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The next wave of IT service management will be very different from the last. Remote workers expect the same level of service no matter where their hardware sits, executives are measuring experience rather than ticket closure, and artificial intelligence is already taking over routine support.
Yet the practice of ITSM remains full of recycled slides and tired frameworks.
That’s why in this list, we’ve covered individuals who are actually changing how service management works.
They talk regularly about service level agreements, yes. But they’re also redesigning them around user experience, pushing for ethical AI adoption or fixing the hardware logistics problem that every remote team has felt.
To make this list as useful as possible, we asked six questions about each person:
You might not agree with all of them. That’s the point. This is a starting map of who to watch, follow, and occasionally argue with.
Each entry below includes a short description of their background and why they’re worth following. Now on to the list.
Founder & CEO, Firstbase
Who: Founder and CEO of Firstbase, a global platform for managing and deploying hardware to distributed teams. Over the past eight years, he’s built a reputation as a thought leader in remote work, operations, and the future of IT infrastructure. Herd is also an active investor at Logos Labs, focusing on startups shaping the future of work.
Edge: Brings data-backed insight from enterprise rollouts, showing how lean IT teams can support thousands through automation and strong lifecycle logistics.
LinkedIn: Chris Herd LinkedIn
X: Chris Herd X
Themes: Automation | Global logistics | IT support ratios
Benefit: Clear, practical guidance on how distributed IT can scale without headcount bloat.
Firstbase, under Chris Herd’s lead, is changing how IT teams handle hardware for remote staff. With a 360° inventory dashboard and a virtual IT Closet, companies get live asset tracking and 100% self-service for employees, anywhere. Security is built in, with NIST 800-88 certified data destruction and zero-touch provisioning as standard. Want to see it? Take the self-guided tour and see how real remote device management should work.
Who: Founder of DMCLLC and trusted advisor to CEOs, boards, and CIOs in regulated industries.
Edge: Brings insider expertise from rescuing failing enterprise programs, reframing IT issues as governance and ownership failures rather than tooling gaps.
LinkedIn: Dominique Chavez LinkedIn
ITSM: The Chief of Staff Your Organization Forgot It Had
Procurement Is the Real CMDB Owner (And No One Knows It)
ITAM and the 500k Truth: Why Governance, Not Tools, Defines the Lifecycle
Themes: Accountability | Structural truth | Lifecycle ownership
Benefit: Sharp, executive-level insight that helps organizations avoid drift and regain operational integrity.
Who: Co-founder and President of Pink Elephant, one of ITSM’s longest-standing global influencers.
Edge: Pioneered ITIL adoption in North America, delivering the first ITIL Foundation course in 1997 and shaping decades of capability-building across enterprises.
LinkedIn: David Ratcliffe LinkedIn
Themes: Practical alignment | Process capability | Real-world improvement
Benefit: Veteran perspective grounded in what actually works in large environments.
Who: ITSM & cybersecurity consultant, trainer, and host of The ITSM Practice Podcast.
Edge: Deep hands-on expertise applying ITIL, ISO 20000, and ISO 27001 across global enterprises, with a security-first approach that aligns risk, people, and processes.
LinkedIn: Luigi. F linkedIn
YouTube: Luigi. F YouTube
Themes: AI governance | Risk alignment | Framework application
Benefit: Actionable, practitioner-level insights for teams modernizing both ITSM and security.
Who: ITSM strategist and creator of The Grove ITSM Method™, used across federal, Fortune 100, and public-sector environments.
Edge: Helps teams shift from reactive ticket-chasing to outcome-focused service delivery built on measurable trust.
LinkedIn: Bob Roark LinkedIn
X: Bob Roark X
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Themes: ITSM modernization | Outcomes | Team performance
Benefit: Practical frameworks that help IT move from chaos to business-aligned delivery.
Who: ITIL® 4 Master, writer, and advisor helping teams simplify ITSM without diluting rigor.
Edge: Known for translating complex frameworks into clear, human-centered guidance used by leaders, vendors, and practitioners.
LinkedIn: Paul Brandvold LinkedIn
What if you could help someone land their next role this week?
Most ITSM teams aren’t ready for AI. Here’s why.
Your CIO needs to sell ITSM to the business.
Click here to view the complete post
Themes: Clarity | Practicality | Value articulation
Benefit: Straightforward, no-jargon insight that improves process adoption and helps leaders communicate ITSM’s business impact.
Who: Founder of Optimal Service Management and ITIL® 4 lead architect with decades shaping global best practices.
Edge: Author of ITIL Service Transition (2011), co-author of ITIL Practitioner, and lead author of RESILIA Cyber Resilience.
LinkedIn: Stuart Rance LinkedIn
Website: Optimal Service Management
I enjoyed working on the new #ITIL publication
I often hear people talking about Theory of Constraints (ToC)
Unhappy is the land that needs a hero | Stuart Rance
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Themes: Strategy | Value creation | Systems thinking
Benefit: Deep, precise guidance from someone who wrote the frameworks teams use every day.
Who: ITIL® 4 Architect, consultant, and industry award winner with 30+ years of experience improving service organizations.
Edge: Former itSMF UK CEO, lead editor of Create, Deliver & Support, and long-time SDI contributor and auditor.
LinkedIn: Barclay Rae LinkedIn
Website: Barclay Rae Consulting Ltd
Service Design, Swan and Stress
Too many IT teams are spending hours each month building reports
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Themes: Metrics | Practical change | Team performance
Benefit: Clear, real-world insight on how service teams can modernize without drowning in process.
Who: ITSM writer with 15+ years of specialization, supporting vendors, service providers, and enterprises with high-quality thought leadership and structured RFP guidance.
Edge: Brings a rare dual perspective from years in consultancy, internal audit, product marketing, project management, and four years as an analyst at Ovum/Omdia and Forrester.
LinkedIn: Stephen Mann LinkedIn
The Compliance Nightmare – When IT Experience Debt Compromises Security
The geographic ITSM differences that rarely get mentioned.
Here's my "cold take" on Agentforce IT Service
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Themes: ITSM | ITAM | ESM | Employee experience
Benefit: Research-backed content shaped by deep vendor and enterprise insight, especially useful for teams refining product messaging or selecting ITSM tools.
Who: Founder of Scopism and long-time service management leader with a career spanning helpdesk, operations, consultancy, and global training.
Edge: Recognized HDI Top 25 Thought Leader (2017–2019) and frequent nominee for Computer Weekly’s Top 50 Women in UK Tech, with deep expertise guiding organizations through every stage of their SIAM journey.
LinkedIn: Claire Agutter LinkedIn
The more things change, the more they stay the same?
Every now and then my job delivers a truly surreal experience.
Our research is cited in @forrester’s new report
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Themes: SIAM | Community building | Service management evolution
Benefit: Experience-led insight on SIAM adoption, sourcing models, and new ways of working, supported by years of hands-on consulting and ecosystem building.
Who: Global ITSM and SIAM consultant, trainer, author, and mentor with 20+ years of work across multiple continents.
Edge: Lead Architect for the SIAM Professional BoK, founder member of the SIAM Foundation BoK team, contributor to VeriSM, co-author of the VeriSM Pocket Guide, and recognized as a Global Top 25 Thought Leader in Technical Support & Service Management (2020).
LinkedIn: Michelle Major-Goldsmith LinkedIn
The Women of Kinetic IT - Michelle Major-Goldsmith
Events and activities that I will be taking part in across the amazing SIAM and ITSM communities
Themes: SIAM architecture | VeriSM | Change leadership
Benefit: Deep, system-level insight shaped by decades of hands-on consulting, authorship, and award-winning leadership in service management evolution.
Who: Entrepreneur, award-winning author, and global authority on IT service management known for integrating human-centred design into ITSM practice.
Edge: ITIL Master, former ITIL Global Ambassador, contributing author to every ITIL 4 publication, and creator of Humanising IT™, a book and podcast series that has reshaped industry conversations from CIOs to service desk analysts.
LinkedIn: Katrina Macdermid LinkedIn
My book is officially published & now available.
Will ITSM soon be like the F1 key?
I have been elected to the itSMF International Board of Directors
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Themes: Human-centred design | ITIL | Modern service experience
Benefit: Visionary, practitioner-tested guidance that reframes ITSM around people, both the users receiving service and the professionals delivering it.
Who: Award-winning consultant, writer, and speaker known for humanising IT and embedding ethical, emotionally intelligent practices into modern service management.
Edge: Dave Jones Award recipient, HDI Top 25 Thought Leader, contributing author to VeriSM and ITIL4 High Velocity IT, Editorial Director of The Youth Rise in Power and The Era of HumanisingIT docuseries.
LinkedIn: Simone Jo Moore LinkedIn
Thinkers360’s Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on IT Leadership 2025
True service integration doesn’t automate the human out
AI implications and considerations for ITSM, with Simone Jo Moore
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Themes: Ethical IT | Emotional agility | Humanising IT
Benefit: Deep, multidisciplinary insight into service management by integrating neuroscience, organisational behaviour, and humane leadership.
Who: Writer, analyst, and globally recognized service-industry influencer known for guiding organizations toward better service and service management through strong practices and smart technology adoption.
Edge: Featured by The Economist, Computerworld, BizTech Magazine, and more, contributor to major works on Digital Transformation and IT Change Management.
LinkedIn: Roy Atkinson LinkedIn
YouTube: Roy Atkinson YouTube
Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on IT Leadership 2025
Are Your Metrics Killing Your Customer or Employee Experience?
Good EX leads to good CX: Employees think so too
Themes: Service management | CX–IT convergence | Digital-era leadership
Benefit: Credible insight from one of the industry’s most trusted voices on how customer service and technology shape modern service management.
Who: Senior product management leader with a long track record scaling product teams inside global SaaS vendors across ITSM, ESM, ITAM, SAM, DEX, and EUC.
Edge: Known for shaping product strategy and contributing to the global ITSM community through speaking, writing, and co-hosting the Enterprise Digital Podcast.
LinkedIn: Ian Aitchison LinkedIn
Website: Aitchison Insights
The Portable Core of Enterprise Service Management
Moving towards a DEX focus: Feeding into the best of ITSM, with Ian Aitchison
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Themes: Digital experience | Product leadership | Automation and AI
Benefit: Practical, future-facing insight from someone who has built product organizations at scale and actively shapes conversations across the global ITSM ecosystem.
A list like this is only useful if it changes what you do next quarter. Add two or three new voices to your daily scroll, pick a framework or idea that challenges your thinking, and try it out in your own service desk. Plug your favourites into LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and podcast apps and start implementing steps that fit your organizational needs.
ITSM is changing fast. So staying close to the people actually shaping it is one of the easiest ways to avoid blind spots.
If hardware lifecycle logistics is one of your blind spots, check out the Firstbase Field Guide to Distributed IT. It breaks down how teams achieve a 97% retrieval rate and save around 500 IT hours each year without adding extra headcount.
