Thursday 27th February, Dynamic Earth Edinburgh

SESSION 1 

There has been a significant shift in the service function, moving away from traditional SLA-orientated metrics to prioritise user experience and business impact. The opening session will consider the fundamental alignment of people, process, and technology within IT Service change. We will look at understanding what shapes the employee experience, consider ‘the art of the possible’ in service transformation, and focus on keeping IT human, by leveraging technology to inform and empower our people.

09:15    Welcome from the Conference Chair

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Mark Stephen, Journalist & Broadcaster, BBC Scotland

09:25    Understanding & Improving Employee Experience: Insights from the ‘State of the Sector’ Report
 

• Employees are becoming increasingly disengaged and change fatigue is at an all-time high

• How the roles and goals of IC and IT intersect in business impact

• Understanding where AI fits into the picture

• The narrowing gap between EX and DEX

• Driving EX forward: What we can learn and apply from the observations in the latest report

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Sharn Kleiss, Employee Experience Strategy Lead, Gallagher

09:45     The Digital Front Door: Hyper-Cloud Driven Service Change in NHS Scotland

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• How Hyper-Cloud deployment has reached the critical point for future service delivery.

• Converting the Art of the Possible into demonstrable transformation.

• We don’t need more innovation, we need more application - ANIA

• It’s not about data, it’s about information.

• Power to the People - generate demand through incremental delivery - Digital Dermatology

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Christopher Wroath, Director: NES Technology Services, NHS Scotland 

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10:05    Enterprise Service Strategy Consideration: Human-Centered, AI-Enhanced

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• Keep the Human Element in Enterprise Service and Customer Experience Operations within your scale

• Cyclical market trend change - Cost-Based KPI Approach vs. Customer Experience Approach

• AI-Enhanced Agent Delivery for ROI and Efficiency

• Easy Tool Adoption Over Complex and Restrictive Existing Infrastructure

• Consider ROI and Spending Justification for Service Experience Changes

Csaba Jaromi, Senior Director, Solutions Consulting EMEA, LogMeIn

10:25    Combined Q&A

10:55    Networking & Refreshments

SESSION 2

Session 2 will explore a series of key topics in a longer presentation format. The session will be run in a breakout format across three parallel streams, providing delegates the opportunity to attend two of the options.

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11:30    First Breakout Option (A-C)

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​Breakout Options Include:

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A: Why Experience is More Important than Service

 

• Context: the apology tour – the disconnect between ticket data and service experience reality

• SLAs are not enough: they were never designed to measure CX or sentiment

• Why you should care about measuring experience

• IT Experience Management Framework

• Examples of XLAs that we have implemented at Subsea 7

• Key takeaways, next steps, and iteration / optimisation

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David Morrison-John, Head of Global IT Service Delivery, Subsea 7 

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B: Roots & Wings: How Service Integration Can Improve Operations, Risk & Strategic Transformation
 

• The risk of ‘not knowing’ - IT that operates as a black box creates hidden complexity + risk

• Events like the Crowdstrike outage highlight the issue of not fully knowing your service

• How an integrated operating model can improve IT operations and reduce risk

• How these strong foundations can enable bolder digital strategies

• How service integration supports compliance and ESG targets

• Where to learn more and access service integration resources 

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Claire Agutter, SIAM Specialist & Director, Scopism 

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C: Maximising the User Impact of the IT Service Function in SMB Teams

 

• The changing role of IT Service and user expectations in SMBs - and the key challenges

• Lessons learned from the scaleup transition journey

• Steps we have taken to improve IT Service + UX  - what has delivered the most value + RoI

• Implementing Conversational AI to the team via Gemini - initial observations and learnings 

• Future priorities for IT Service improvement / main goals + objectives for the next 12-18 months

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Tori Dougall, Head of IT, Stellar Omada 

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12:05   Transition

12:15    Second Breakout Option (D-F)

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D: The Observability Advantage: Transforming Customer Experiences in the Modern Enterprise

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• The Why Behind the Change: We will discuss the initial challenges their organisation faced and how those challenges impacted both customer and employee experiences, leading them to prioritise automation, visibility, and observability.

• Driving Transformation: Nick will discuss the key steps taken to simplify and standardise their environment will be outlined, and how costs were optimised and visibility enhanced through observability.

• Transforming Experiences: Nick will share the positive outcomes of their observability initiative, demonstrating how it led to improved customer satisfaction, increased employee engagement, and ultimately, a better overall experience for everyone involved.

 

Terry Neill, Chief Operating Officer for Digital Platform at Sword UK and Nick Mier, Group IT Director at M&C Saatchi Group

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E. Cutting Through the Chaos: Streamlining Employee Experience for Maximum Productivity

 

• From Frustration to Flow – How to eliminate the daily struggle of navigating multiple systems and get employees what they need, when they need it.

• One Entry Point, Endless Efficiency – The power of a unified digital experience to simplify access to critical tools, knowledge, and services.

• Less Time Searching, More Time Doing – Strategies to reduce wasted effort and create a seamless, frustration-free work environment.

• From Theory to Action – Practical strategies for seamless implementation.

• Turning Insights into Impact – Actionable steps to bring techniques to life.

 

Claire Tilley, Strategy Advisory Consultant, Devoteam and Stuart Walker, Principal Consultant, Devoteam

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F. Agentic AI: How Software is Reshaping the Workforce

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• The Rise of Agentic AI: how AI-enabled software is stepping into skilled roles & reshaping the workforce

• The Biggest Shift Since the Industrial Revolution: why this is a seismic moment for work, society & the economy

• Navigating the Intelligence Era: Insights into the strategic, operational, and cultural challenges leaders must tackle

• Practical real-world guidance for forward-thinking leaders

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Gary Crawford, Founder & Chief Advisor, Owendale Advisory

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12:45    Lunch and Networking

SESSION 3

Automation is playing an increasing role within the service function, and the potential of the latest wave of AI and LLM tools is exceptional. However, successive industry reports indicate a significant disconnect between technology potential and business reality, with many organisations citing that AI is failing to drive value beyond basic small-scale use cases. The closing session will examine the role of AI and automation for service delivery, considering how to overcome some of the initial hurdles, and evolve the functionality to provide tangible improvements for users and the business.

 

13:35   Welcome Back from the Conference Chair

 

Mark Stephen, Journalist & Broadcaster, BBC Scotland

 

13:40   How AI Changes the Way Business Interacts with IT Forever
 

• Resolving the Watermelon Effect - SLAs vs XLAs

• Adopting Observability and AIOps

• Introducing DEX whilst allowing AI to automate the majority of tasks across the business

• How this revolution in how we use data will enable business leaders in practice

• What’s next? - key trends, changes, and challenges

Jaro Tomik, Chief Technologist: Digital Enablement, CDW

 

14:00   Developing AI Chatbots that Work in the Real World

 

• Background context of design and development

• Uses and practical business benefits

• Common challenges of implementation

• Working with stakeholders and refining through iteration

• Observations and learnings

 

Mark Leisten, Conversational AI Expert & VP Solutions Engineer, Bank of America

 

14:20   Combined Q&A Panel

 

• Jaro Tomik, Chief Technologist: Digital Enablement, CDW

• Mark Leisten, Conversational AI Expert & VP Solutions Engineer, Bank of America

• Sarah Topping, Intelligent Automation Manager & Conversational AI Lead, Ciklum

• Katerina Gorkovenko, Senior UX Researcher, NatWest

• Gary Crawford, Founder & Chief Advisor, Owendale Advisory

 

15:00   Closing Remarks

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15:05    End of Session 3

15:10     Networking Drinks Reception
16:30    End of Summit

 

 

Virtual Keynote: 0n Demand

 

Beyond Basic Self Service: Evolving Your Conversational AI with LLMs, RAG, & Agentic Workflows

 

• Many organisations have used basic chatbots but are looking for ways to improve UX & RoI

• How LLMs, RAG, and Agentic Workflows can transform your conversational AI capabilities

• Moving beyond theory to practical implementation strategies

• lessons learned from the real world

• Actionable insights to make these advanced techniques a reality in production

Gillian McCann, Conversational AI Specialist​