We had the chance to attend SITS again this year, and as always, the real value wasn’t just in the keynote sessions, but in the conversations in between. Whether it was catching up with familiar faces or hearing fresh perspectives, there was a genuine sense of shared purpose and progress among service desk professionals, IT leaders and technology partners.
One message came through clearly: performance still matters, but people matter more. If service teams are going to succeed long term, we need to give just as much thought to how people work as we do to the tools they use.
With that in mind, here are five key takeaways from this year’s event that stood out to us and reflect what we are seeing across the sector and among the teams we support...
1. Use metrics to improve, not just report
Performance reporting was a hot topic across the sessions. The team noticed a real shift in focus this year, away from reporting for the sake of it and towards using metrics to understand what’s really happening and where there’s room to improve.
Jake Moore (ESET) put it perfectly in his session, quoting Pearson’s Law: “When performance is measured, performance improves.” His presentation offered valuable perspectives on how many teams are going a step further by using data not only to track what happened but also to understand why. This represents a meaningful mindset shift from proving value to actively improving it.
We often work with teams looking to get more from their reporting. Whether it’s spotting repeat issues, identifying gaps in self-service or reviewing team capacity, the goal is the same: to support better decisions and continuous improvement.
2. The right tools make a big difference
A lot of the conversations our team had touched on tools and systems, not in a technical way, but in terms of how they affect day-to-day work. The message was clear: when teams have the right tools in place, it frees them up to focus on what they do best.
Service teams are more effective when they can configure platforms to suit their own processes, rather than adapting to rigid structures. From tailored workflows and dynamic forms to role-specific dashboards, flexibility makes a real difference.
Our Sunrisers work closely with service teams to create environments where technology fits the way they work, not the other way round. This focus on user-friendly, adaptable platforms came up time and again throughout the event.
3. Make it easy to do the right thing
Becky Ray (Culture Kick Ltd) shared a quote that really stood out to us: “Make it easy to do the right thing, and hard to do the wrong.” It’s simple, but it applies to many parts of service delivery, from logging requests to managing changes. Her session offered plenty of useful insights and ideas that service desk teams can start using right away.
There was a lot of discussion about how automation can support this approach. For example, routing the right form based on a few keywords in Teams, or guiding someone through a software request without them needing to know every step behind the scenes.
This is exactly the thinking behind our Sunrise AI chatbot. It helps users get what they need quickly and accurately, without making things more complicated for the service team.
4. Why listening matters in service delivery
Wellbeing and team dynamics were another strong theme this year. It was encouraging to see such a focus on listening, not just to users, but to the teams behind the service and to what the data is telling us.
Speakers shared stories about burnout, support strategies and the importance of psychological safety. Empathy was framed not just as a soft skill, but as something that can directly improve service delivery and strengthen relationships.
It’s something we’ve seen in practice too. Tools like satisfaction surveys, user feedback and service trends are helping teams understand how people feel about the service they receive. It’s not just about performance, but about experience, and when teams act on that insight, the impact is often significant.
5. The future of service is built around people
After a packed couple of days at SITS, what stuck with us most was the renewed focus on people. Yes, performance, automation and platforms matter. But they work best when they support the way people already work, rather than trying to reshape it.
That’s what we aim to support at Sunrise. Whether it’s automation that reduces admin, reporting that drives better decisions, or configuration that fits your way of working, our goal is to help service teams do their jobs more effectively and enjoy doing them.
When service works well for the people behind it, everything else starts to fall into place.
.svg){kind=icon}
.png "__img-people (8)")
