1 year and counting since we started
In a few weeks it will be the regular SDITS show at Earls Court, London – certainly the ITSM industry’s biggest annual bash on this side of the pond. I’ve been going to this show since it started and it’s great to see the growth and sheer scale of the show develop over the last 20 years or so – this year also being the first under new owners Diversified Communications. The thing for me that makes SDITS successful and memorable is simply that it appeals to real ITSM practitioners – many of course from Service Desks, but it has also always attracted a much wider attendee grouping. SDITS is about tools and practice – getting on with stuff – and that, for most people with busy jobs to do, is what they need.
The return of the SDITS show is a reminder for me to mark 1 year since we began filming content for ITSMTV. We began by filming a number of interviews in a sauna-like room behind the VIP area at last years’ show.
In this past year we have recorded a large number of interviews and compiled features on a number of areas of interest in ITSM, from gamification to outsourcing, ITIL 2011 to IT’s image, social media to culture change – and all in between. In addition we’ve interviewed a large cross section of the ITSM industry’s glitterati – an ongoing process – with some great results and content. See Malcolm Fry, Stephen Mann, Sharon Taylor, Chris Dancy, Rob England, Richard Pharro, Tony Price and many more…
In addition, our recent new programme – the Service Desk Inspector – has significantly increased our viewing figures and elicited a fantastic set of comments and compliments from all areas of the industry. It has also attracted sponsorship, as well as enticing more organisations to apply to be ‘inspected’ on film. In this series I visit real organisations and carry out some consultancy for them, which is also filmed and turned into a series of ‘episodes’.
We have started with an SME-based IT Managed Services supplier (MIRUS IT) in Milton Keynes – who have been brave enough to open themselves up on camera and let the world into their corporate development, internal issues and service improvement process. The initial spotlight was on their management and focus as an organisation and now we’ve moved onto setting out some objectives for good management reporting, Service Desk development and training, as well as general problem management. At this stage I can say that we will leave MIRUS for a while after Episode 3 – in order to give them some time to effect changes and improvements – and we hope to return to them in June for a progress update.
We will also start filming with a new organisation in the next few weeks – this will be a larger organisation with a more traditional in-house IT department and all the associated problems of communications, process development, culture change etc.
So what is it about the Service Desk Inspector that has caught the attention? Basically there is real life in there, plus some human story-telling. But for me most of all it’s about the fact that the content is real and practical – it’s about what happens in a real company and its service and support department, plus how the success of this is down to the way the organisation as a whole is managed and led. Anyone in the industry watching this series can relate to the themes, issues and the things that are said and done in it, as it triggers thoughts around similar problems and events in their own experience.
As a learning resource ITSMTV will continue to deliver more and more practical and practitioner content, as well as being a great reference point for the whole industry. Like SDITS, ITSMTV exists to deliver real, practical value – yes we need theory, concepts, frameworks and new ideas, but really what people want is something that they can latch onto and use – now…
See you at SDITS.
