by Rob Beswick, SDI
#SDI18 will be my 12th SDI conference, and with such a varied choice of speakers I am often stopped and asked by service desk professionals, ‘what’s the best session for me to attend?’. My first response is to ask what challenges they are facing on their service desk or if one of the sessions covers something that their business or team have been talking about. But if I were being asked/forced to choose just four sessions that I would attend at #SDI18, it would be these:
Pre-Conference Service Desk Standard workshop – Monday 1pm
This session would be a great way to hear how high performing service desks are using the Service Desk Institute standards to drive change within their organisations
Andrew Humphrey, Autotrader, The Autotrader IT Journey – Tuesday 10am
An intriguing session which follows Autotrader’s IT journey, specifically looking at blending methodologies to support this roadmap. I am especially keen to see how DevOps and ITIL can work together in a real-life scenario.
Mark Bassett, Barnardo’s, Service Desk Automation in Action – Tuesday 11.15am
I have spoken to Mark a number of times, and I am sure this session will demonstrate how his team’s passion, combined with the utilisation of technology to automate Service Requests, has supported the staff and volunteers at Barnardos.
Sally Bogg, Leeds Beckett University, ITSM Tools – ‘It’s Not Me it’s you’ – Tuesday 2:40pm
Often the first thing Service Desks do when problems arise is to blame a tool. Sally will take a refreshing look at how to work closely with your technology suppliers and improve your relationship with them.
Scarlett Bayes, Service Desk Institute, Analyst 2.0 – Wednesday 12.35pm
For me one of the biggest things effecting Service Desks in the future what skills Service Desk Analysts will need in the future with the increasing use of Automation and AI. Using statistics from the Service Desk community, Scarlett will give you some guidance on what to expect and how to prepare for the future.
But with all this advice, the best speaker at any SDI conference isn’t the keynote or the consultant speaking on the ‘the big thing on the hype curve’, it’s your fellow delegate.
My biggest tip for any event is to speak to other delegates; talk to the person next to you while you wait for a session to start or in the lunch queue, ask them what challenges they have faced, find out what has worked for them and share your experiences. The most heart-warming thing for me is to find out that delegates have kept in touch after the event, sharing knowledge and visiting each other’s desks. I always think this is the cheapest form of consultancy 😉
