Much of digital transformation depends upon effectively managing the customer experience. IT service management (ITSM), done correctly, can help. ITSM isn't just about following formalized frameworks or instituting IT change management.
Instead, ITSM in its broadest sense helps ensure that the business delivers value to its customers and keeps them satisfied through disciplined use of technology.
The ITSM luminaries below regularly offer up service management insights and spark debate with their colleagues in their active social media feeds. Following leaders in this who's-who compilation will provide both new adherents and veterans with lots of food for thought when it comes to the challenges of service management in the era of digital disruption.
Clair Agutter
Agutter is chief architect at VeriSM. An ITIL and service management expert, Agutter won the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF) UK's Thought Leadership Award. In addition to her work as a lecturer and online educator for Scopism and ITSM Zone, she's one of the key minds driving the International Foundation of Digital Competencies (IFDC) VeriSM framework.
Aprill Allen
A recognized thought leader in the ITSM niche of knowledge management, Allen consults in knowledge strategy and process improvement for startups, managed services, and ITSM organizations. She's a Knowledge-Centered Service-certified trainer and also serves on the board of itSMF Australia. Her day job is as principal consultant for Knowledge Bird.
Roy Atkinson
A longtime influencer in the service management and customer support industry, Atkinson—an industry analyst at HDI—writes prolifically on the topic for both HDI and a range of IT publications. He regularly participates in a weekly #CustServ Twitter chat, which offers active conversations about customer service. His LinkedIn feed offers a cleaner feed of original and shared content.
Earl Begley
An IT veteran with well over a decade of service management work under his belt, Begley speaks and writes for a range of ITSM industry events and publications. By day, Begley is an ITT compliance officer for San Francisco International Airport. His very active Twitter account offers a great on-the-ground perspective of the concerns of a typical ITSM professional.
Daniel Breston
Breston has been in IT for decades and is a principal consultant at Virtual Clarity. He has been consulting in ITSM since it's been a thing, and is a frequent speaker on the conference circuit. He brings his experience to bear when helping his clients meld the very best approaches from ITSM, lean, agile, and DevOps.
Troy DuMoulin
DuMoulin, vice president of R&D at Pink Elephant, is one of the best-known faces in the phalanx of expert ITSM consultants. DuMoulin takes the podium at numerous events throughout the year and writes regularly for a range of IT publications. He's also a contributing author of the book ITIL Planning to Implement IT Service Management.
Rob England
A life member of the itSMF, England consults on all levels of IT management, strategy, governance, and practices. He's a longtime IT consultant, now with Teal Unicorn/Two Hills Ltd. He has been an active social media participant in both the DevOps and ITSM worlds and is best known for his blogging as The IT Skeptic. England is a lead author of VeriSM and has also contributed to a number of educational IT books.
Karen Ferris
One of six global architects of the Axelos ITIL Practitioner Publication and Certification, Ferris is an icon of the ITSM world. A regular speaker and author on service management topics, she served on the itSMF Australia National Board for the better part of a decade and consults regularly with a range of clients on implementing service management best practices. She's director of Macanta Consulting, which specializes in ITIL and service management.
Erika Flora
A strategic advisor, ITIL/Scrum instructor, and agile coach, Flora's expertise straddles the IT service management and project management worlds. She's a regular blogger and presenter and is the author of Demystifying Agile, Scrum and IT Service Management. Flora works as the principal of Beyond 20, a training and assessment firm.
Michelle Major-Goldsmith
A lead architect of the SIAM Professional methodology and a contributing author for VeriSM, Major-Goldsmith's ITSM experience spans 25 years. She's the manager of service management capability at Kinetic IT. She brings to the table a heavy-hitting combination of street cred, as well as certifications and educational leadership in ITIL, ISO20000, and Six Sigma, among others.
Jayne Groll
Before she took on the CEO mantle at the DevOps Intstitute, Groll served as the president of the ITSM Academy for nearly 13 years. She's a longtime coach and strategist in service management best practices and is a vocal evangelist for cross-pollinating the best ideas from both ITSM and DevOps methodologies.
Jonathan Hinkle
A leader with more than 18 years of experience as an IT practitioner, Hinkle brings to bear lean, ITIL, and service management principles in his daily work as vice president of IT at First Fidelity Bank. He has done the rounds at service management conferences, and this year his organization won the Case Study of the Year award at Pink Elephant's annual confab, Pink18.
Matt Hooper
Some may discount Hooper as a vendor shill, but don't make that mistake. He's got some serious credibility in the ITSM thought leadership space. In his time working for a variety of ITSM vendors and consulting firms, he's built up a wealth of knowledge from the people he rubs elbows with, and he shares his views on VigilantGuy, a blog with a healthy readership, which is reflected in his extremely engaged Twitter following.
Joe the IT Guy
Yeah, yeah, we know that Joe the IT Guy is really a simulacrum of a real Joe Schmoe IT professional. But this fun puppet persona, built up by the folks at SysAid Technologies, puts out smart, fun, relevant blogs and tweets about the ITSM world. The missives are retweeted by the movers and shakers in service management time and again. Joe must be doing something right.
Kaimar Karu
Best known for his stint as the head of product strategy for AXELOS—in other words, head of ITIL—Karu is steeped in 20 years of real-world experience as an ITSM practitioner. He's a prolific writer and frequent speaker at industry conferences. He currently works as the director of international consultancy for Mindbridge.
[ Special Coverage: Focus on IT Service Management at Fusion 18 ]
Cathy Kirch
A longtime leader and manager of service management governance at Allstate Insurance, Kirch is an active participant within numerous ITSM professional groups and presents often at conferences. She's past president of itSMF USA and is serving as conference chair for Fusion 18.
Kirstie Magowan
Skilled at managing organizational change and assessing and improving business processes, Magowan is a veteran ITSM consultant. She speaks frequently at service management conferences worldwide, regularly writes for industry publications, and has a very lively Twitter following. She currently works as a consultant for Verso Solutions.
Stephen Mann
Industry analyst Mann has covered the ITSM and IT asset management space for a long time. Not only does he write product reviews and other analysis for his own site, ITSM.tools, but Mann also recently started a gig as an analyst covering ITSM for Ovum.
Julie Mohr
A member of the HDI Hall of Fame, Mohr brings her views on ITSM leadership and organizational change to a multitude of speaking, consulting, and coaching gigs worldwide. She's the author of The Help Desk Audit: Blueprint for Success.
Simon Morris
As enterprise architect for ServiceNow, Morris is a big-picture thinker. His role is to work with customers and enterprise strategists to develop and execute the long-term product roadmaps for a platform that many ITSM practitioners depend upon.
Ryan Ogilvie
Ogilvie blogs about his real-world experiences as a service management specialist for BURNCO Rock Products, a construction materials company, in his "Service Management Journey" blog. He's worked in the ITSM space for over a decade.
Anthony Orr
An ITIL author and executive consultant, Orr writes and speaks about DevOps, ITIL, and service management. He serves as DXC Technology's principal ITSM advisor, and president of Orr Research. He's also very involved in helping to put on service management conferences. He serves as vice president of special events for HDI Houston and executive advisor for Service Management World.
Stuart Rance
A primogenitor of service management, Rance has been there and done that. His first service management consulting gig was way back in '99 for Compaq, and he's worked on countless ITSM engagements for a variety of companies. He's currently the founder of consultancy Optimal Service Management. He was a member of the ITIL Practitioner Architects team and these days he drops his knowledge on the industry through a range of books, blogs, webinars, and speaking gigs, not to mention his very well-followed Twitter account.
Greg Sanker
By day, Sanker works as the CIO for the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, but he's best known in the service management community as a tireless evangelist for excellence in ITSM. He's the author of IT Change Management: A Practitioner's Guide and also runs the popular ITSMTransitionblog.
Doug Tedder
As a consultant, Tedder's focus is helping clients transform IT from a cost center to a producer of business value. He's very well-connected in the ITSM and general IT community. He serves as an institute fellow for the Institute for Digital Transformation and a faculty member for HDI. He's also former director of strategic development for itSMF USA.
Meet many of these experts, and your peers, at the Fusion 18 conference in St. Louis, which runs from September 30 to October 3, 2018. TechBeacon readers receive a $200 discount by registering with promo code TECH18.
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