hints, tips and practical guidance shared by experienced practitioners in the public sector or commercial companies.

DELEGATES CAN LOOK FORWARD TO…

• Four tracks of first-class content from leading advocates of service management
• Flexible agenda format: jump between tracks as you wish
• Sunday networking reception
• Face-to-face networking and interaction
• Our PSMA26 annual awards gala dinner. 

BOOK YOUR PLACE TODAY!

“The Community of Practice was originally established to recognise the transferable skills that individuals with a military background bring to our industry. It aimed to promote IT Service Management as a career path and to provide support throughout members’ professional journeys.

To extend our reach and impact, we have broadened the focus of the Community of Practice to include those who are involved in, or have an interest in, Defence‑related IT Service Management. To reflect this wider scope, the community will now be known as the Defence Community of Practice.

The Defence Community of Practice is open to itSMF UK members with a military or Defence connection or interest. It provides opportunities to network, learn, and share mutual support and guidance through member‑led discussions, articles, and events.”

If you are interested in joining, please contact the itSMF UK office for further details.

Kevin Sharp becomes the new Vice Chair, replacing Cristan Massey of Pearson who takes on the Member Groups portfolio. Kevin, who is Global Head of Service Management at Janus Henderson Investors, joined the Board in 2022, since when he has chaired the Leadership Council, helping to build a strategic agenda relevant to the most senior managers in our membership.

New Vice Chair Kevin Sharp

Jason Hamer of Vodafone becomes the new Leadership Council Chair, while BT’s Valerie Wilson steps back from Member Groups to take on a key new role, focusing on itSMF’s offerings around AI. She continues to lead the Women in ITSM community of practice.

Yogesh Patel of CereCore continues as Finance Director, while Board newcomer Chris Kingsbury of CGI will now steer our early years and education initiatives. Finally, Keith Reeves of DHCW oversees risk management and state of ITSM; while Vawns Murphy (i3Works) and Dave Gordon (Arcadis) share responsibility for governance and secretariat.

Claire Drake said, “I’m very pleased with the new Board roles, which should help us provide stronger leadership in key areas such as youth and AI, as well as building on the organisation’s value proposition across the service management community.”

Put faces to the names of our current Board members.

A big thank you to all the nominees, finalists, proposers and judges who participated in PSMA25.

The winners were announced at the gala dinner during ITSM25 on Monday. It was a great opportunity to celebrate with the leading lights of our industry, from the promising newcomers to the inspirational leaders.

itSMF UK Chair Claire Drake, who co-judged several categories, said "Congratulations to all our winners and finalists! The standard of entries gets higher every year. I was delighted to see so many people at the awards dinner to share in the success of the winners."

The winners are...

CONTENT OF THE YEAR
• Rachael Elliot, CGI

YOUNG ITSM PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR
• Chloe Mackay, Vodafone (VOIS) - winner
• Josh Nicholl, Irwin Mitchell - highly commended

itSMF UK CHALLENGE CUP
• Vodafone (VOIS)

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AWARD
• Brillio - winner
• Ministry of Justice - highly commended

PEOPLECERT TEAM OF THE YEAR
• BT

SERVICE INNOVATION OF THE YEAR
• Manchester Metropolitan University

ASHLEY HANNA CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR
• Chevonne Hobbs

DAVE JONES INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD
• Lynda Cooper

PAUL RAPPAPORT LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
• Claire Agutter

For more information and photos check out the PSMA25 page.

Dave Gordon is Global Service Manager at Arcadis. In his 20+ year career in ITSM, he has led large teams through complex service transformations and managed stakeholder relationships at executive level. With experience as a trustee of a local mental health charity and qualifications in ITIL, PRINCE2 and Lean Six Sigma, he says he appreciates the value of the strong professional networks and knowledge sharing that itSMF provides to our community.

As Director of Business Consulting at CGI, Chris Kingsbury has led a team of consultants delivering strategic ITSM transformations across defence, government, utilities, and education. With hands-on expertise spanning SACM, data strategy, configuration management and IT controls, he was awarded itSMF UK’s Ashley Hanna Contributor of the Year award in 2021 and Content of the Year award in 2023.

itSMF UK Chair Claire Drake said she was delighted to welcome Dave and Chris to the Board, with all the knowledge and experience that they bring to the organisation. She also expressed her sincere gratitude to Rosh Hosany and Nathan McDonald, who are stepping down after an impressive eight years on the Board.

Meanwhile, Cristan Massey and Kevin Sharp continue on the Board for another year as Vice Chair and Leadership Council Chair respectively. Jason Hamer also serves another year, while Yogesh Patel, Val Wilson, Vawns Murphy and Keith Reeves are re-appointed for two years.

The winner will be announced at the awards dinner during ITSM25 on 10th November. Voting deadline: 30th September 2025. Check out the content, and then make your selection below.

• RACHAEL ELLIOT – Day in the life of a Service Architect and Service Design CoP thought leadership case study
• IAN MACDONALD – Is it time to ditch our Ronseal job titles and The problem with problem
• ROMAN ZHURAVLEV – Digital products and services: better together
• ANTHONY STEER – Service Design CoP Univ of Birmingham case study
• CHEVONNE HOBBS – Should we include UX/UI in Service Design and Continual Improvement white paper
• SIMON ROLLEY – AI in recruitment: finding the right words 
• VALERIE WILSON – Who is your favourite gladiator?
• RICHARD HORTON – The correct way to stack a dishwasher and Moving house: some notes for service managers
• BARRY CORLESS – Problem Management white paper
• LYNDA COOPER – ISO/IEC 20000 survey
• SANDRA WHITTLESTON – ITSM on the university curriculum

VOTE HERE.

Drawn from the numerous nominations submitted earlier this year, our judges have short-listed the teams and individuals who demonstrated the highest level of achievement and commitment. Organisations in this year’s short-list include Vodafone, BT, CGI, Brillio, Capital One, Aviva, Coventry Building Society, Leeds Building Society, Ministry of Justice, Irwin Mitchell, 3RS IT Solutions, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Serco.

The winner in each category will be announced at our gala awards dinner on the first evening of ITSM25 (10th November in Milton Keynes). Look out for the finalists’ videos which will be appearing on the awards page over the coming weeks.

FURTHER INFORMATION…

Following on from the amazing success of 2024 Challenge Cup competition, where ‘Team GLEIF’ were crowned 2024 champions, we are delighted to announce that the itSMF UK Challenge Cup is back for 2025!

Facilitated by our delivery partner SXP, teams of up to four colleagues will compete against other organisations by playing their new simulation (details to be revealed) – and the winning team will be the one that achieves the highest score!

The competition will culminate with a presentation to the winning team at the PSMA25 awards dinner in November – along with a prize of £1,000 for their selected charity.

Open to all member organisations and FREE to take part, submit your team entry today.

The Challenge

The essence of the new simulation will be for each team to run the IT services for a large enterprise. Although fictitious, the business model will be based on a real business, with the strategies and their impacts in the simulation based on industry researched and recognised metrics, adding to the realism of the experience.

While it is a competition, each ‘heat’ is designed to be a learning opportunity, with input about ITSM practices and technology, so that the whole competition can add real value to those that participate.

The new simulation will work at a high level to bring ITSM best practices to life, showing how they drive effective IT delivery and enable business performance. The simulation will also demonstrate the importance and value of supporting technology, including the use of modern IT capabilities, such as AI and Agentic AI. As the simulation progresses, participants will be given the opportunity to see how these modern capabilities can really enhance the effectiveness and cost of delivering ITSM processes.

Key points to note:

• Like the real world, users review reports and dashboards, including value stream maps, and attempt to identify strategies to address immediate business needs, e.g., reducing lost opportunity and ticket volume through to improving the ‘flow’ of incident, request and development pipelines. Strategies implemented include application and infrastructure improvements, knowledge articles, self-service portal, automation and AI related technologies.
• Learn how practices and technologies combine to drive business performance and customer satisfaction, as well as boosting business productivity and employee experience.
• Instant feedback on strategies selected versus the happy path reinforces learning and self-efficacy.
• Leaderboards show how teams are competing against their peers.
• Think of this as a complex business and IT model shrunk down into an interactive sandbox, where risk free experimentation can be done.

Challenge Cup Format

• Virtual delivery via MS Teams.
• Each team competes once in a heat scheduled during October.
• Simulation lasts for 3 hours.
• Max 4 players per team – ideally mixed knowledge/experience.
• Mandatory pre-event ‘kick off’ for Team Captains.

Team Entry

Please make your team submission here before the 15 September – we will be in touch with all Team Captains to confirm your place and finalise dates and arrangements.

The mentorship programme was officially launched in January 2025 with the aim of supporting ongoing development for member organisations and their service management professionals, but the initial pilot started some six months earlier.

The pilot phase

The pilot involved five participants who provided feedback on the design of the mentee onboarding processes, mentoring sessions, and feedback mechanisms.

The mentees also signed up to the Professional Skills Management Framework (PSMF/Skills TX), which provides a personal profile and skills self-assessment to identify the gaps between existing skills and those to which mentees aspire.

For each mentee, the profile and skills assessment, along with the application form, CV, and personal development plans, feeds into a Goal & Action Plan (GAP) for a period of 12 months.

The launch

Following this first stage, there was an additional intake of mentees from the initial pilot applications, with the next group being admitted at the official launch in January 2025.

Simultaneously, I worked with the itSMF operations team and board to identify a potential pool of mentors, drawing on the expertise of Leadership Council members and winners of the PSMA Young Professional of the Year award. This initial group of mentors was established through presentations, updates, emails, and subsequent meetings with individuals who expressed an interest in mentoring.

As we started to align mentees and mentors for phase 3, we were also able to try out some new features in PSMF/SkillsTX, geared towards matching the specific competencies of the two groups. This new functionality helps to ensure that the most appropriate mentor is selected for each mentee.

The itSMF website has been updated to reflect the phases of the mentoring programme as it was being delivered, and the mentors are now all listed so that mentees can identify potential matches.

Personal goals and issues

I continue to personally mentor and oversee several mentees from phases 1, 2, and 3. This past year has shown us that we possess a broader range of skills, knowledge, and experience than we initially anticipated amongst the mentees, and the primary takeaway for me has been that mentoring benefits individuals at every stage of their career.  

We have found that personal issues such as lack of confidence, effects of grief, limiting beliefs, or lack of direction often hold people back more than professional factors. These can be addressed during the onboarding process, which includes an introductory meeting and a ‘triage’ session. This session helps match mentees with mentors who have the necessary skills and experience to move professional development forward, once personal issues have been addressed.

Mentees come to the process with various personal goals, such as shifting from technical to service roles, moving from team lead to manager, advancing from management to director, or addressing leadership, personal branding, and process improvement issues. The mentorship programme aims to address all of these goals in the most effective way we can.

Progress so far

So how is it going one year on? The stats are as follows…

Total mentees onboarded = 14

Phase 1 = 5 mentees matched with mentors
Phase 2 = 2/3 matched (1 yet to onboard)
Phase 3 = 4/6 matched (2 yet to onboard)
Total mentors onboarded = 14

Total mentee/mentor matches = 10

One company did not renew their itSMF membership, which renders them ineligible to participate, and unfortunately another was made redundant at the end of their year.

Next steps

We are now in the process of developing our references and case studies to support the expansion of this programme. We offer a diverse range of mentors, so whether you are considering applying, wish to progress further, or seek guidance on areas for personal development, we are well equipped to assist you.

It would be great to continue to onboard new mentees on a regular basis. If any of this has resonated with you, please consider applying. At worst you will get a free mentoring session for 12 months – at best you might end up moving forward quicker than if you go it alone.

A big thank you to our current mentees and mentors. I hope to welcome more of you into the programme over the next year.

With sessions from organisations as diverse as Forrester, ITV, Vodafone, University of Birmingham, Allianz, Irwin Mitchell, Primark, IKEA, Softcat, Direct Line, Nationwide Building Society, Ministry of Defence, Square Enix and Pearson, there’s something for everyone in our four-track line-up of speakers.

Browse the conference sessions in our PDF preview guide and then build your personal agenda in the NEW schedule builder! There’s so much to choose from on the agenda this year, but we hope the online schedule builder helps you to create your ideal programme at ITSM25.

And remember, the sessions that you miss on the day will be available as recordings, so you can catch up after the event.

Don’t forget our Early Bird discount!

Book your place before the end of June and enjoy a massive £210 reduction on the price of a two-day pass! It’s an offer you can’t afford to miss.

MORE INFO

There's content to suit all tastes in the new edition:

• Opening the doors to the next generation. A number of initiatives are coming together within itSMF UK to spread the word about service management to a younger audience. ServiceTalk investigates.
• The problem with problem is people. Problem management is the only ITIL discipline that prevents incidents from occurring or recurring. Yet many organisations undervalue and overlook its importance, argues Ian MacDonald.
• Who is your favourite Gladiator? Val Wilson reflects on some key shifts that have occurred in leadership styles, and how these changes are creating new opportunities for female leaders.
• The correct way to stack the dishwasher. Richard Horton has spent a decade and more in the service management kitchen. Here he muses on what the dishwasher might have to say about ITSM.
• Putting ITSM on the university curriculum. Based on evidence of what we have achieved already, we know that including ITSM in degrees is possible, says Sandra Whittleston, but we need to do it more widely.
• ISO/IEC 20000: an annual update. Lynda Cooper offers a snapshot of what’s happening in the service management standards world.
• IT’s emotional shift: why XLAs matter now. XLAs have emerged as a game-changer, helping IT focus on user outcomes rather than just technical outputs. Steve Fleming considers why they are having such a profound impact across the service management world.
• PLUS... A sneak peek of the agenda for ITSM25, our annual conference in November; news of upcoming events and member activities; and a preview of SITS25.

VIEW THE NEW ISSUE

PSMA25 – the itSMF UK annual award scheme – offers a great opportunity to highlight the achievements of IT service management individuals and teams, whose skills, commitment and imagination have marked them out for special recognition. 

Nominations are now open for this year’s ITSM Team, Service Innovation, Young ITSM Professional, Ashley Hanna Contributor of the Year, and NEW Customer Experience awards. Outline entries must reach us by 15th June, with full written nominations by 15th July. Follow the link below for further details.

To enter for the awards, check out the details on the PSMA25 page.

The winners will be announced at our gala dinner during ITSM25 on 10th November in Milton Keynes, with special guest entertainer and comedian Mark Watson. To reserve your place, please see the booking information on the ITSM25 page.

JULIAN FISHER (opening keynote)

Julian Fisher is an intelligence specialist with decades of operational experience, in the private and public sectors. He starred in Channel 4’s show Spies as one of the lead trainers/assessors. He is also the author of ‘Think Like a Spy: Master the Art of Influence’ and ‘Build Life-Changing Alliances’. In this book, Julian explains how readers can apply the nine secret skills of espionage to help them achieve their personal and professional goals.

After a short career as a City Economist, Julian joined the UK’s Foreign Service working across Africa and beyond, before moving into the private intelligence business. Amongst other adventures, he has been invited to help plot a coup in a West African country (he declined!), intercepted camel-rustlers on a drive across war-torn Somalia and worked with security agencies in South Sudan to help prepare the country for independence.

A specialist in the ‘people’ side of intelligence, Julian talks about what companies and individuals can learn from this world to enhance their effectiveness and productivity, focusing on leadership, interpersonal skills, motivations and influence.

ANNETTE ANDREWS (day 2 keynote)

Annette Andrews is a leading people and culture executive with over 30 years of experience with companies including Lloyd’s of London, Lloyds Banking Group and Ford. A coach, mediator and experienced human resources officer, she considers how organisations and leaders need to adapt to new expectations from employees and the fundamental changes in leadership style and culture this brings.

Annette has worked with CEOs, boards and senior leaders on a global basis in highly regulated organisations and during some of the most challenging periods in their histories. As Chief People Officer at Lloyd’s of London insurance market, she worked closely with CEO Inga Beale to radically change a complex, deep-rooted and outdated working culture. Throughout, her work has been to ensure that people and culture are integrated into business strategy and on the agenda at the top table.

Passionate about supporting individuals and organisations to achieve their full potential, she explores what attracts talent and the supporting culture and practices that need to be in place to retain them. The golden thread that runs through her work is diversity and inclusion. Along with these key factors, she looks at what technological, social and industry changes have to say about employees and employers of the future.

MARK WATSON (awards special guest)

Mark Watson is one of the UK’s leading live comedians, as well as a writer, producer, and director. Nominated twice for the main Edinburgh Comedy award (and winning it the second time), Mark’s brand of intelligent observation, friendly banter, and endearing frustration with the world engages and entertains in equal measure.

A TV and radio regular, Mark has appeared on almost every panel show going from Have I Got News… and Mock the Week to 8 Out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie To You. He has also appeared on This Week, Live at the Apollo, Taskmaster, and celebrity editions of Mastermind, Pointless and Bear Gryll’s Celebrity Island.

He travelled around Brazil with fellow comic Henning Wehn on a football odyssey in Road to Rio, hosted his own surreal take on the celebrity game show in We Need Answers, and fronted sports panel show Mark Watson Kicks Off. On radio, he’s a regular on Radio 4 panel shows, and hosted two series of Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, as well as series of Mark Watson’s Live Address to the Nation and Mark Watson Talks About Life.

For more information about ITSM25, or to book your place at our Early BIrd rate, visit www.itsmf.co.uk/itsm25

In keeping with the ITIL guiding principle of ‘start where you are’, the mentee does not have to be straight out of school or university; they might be looking to make a change in career direction or explore a new and unfamiliar area of ITSM. There are always transferable skills; however it has been proven that those with a mentor go farther, faster.

PSMF and complementary resources

This programme has been designed to complement the resources already available for those new to service management, such as the ITIL 4 Overview, the two-part Introduction to ITSM programme and the skills mapping tool, PSMF.

PSMF Personal is free to members and offers self-assessment, individual profiles, skill gap analysis, and comparison with standard industry roles. It is part of the onboarding requirement that mentees complete the free PSMF skills assessment so that the resulting profile and content can provide input for the mentoring sessions and help to match them to the most appropriate mentors. Further information on PSMF can be found here.

Next steps

Any members interested in being mentored are invited to view the FAQs via the link below and then submit an application.

More information on the mentorship scheme

What makes our Conference unique is the quality and diversity of the content - from practical experience-based sessions delivered by service management practitioners to educational presentations from subject matter experts and 'future views' from industry leaders. We're particularly keen to hear from members at the front line of service management in the corporate world and public sector. 

Please don't be put off if you're new to speaking or don't feel confident presenting. Our volunteers can help you put your session together or run through the content and suggest improvements. And if you're not convinced that others want to hear what you have to say, we highly recommend that you watch Akshay Anand's excellent session How to speak with confidence when you feel like an imposter from ITSM24. 

SUBMITTING YOUR PRESENTATION OUTLINE

If you have a presentation to propose, please submit your session abstract, speaker bio and photo using our online form. The deadline for the first stage of submissions is 28th February 2025. All presentations should be 45 minutes long, including a few minutes for questions.

To get you started, you could focus on one of the following topic areas:

• Agile
• AI and AIOps
• Asset management
• Co-creating value
• Customer experience and XLAs
• Cyber and service management
• Demonstrating the value of ITSM at the C-suite level
• DevOps, CI / CD and ITOM
• Digital transformation
• Enterprise service management
• Gen AI: where next?
• Governance and the Service Management Office
• Human-centred design
• Integrating frameworks and methodologies
• Knowledge management
• Mental health in the SM workplace
• New approaches to CI, change, problem, incident management etc
• Operating models, standards and frameworks
• Organisational / business change
• People, people, people - humanising IT
• Reporting and metrics
• Service management journeys and case studies
• Service management in the Cloud
• Solutions to new problems
• Sustainability
• Technology / tools / portals.

This list is just for guidance. Feel free to propose a new topic - maybe something outside mainstream service management that others would find useful.

If you're not sure whether your idea is right for ITSM25, we'd be very happy to discuss it with you. Just contact the team at conference@itsmf.co.uk. You can also check out last year's Conference Guide for inspiration. 

WHO ARE YOUR AUDIENCE?

When you submit your synopsis, please let us know the target audience for your presentation. Is your session suitable for those new to service management or is some knowledge of the topic recommended? Are you looking to share your practical ITSM experience and tips with fellow professionals, or discussing new thought-provoking ideas and practices that will appeal to leaders and strategists? Or is your session more about personal wellbeing than professional excellence? This information will help delegates to find the content best suited to their needs and interests. 

ONE SPEAKER OR TWO?

We welcome submissions from individual presenters or co-speakers. Please complete the main speaker sections, and add second speaker details if appropriate.

Note: Individual presenters who are accepted to speak at Conference receive a complimentary two-day pass for the event. Two speakers presenting together receive a free pass for the day of their session.The free pass does not include entry to the Professional Service Management Awards Dinner or accommodation, and we regret we are unable to cover speakers' expenses.

Anyone who submits a presentation for ITSM25 that does not subsequently make it onto the agenda will be entitled to register for the event at our Super Early Bird rate.  

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

We aim to contact all potential speakers by 15th April to confirm your place on the conference programme, discuss deadlines, and request some draft slides for your session.

If you have any problems or enquiries regarding submitting a presentation for ITSM24 please contact conference@itsmf.co.uk or phone 0118 918 6500.

READY TO GO? SUBMIT YOUR SYNOPSIS HERE.

We also want to take a moment to thank our members and partners for your continued support and participation in the itSMF UK community. Your contributions have helped make it a vibrant and valuable resource for those in the IT service management field.

We wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Please note that the itSMF UK office will be closed 25 December – 01 January, returning Thursday 02 January, as the team take a well deserved break with family and friends.