10:30 - 10:35

Welcome from our host, John Noctor

10:35 - 11:00 - Experimenting and it's benefits.

Tarun Dewat, Head of IT Service Management, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Learn to empower your frontline staff, Use data to make educated guesses and how to embrace a culture of continuous improvement.

11:00 - 11:20 - Session title to be confirmed

ManageEngine Speaker to be confirmed

Session to be confirmed

11:20 - 11:45 - Breaking the Capacity Code: How Benchmarking Reshaped Our Service Desk

Nikki Saxton-Maund (CMgr MCMI), Digital & Technology Services (DTS) Service Support Lead, HM Courts and Tribunals Service

How do you know when your service desk has reached its limit—before it breaks? This session explores how I used SDI benchmarking and Erlang modelling to calculate our true capacity, identify performance gaps, and build a smarter resourcing strategy. I'll share not only the math behind our model but also the cultural and operational shifts it has enabled. If you're still planning headcount by gut feel or best guess, this session will show you a better way.

Key Takeaways:

• Benchmarking turns metrics in to meaning It’s not just about the numbers it’s about the context. SDI benchmarking helped us to understand where we stand, where we excel and where we need to improve.
• Capacity isn’t just a number, it’s a strategy With the right model we have been able to align resources to demand while avoiding burnout. We have also been able to justify strategic hiring decisions with confidence
• You don’t need perfect data to start

We began with some real data, but we also had to use estimates, refined our assumptions, and adapted as we learnd. Despite data gaps benchmarking still provided valuable insights that led to meaningful improvements and more informed decisions

11:45 - 12:00 - Break

A quick break for snacks, before the programme resumes.

12:00 - 12:25 - Session title to be confirmed

Trevor Witcher Assistant Director ICT Services, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Session to be confirmed

12:25 - 12:45 -The State of Service Management in 2025: Benchmarking, Emerging Trends & Where to Invest Next

Jack Gaylor, Enterprise Account Executive and Phillip Mayes, Principal Solutions Engineer at Freshworks

Freshworks has analysed 187+ million tickets from 10,743 organizations in 118 countries to deliver the most comprehensive view yet of service desk and IT operations performance. In this exclusive session, we’ll unveil the Freshservice Benchmark Report 2025—your data-backed guide to outperforming in the year ahead.

We’ll share the exact benchmarks across 7 core service management metrics, reveal how AI is transforming performance with up to 76.6% faster resolutions with Freddy AI Copilot, 65.7% ticket deflection with Freddy AI Agent, and 431,270 agent hours saved. We'll also unveil the first-ever benchmark for Enterprise Service Management (ESM), where HR, Finance, and other business teams are matching IT efficiency.

You’ll walk away knowing:
- Where you stand compared to the world’s top-performing service teams
- Emerging trends reshaping ITSM in 2025 - from AI adoption to unified asset management
- Where to invest for maximum impact on efficiency, employee satisfaction, and business outcomes

Whether you’re optimising your current service desk, or expanding ITSM practices across the enterprise, this is your annual roadmap to staying ahead of the curve.

12:45 - 13:10 - Benchmarking: What do you want?

Mike Cook, Client Delivery Executive (MOD), Capgemini (UK)

You want to deliver an IT Service Centre capability that leaves your client (and their customers) not just satisfied but delighted. Deliberate changes that ensure understanding, have real impact, and then achieves external recognition in doing so.

Join us to cover such topics where we will explore several key considerations and points, such as:

• The client commitment: What is needed, what do you understand and what do you do about it?
• KPI, SLAs and dashboards: Why do we have them, and what use are they?
• Real recognition: Where is the focus and how do you evidence the impact anything you measure really has?

13:10 - 13:25 - Break

A quick break for snacks, before the programme resumes.

13:25 - 13:45 - Benchmarking in IT Management: What to Know and What to Avoid

Dmitry Isaychenko, Partner Programmes Portfolio Director, PeopleCert

This presentation explores the different types of IT management benchmarks and highlights the common pitfalls in interpreting them. We’ll discuss why benchmarks vary, why they shouldn't drive goal-setting, and how to use them wisely to support informed decisions. Whether you're comparing across industries or tracking internal progress, this session will help you make benchmarks work for you, not against you.

13:45 - 14:10 - Best Practice and Benchmarking at King’s College London – Driving Service Improvement

Keith Hill, Service Desk Manager and Ben Stokes-Reade, Head of Service Management, Kings College London

In this presentation, the Service Management team from King’s College London discuss Best Practice: What it is, why it matters, what we have done to implement it within their organisation and how it has been successful.

They will also discuss benchmarking, and how they plan to implement this, and measure its success.

14:10 - 14:40 - Want to know how Version 9.0 of the Global Best Practice Standard for Service Desk can support your journey to excellence?

John Noctor, Chief Customer Success Officer, David Wright, Chief Value & Innovation Officer and Mike Kyffin, Head of Consultancy at SDI

What’s new in Version 9.0?

• Managing the AI System: Navigate AI with purpose—covering ethics, transparency, security & governance
• Updated Core Concepts: All 10 principles evolved to reflect today’s challenges and opportunities
• Beyond ISO: A deeper, broader, human-centric take on excellence—tailored for real-world service desks

14:40 - 15:00 - Panel discussion

Have your questions answered, live!