ITSM in the Age of Austerity: Reinventing Service Management for Survival

In 2026, higher education faces a perfect storm of financial instability, shrinking enrollment, and rising costs ranging from deferred maintenance to AI infrastructure. IT organizations are under intense pressure to do more with less while managing increasingly complex environments. Traditional IT service management (ITSM) approaches are built for slow, steady, incremental maturity and are ill-suited for this moment. ITSM programs must accelerate outcomes, not perfect themselves. This session challenges the prevailing service management mindset and argues for a fundamental shift from maturity-focused practice to outcome-driven execution. When service management becomes a bureaucratic burden rather than a driver of value, it is time to rethink how it is designed and applied. Participants will be introduced to a lean Minimum Viable Practice (MVP) approach to ITSM, along with a practical framework for evaluating the “bureaucratic tax” that comes with layering on additional process. Through guided reflection, attendees will begin to assess one of their own ITSM practices to determine whether the effort required is justified by the institutional value it delivers. Attendees will leave with a new perspective on ITSM, a framework for identifying high-friction, low-value practices, and practical strategies to begin simplifying and realigning service management with institutional priorities.