Every professional knows they should invest in their own development. Between the tickets, the escalations, and the people who need us, personal growth is usually the first thing to slip. In this fireside chat, two seasoned ITSM Lifetime Achievement Award winners discuss what accountability to your own career actually looks, and how to build a career that keeps up with an industry being reshaped by AI.

What is really shaping the future of IT service and support? Join us as we unpack key findings from HDI’s flagship 2026 State of IT Service & Support research, revealing how organizations are responding to evolving technologies, workforce expectations and business demands. Attendees will gain a clearer picture of where the industry stands today, how their own organization compares and which priorities should guide their strategy for the year ahead.

• Explore the most significant trends shaping IT service and support in 2026.
• Benchmark your organization’s priorities, practices and challenges against industry findings.
• Identify practical opportunities to strengthen your strategy, demonstrate value and prepare for what’s next.

Often when exploring the applicability of AI to digital product and service management (DPSM) the examples relate to how to alleviate the toil or manual effort associated with performing individual tasks. Imagine, however, transforming your entire process workflow by harnessing the power of AI—not just embedding it into outdated tasks. Or imagine using AI to reengineer entire value streams. Is it possible? Of course.

• Leverage AI to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of DPSM process design and improvement
• Use AI-driven insights to model and simulate end-to-end value stream scenarios
• Use AI to continuously refine and improve DPSM processes and value streams based on evolving data and performance metrics

ITSM transformations are complex, and ServiceNow to Jira Service Management migrations often cost more than planned, take longer than expected, and feel hard to control, especially when organizations have tight timelines to get off ServiceNow.
But what if there was a way to mitigate complexity and risk, reduce cost, and speed up transformation?
Isos Technology has years of experience and expertise helping clients overcome blockers and make the switch to Atlassian.
In this session, we’ll showcase how we’re accelerating the transition from ServiceNow to Jira Service Management for clients with a proprietary, purpose-built Forge app that uses AI-assisted mapping to transform data in flight.
Attendees will:
• Learn best practices for migrating to Atlassian as your ITSM platform
• See a demo of our ServiceNow to Jira Service Management Migration Assistant app
• Hear pain points, wins, and outcomes from a real client use case

Great cultures don't happen accidentally. They are built through intentional leadership, meaningful relationships, and everyday actions that reinforce shared values. This session will provide leaders with actionable ideas for creating highly engaged teams that remain resilient, collaborative, and energized through constant change.

• Identify the leadership habits that most influence culture and engagement.
• Learn how to create meaningful moments of connection in fast-paced support organizations.
• Understand how recognition and growth opportunities fuel performance and retention.

AI is changing how IT service and support teams work, but the nervous system is still running the show. Sandra Thompson and Michael Mattson with ei empowered break down the neuroscience of human connection, including the neurotransmitters that drive trust and belonging, and why our brains still crave real contact even as automation speeds up around us. Attendees will learn five practical techniques to snap themselves back into presence, sharpening how they tune in, listen, read social cues, and lead with empathy, clarity, and emotional control under pressure. These are the same skills that separate practitioners who thrive alongside AI from those who get flattened by it.

Is your support center investing in the improvements that will make the greatest difference or simply reacting to the loudest problems? Join HDI’s Sr. Director for Consulting, Todd Piccuillo, and HDI Sr. Consultants Doug Tedder and Darrell Bond and prepare to set your team up for success in 2027 and beyond. Discover how the HDI Support Center Standard and Maturity Model can help you objectively assess your current capabilities, uncover the root causes behind performance gaps, and determine what to prioritize next. In this session, you’ll learn how to evaluate your organization across critical areas including people, processes, technology, and performance management.

• Identify how the HDI maturity model can help leaders set realistic goals aligned with business needs.
• Learn how the HDI maturity model can help leaders build a practical roadmap for continuous improvement.
• Walk away with a clearer understanding of how to assess where their support center stands today, and how to move toward more proactive, consistent, and valuable service delivery.

Higher education IT support teams often measure success through operational metrics like ticket volume, resolution time, and SLA compliance. But these metrics don’t answer a critical question: how do customers actually experience the service? This session explores how Net Promoter Score (NPS) can help IT organizations move beyond transactional support toward a more experience-driven, relationship-focused model. Using NPS, we established a baseline, set improvement goals, and identified the top 10 areas for improvement through customer feedback. Transparency throughout the process—including openly sharing results and acknowledging opportunities for improvement—helped shift our IT culture toward collaboration and partnership. In one year, our NPS score increased by 11 points. Participants will learn practical strategies for using NPS to drive cultural change, strengthen customer relationships, and better align IT services with institutional needs.

• The gap between IT metrics and customer experience
• NPS Implementation: Designing, launching and analyzing results
• Lessons Learned: What worked, what didn’t, and why

A culture of excellence does not happen by accident. It is shaped by intentional leadership and the everyday experiences we create for our teams. Drawing from her own leadership journey, Angela will share practical lessons and experiences that demonstrate how intentional leadership can strengthen culture and elevate service.

• Leading intentionally to shape and sustain a culture of excellence.
• Creating the right environment for people to contribute, grow, and take greater ownership.
• Connecting a strong culture to elevated service and meaningful outcomes.

Come hear about the evolution of the most reliable foundation for both human-assisted and automated customer engagement. Kelly Murray, Chief Engagement Officer at the Consortium for Service Innovation, will provide an overview of the transition from Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS v6) to Knowledge-Centered Success, including what’s new, what’s evergreen, and why knowledge management is more important than ever.

• How complex systems thinking informs sustainable knowledge practices.
• How consistent knowledge practices allow us to use AI and automation to deliver real value while allowing humans to focus on solving new issues, making meaning, and managing risk and uncertainty.
• How the reorganization of the KCS methodology helps practitioners apply it to any knowledge-intensive environment.
• What’s next after the publication of the new Knowledge-Centered Success Practices Guide.

Meet the emerging leaders already making their mark on the service and support industry. In this candid conversation, HDI Rising Stars finalists will share the experiences, ideas, and lessons that have shaped their careers—and the changes they’re championing within their organizations. Whether you’re building your own career or developing the next generation of talent, you’ll leave with fresh inspiration and practical ideas you can put to work.

• Identify the leadership habits that most influence culture and engagement.
• Learn how to create meaningful moments of connection in fast-paced support organizations.
• Understand how recognition and growth opportunities fuel performance and retention.