The Summit
The Summit will contextualise the evolution of the service desk and the future of customer experience and IT support.
The programme will consider how the service function has advanced in the age of digital transformation, omni-channel engagement, and personalisation. And examine the increasing role of automation, analytics and AI, and the rise of Chatbots and self-service systems.
The conference will explore how tech leaders can maximise the business impact of their service function, with presentations looking at actionable ways to improve process, operations, observability, and customer experience.
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The Summit is geared for professionals working in IT, Tech Support, Customer Service, UX, Digital Transformation and Leadership roles.
2025 Speakers


Journalist & Broadcaster, BBC Scotland

Gain CPD credits by attending this conference.
Earn 8 hours of certificated CPD credits and a personalised CPD certificate by attending this conference. Learn more about how it works here.

The Venue
The conference will be held live and in-person at the iconic Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, a professional event space offering panoramic views of the city and Arthur's Seat.
The venue is centrally located in the old town, just 15 minutes walk from Waverley train station, making it easily accessible via public transport. We also offer discounted on-site parking to attendees if you wish to drive and provide light refreshments throughout the day.
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2025 Agenda
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
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Employees are becoming increasingly disengaged and change fatigue is at an all-time high
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How the roles and goals of IC and IT intersect in business impact
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Understanding where AI fits into the picture
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The narrowing gap between EX and DEX
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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 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.
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Converting the Art of the Possible into demonstrable transformation.
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We don’t need more innovation, we need more application - ANIA
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It’s not about data, it’s about information.
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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
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Cyclical market trend change - Cost-Based KPI Approach vs. Customer Experience Approach
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AI-Enhanced Agent Delivery for ROI and Efficiency
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Easy Tool Adoption Over Complex and Restrictive Existing Infrastructure
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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
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Context: the apology tour – the disconnect between ticket data and service experience reality
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SLAs are not enough: they were never designed to measure CX or sentiment
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Why you should care about measuring experience
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IT Experience Management Framework
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Examples of XLAs that we have implemented at Subsea 7
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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
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The risk of ‘not knowing’ - IT that operates as a black box creates hidden complexity + risk
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Events like the Crowdstrike outage highlight the issue of not fully knowing your service
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How an integrated operating model can improve IT operations and reduce risk
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How these strong foundations can enable bolder digital strategies
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How service integration supports compliance and ESG targets
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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
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The changing role of IT Service and user expectations in SMBs - and the key challenges
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Lessons learned from the scaleup transition journey
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Steps we have taken to improve IT Service + UX - what has delivered the most value + RoI
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Implementing Conversational AI to the team via Gemini - initial observations and learnings
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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.
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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.
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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
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From Frustration to Flow – How to eliminate the daily struggle of navigating multiple systems and get employees what they need, when they need it.
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One Entry Point, Endless Efficiency – The power of a unified digital experience to simplify access to critical tools, knowledge, and services.
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Less Time Searching, More Time Doing – Strategies to reduce wasted effort and create a seamless, frustration-free work environment.
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From Theory to Action – Practical strategies for seamless implementation.
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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
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The Biggest Shift Since the Industrial Revolution: why this is a seismic moment for work, society & the economy
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Navigating the Intelligence Era: Insights into the strategic, operational, and cultural challenges leaders must tackle
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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 How AI Changes the Way Business Interacts with IT Forever
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Resolving the Watermelon Effect - SLAs vs XLAs
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Adopting Observability and AIOps
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Introducing DEX whilst allowing AI to automate the majority of tasks across the business
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How this revolution in how we use data will enable business leaders in practice
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What’s next? - key trends, changes, and challenges
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Jaro Tomik, Chief Technologist: Digital Enablement, CDW
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13:55 Developing AI Chatbots that Work in the Real World
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Background context of design and development
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Uses and practical business benefits
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Common challenges of implementation
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Working with stakeholders and refining through iteration
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Observations and learnings
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Mark Leisten, Conversational AI Expert & VP Solutions Engineer, Bank of America
14:15 Beyond Basic Self Service: Evolving Your Conversational AI with LLMs, RAG, & Agentic Workflows
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Many organisations have used basic chatbots but are looking for ways to improve UX & RoI Actionable insights to make these advanced techniques a reality in production
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How LLMs, RAG, and Agentic Workflows can transform your conversational AI capabilities
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Moving beyond theory to practical implementation strategies
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Lessons learned from the real world
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Actionable insights to make these advanced techniques a reality in production
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Gillian McCann, Conversational AI Specialist
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14:35 Combined Q&A
15:05 Closing Remarks
15:10 Networking Drinks Reception
16:30 End of Summit
*The conference agenda is provisional and speaker / topics are subject to change
About DIGIT
DIGIT has rapidly grown into the largest independent business technology community in Scotland. We run an extensive series of conferences and events focused on core areas of emerging Technology, Digital and IT. We also run Scotland's leading IT & Digital News Platform www.digit.fyi with over 50,000 page views per month.
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The events provide a unique platform for knowledge exchange and discussion, drawing stakeholders together to explore best practice, technological innovation and business outcomes. Our conferences attract a senior delegate following and have become renowned as an important forum for high-level networking and engagement.