Reinventing Service Management for an Era of Financial Pressure, Organisational Change and Agentic AI
Local government is approaching a defining moment. Escalating financial pressures, rising demand for public services, local government reorganisation and growing expectations from citizens and employees are creating unprecedented challenges for council IT and digital leaders. Traditional approaches to service delivery, built around reactive support, fragmented systems and resource-intensive processes, are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.
Yet these challenges also present a significant opportunity to fundamentally rethink how councils operate.
This thought-provoking session explores how IT Service Management must evolve beyond managing tickets and resolving incidents to become a strategic enabler of organisational transformation, operational efficiency and improved public service outcomes.
Drawing on emerging industry trends, practical transformation experience and the accelerating capabilities of Agentic AI, the session will examine how councils can move towards intelligent, proactive and increasingly autonomous service delivery. From eliminating avoidable demand and breaking down departmental silos to leveraging Enterprise Service Management across the organisation, we will challenge established thinking about how services are designed, delivered and measured.
The session will also consider the opportunities presented by local government reorganisation, the importance of trustworthy data and AI governance, and the changing role of IT teams as technology takes on more routine operational responsibilities.
Above all, the keynote will focus on turning ambition into practical progress. What should council leaders prioritise today to create more resilient, efficient and adaptable service organisations tomorrow?
Attendees will leave with a fresh perspective on the future of service management, an understanding of the opportunities and risks presented by Agentic AI, and actionable ideas for reducing operational demand, unlocking capacity and delivering better outcomes.
The objective is not simply a more efficient IT department. It is a more resilient, financially sustainable and digitally enabled council, capable of delivering better services to employees with the resources available.
The future isn’t about managing more tickets. It’s about creating councils that need fewer of them.
Nigel Martin
CMRO, Hornbill
