May's Featured Speaker:

Evelyn Hubbert, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc.

Evelyn serves IT Infrastructure & Operations professionals. Covering IT systems management, her current research focuses on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the implementation of IT service management from a holistic or partial perspective, business service management (BSM), and many other aspects of IT operations. Evelyn delivers strategic guidance to Forrester's vendor and end user clients. She helps enterprises to manage their networks and systems, define key projects focusing on IT service management, and bridge IT to the lines of business. Evelyn has more than 20 years of experience working with IT organizations in the definition and development of the IT service delivery processes and the implementation of IT service management as a practice inside enterprise organizations.

About your Host:

Matthew Neigh, Channel & Marketing Manager

As the second employee hired at Cherwell, Matthew has seen the evolution of IT and Cherwell Software in ways that 10 years ago seemed unimaginable. What he shares, in his blog and at speaking engagements, comes from the unique perspective of having worked in most facets at Cherwell, including Sales, Support and Professional Services. Prior to joining Cherwell, Matthew had his own consulting company and traveled to over 50 different countries around the globe speaking, training and consulting on topics ranging from inter-personal relationships to cross-cultural adjustment.

ITSM 'Into the Fire' Webinar Series

Together fighting what IT fears

Let’s face it, IT is not at a loss for challenges in today’s world! So many decisions to make, so many choices from competing products out there, and so much pressure to reduce costs, all the while maintaining or even improving the level of service to your constituents! You are constantly putting out fires. Fighting fires puts fear into even the bravest of individuals. What is hype? What is reality? How does one come to a sane conclusion when even the experts differ on what the conclusion should be?

Cherwell’s ITSM “Into the Fire” Webinars are designed to address the ‘flare-ups’ that you encounter as you deal with your daily fire-fighting in IT. We’ve rounded up some of the experts and ask them to take some time to discuss certain areas that seem to keep popping up on IT’s radar.

We would like to invite you to join us once a month for this 1 hour webinar. Register here.  One lucky attendee will receive a copy of Malcolm Fry's new book - "ITIL LITE"!

Sign up for any one of them below:

The Changing Anatomy of the New Service Desk (May 6, 2010)

Evelyn Hubbert, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research, Inc.

IT organizations are faced with many challenges today! Their task to support a sophisticated business community with great customer support is a balancing act. This balancing act is about providing adequate support for all new technologies to end users, delivering services to delight end users and all of that in a reliable and cost effective way. The challenges don’t end there. The service desk team is changing how it works and what it does to adopt to these continuously changing needs of the business community. This webinar will discuss the anatomy of the new service desk.

Following Evelyn’s presentation, Matthew Neigh will briefly build upon her discussion and present Codeless Business Application Technology (CBAT), an approach to software that allows applications to be quickly customized to precisely meet and adapt to business needs without also requiring software expertise or the hiring of expensive consultants.

We will wrap up with a Q& A session with Evelyn.

Service Level Management and the New Service Desk (June 10, 2010)

Jim Bolton, ITIL v2 Manager, v3 Expert, ProPoint Solutions

Have you ever felt like you are running an IT buffet? Are your customers asking for “more, more, more,” while constantly complaining about the price and quality? This webinar will walk you through a simplified approach to successfully achieve business aligned IT services.

You will learn how to:
• Identify your customers
• Determine what your customers need
• Defining your IT services
• Develop underpinning contracts (UCs), operating level agreements (OLAs), and service level agreements (SLAs)
• Price your services
• Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) based on your customer’s needs
• Conduct SLM performance reviews
• Develop a service improvement plan

Following Jim's presentation, Matthew Neigh will briefly build upon his discussion and present how Cherwell is enabling organizations to quickly and effectively begin using SLM.

We will wrap up with a Q& A session with Jim.

Social Media and the New Service Desk (July 15, 2010)

Chris Dancy, Founder, ServiceSphere

This session will focus on using social media tools to examine your customers’ satisfaction. Way back in the nineties we would email a survey; but somewhere along the way, our customers started venting on the internet. Some chose to tweet their frustrations, some chose to just leave the organization through sites liked LinkedIn and, much to our surprise, some became fans on Facebook and YouTube!

You’ll learn:
• Where to watch for customer satisfaction in this new "Social World"
• What resources are required to keep on top of an evolving world of networks and sites
• Steps to engage your customers when you notice satisfaction is not where you expect it to be
• When and how to allow transparency within your support organization against the social web
• How to have that talk with Senior Management, that now is the time for you to be listening outside your normal channels 

Following Chris’s presentation, Matthew Neigh will briefly build upon his discussion and present how Cherwell is leveraging Social Media to stay on top of the ever-changing landscape.

We will wrap up with a Q& A session with Chris.