At SDI Spark 26 this March, keynote speaker Mark Boyer will take centre stage with a provocative message: “The next great idea for IT services won’t come from inside IT.”
It’s a statement he recently shared on LinkedIn—one that raised eyebrows because it hits at a deep truth many in IT have felt but haven’t articulated.
For decades, IT leaders have been taught to optimise, measure, benchmark and systemise. But Boyer argues that in our obsession with what we can quantify, we’ve lost sight of something far more powerful: magic.
Magic, Boyer explains, is what hospitality, retail, design and behavioural science industries understand inherently—how to make people feel, not just how to make things work. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and author of Alchemy, calls this “psychological moonshots”—solutions born not from logic, but from imagination.
Boyer believes this way of thinking is urgently needed in IT.
Why? Because IT has become an echo chamber.
- We benchmark the same metrics.
- We buy the same platforms.
- We design the same processes.
And then we wonder why service experiences across the industry feel—his word—beige.
At Spark 26, Boyer will challenge attendees to consider a more powerful question:
“What would make this feel so good that people see technology differently after they experience it?”
According to Boyer, this shift – from measurement to feeling, from optimisation to imagination – is what will define the next evolution of service desks and IT services.
AI will not reduce the need for humanity in IT; it will amplify it.
And the future service desk will not be the one that resolves tickets fastest—but the one that makes technology feel intuitive, human and even delightful.
His keynote, “Why Great Service Desks Should Not Exist” will explore themes such as:
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Why an obsession with metrics blinds IT to what truly matters
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How small touches in language, design and interaction outperform large platform investments
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How reverse benchmarking reveals gaps competitors don’t even realise they have
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Why IT leaders need both “exploit” and “explore” capabilities
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How to measure not just performance—but how IT feels
This is not another framework. It’s a call to courage.
Boyer’s message for Spark 26 is clear:
“IT doesn’t need more standards. It needs more humanity, more creativity, and more willingness to look outside its own walls.”
