by
Dawn Christine Simmons (Khan), Transformation Strategist and Business Process Advisor
Date Published February 17, 2026 - Last Updated February 17, 2026
Industrial ticket-factory service is out of step with world service demands.
Tickets, queues, handoffs, and speed-only metrics were built for a slower, more predictable world. Today, customers live in a digital, always-on reality — and they judge service by clarity, confidence, and outcomes, not by how fast a ticket closes.
Gartner found 91% of High Maturity Service Organizations have dedicated AI leader driven service transformation. Ownership is the difference between AI noise and AI value.
Service leaders are not re-engineering the ticket factory. They are adopting ITIL 5 to prove service value, prevention, and empathy on scale.
What ITIL 5 transforms
Thirty years of standardization have given way to a new paradigm of AI-driven service design.
Service Leadership Skills
True Intelligent Service leaders who see results are not chasing shiny tools and anything they can say they have used AI to deliver. They are transforming service experience into design, delivery and measurement with discipline and speed. Transitions are from:
1) Tickets to signals
Demand no longer shows up only as tickets. It shows up as emails, chat, sentiment shifts, usage patterns, and system behavior — and Intelligent Service listens early, before customers escalate.
2) Speed to confidence
Fast resolution means nothing if the issue repeats or the customer leaves uncertain. Intelligent Service prioritizes outcomes, continuity and trust.
3) Manual effort to Assisted Judgment
AI removes noise; people apply judgment.
Salesforce projects AI will resolve 50% of service cases by 2027.
4) Static processes to value learning systems
Knowledge does not sit idle, waiting for update, it learns and improves with use. ITIL 5 trades heavy processes for intelligent service design.
Service Leaders Are Winning with Intelligent Service
Winning leaders are not distracted by rewriting 30 years of process or chasing tools. They invest in modernizing how service is designed, delivered, and measured.
1) Design journeys, not queues
See the journey end-to-end. End friction and confusion at every step.
2) Embed intelligence where work happens
When service performance exists only on dashboards, action comes too late. Intelligent Service embeds AI where decisions happen.
Verizon reported a 40% sales lift from AI aided support. Clear proof that intelligent support drives measurable business value.
3) Elevate service professionals into advisors
Service professionals move from ticket processors to trusted advisors. AI removes the noise; people apply judgment. Burnout drops. Confidence rises. Customers feel it.
4) Measure impact — not volume metrics
Measure impact, that matters, not ticket volume. Reward value — issues prevented, sentiment recovery, knowledge reuse, first-contact confidence and reduced repeat demand. This is ITIL 5 in action.
Why Customers Feel the Impact Immediately
Customers do not measure service in minutes. They measure it in trust. Intelligent Service delivers that trust early. Create valued service and management before problems grow.
The Bottom Line
Industrial service belongs to the past. Intelligent Service defines the future. ITIL 5 is how leaders get there.
Author Bio
Dawn Christine Simmons (Khan) is a Senior Transformation Strategist and trusted advisor to C-suite leaders driving AI-powered service excellence. A champion for women in IT and a longtime HDI community voice, she specializes in humanizing technology, operationalizing AI governance, and accelerating enterprise change with clarity, trust, and impact.