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Next Service Desk Manager course 8-11 September 2025, virtual from anywhere See course details

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Service Desk Manager Certification Course (SDM)

service desk manager training course from SDI Service Desk Manager Certification

Lead with confidence. Transform your service desk.

Take the next step in your career with SDI’s Service Desk Manager Certification Course. This globally recognised qualification is a four-day, interactive IT service desk training programme designed to give current and aspiring managers the tools to run a high-performing support operation.

Why Choose the Service Desk Manager Certification?

Every day, service desk leaders juggle demands, solve problems, and hold their teams together. We know the pressure never lets up. That’s why we created the Service Desk Manager Certification Course — to help you lead with more confidence and less stress.

What you learn will sharpen your leadership skills, improve team performance, and remind you: you don’t have to carry it all alone.

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Upcoming dates

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Virtual

Service Desk Manager

DATE: 23rd - 26th February 2026
TIME: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM GMT
duration: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Location: Virtual - Login from anywhere
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Virtual

Service Desk Manager

DATE: 08th - 11th December 2025
TIME: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM GMT
duration: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Location: Virtual - Login from anywhere
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Virtual

Service Desk Manager

DATE: 17th - 20th November 2025
TIME: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM GMT
duration: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Location: Virtual - Login from anywhere
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What SDI’s trainers say about the SDM course

Become the CEO of your service desk. Join the thousands of IT professionals who are advancing their careers and driving continual service improvement with SDI. The Service Desk Manager Certification Course is more than training — it’s your path to becoming a confident, effective, and supported leader.

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Trusted by Thousands Worldwide

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Experienced, Expert ITSM Trainers

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Over 35 Years as Service Desk Specialists

Accredited by PeopleCert

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Why the Service Desk Manager Qualification Matters

This four-day IT service desk training course equips you with the skills to run an effective, high-performing support operation. The Service Desk Manager Certification delivers practical strategies that benefit both you and your organisation.

What You’ll Gain

  • Proven practices to manage and improve service desk performance

  • Leadership skills to build motivated, resilient teams

  • Frameworks and metrics to measure success

  • Techniques to boost customer satisfaction and staff engagement

  • Internationally recognised Service Desk Manager qualification (exam by PeopleCert)

  • Stronger leadership confidence and career prospects

  • Reduced stress with clear, practical tools

What Your Organisation Gains

  • Higher service desk efficiency and customer satisfaction

  • Better employee engagement and retention

  • Clearer performance reporting and continuous improvement

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Course Content

This course contains everything that is essential to core roles and responsibilities of a successful Service Desk Manager:

Defining strategic requirements

Review the purpose, activities, and requirements of a successful Service Desk from a global perspective, discover the benefits of complying with industry standards and examine ethics in the service and support environment 

Developing a strategic role

Examine the requirements for creating an effective Service Desk strategy that underpins business goals, learn about the purpose and objectives of vision and missions statements, examine the benefits and challenges associated with various sourcing models, and review the objectives and activities of financial management 

The role of the Service Desk Manager

Review the characteristics, skills and competencies required to be an effective Service Desk Manager, review the roles and responsibilities of a Service Desk Manager, discuss the reasons why we should promote the Service Desk, and review the key activities of a successful promotion campaign 

Organisational change and project management

Identify the elements of successful project management and the importance of building persuasive business cases, example the purpose and benefits of effective organisational change, identify opportunities for participation in strategic decision making, and review the knowledge requirements to build good strategic awareness 

Teamwork and communication

Review the characteristics of effective teams, examine the importance of excellent communication skills from a management perspective, learn the requirements of effective presentation skills, and enhance listening, information gathering and negotiating techniques 

Staff recruitment, retention & development

Examine the requirements for effective recruitment strategies, review the features and benefits of a structured and on-going approach to induction, training and development, and explore the behaviours required to retain staff, maintain effective working relationships and address individual performance issues 

Management and leadership

Review the activities of an effective manager and an effective leader, identify the elements of successful planning and co-ordinating activities, and examine the benefits of and how to achieve motivated teams 

Resilience

Examine the importance of emotional resilience, recognising signs of positive and negative stress in yourself and your staff, and effective stress management 

Effective management of resources

Examine the challenges and benefits of commonly used support delivery methods and technologies, explore the benefits of workforce management and resource planning models, and discover the challenges and benefits of adopting self-service 

AI and automation

Identify the benefits and challenges of increasing automation and AI opportunities within the workplace and explore common examples of rules-based AI and neural networks 

IT Service Management

Explore IT Service Management and its objectives, recognise the difference between a practice, a process and a procedure, identify the need to effective practices, processes and procedures and the importance of following them, and discover ITIL 4 practices and their purpose and place within the service desk environment 

Quality assurance activities

Review the purpose and objectives of a comprehensive quality assurance program, identify common quality assurance practices, examine the purpose, benefits, and methods of interaction monitoring, and explore the role of benchmarking in the Service Desk environment 

Managing the customer experience

Discover the importance of managing the customer experience and the need for a coherent approach, identify opportunities for capturing feedback, and learn how to use feedback effectively in decision making 

Management information & performance results

Examine the relationship between critical success factors (CSFs), key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics, and identify a range of service desk metrics and their success criteria 

Who is SDI's Service Desk Manager course for? Service Desk Manager Certification

About the course

Duration: 4 day course, 9am – 4.30pm BST / GMT

Delivery format: Live virtual classroom, instructor-led, interactive

Price: £2102 plus VAT (includes the PeopleCert exam fee)

Save £315.30 with SDI membership, member price £1786.70 plus VAT. See how much you can save with SDI’s Training Savings Calculator.

Certification: Proctored 60-minute Service Desk Manager exam by PeopleCert. Candidates can sit the exam remotely up to 12 months after the date of the course.

Join the SDI community to connect with other service desk professionals.

Download the Service Desk Manager Professional Standard

Download the Service Desk Manager Professional Standard — the best practice framework created specifically for the Service Desk Manager role. It’s the foundation of our Service Desk Manager Certification Course, ensuring that your training is aligned with proven industry standards and equips you with the skills to run a high-performing IT service desk.

Download
Service Desk Manager Certification

Requirements

To take part in this interactive virtual course you will need: 

▪️ A computer with a webcam (we ask that webcams are turned on throughout the duration of the course) 

▪️ Microphone/headset  

▪️ High-speed internet connection  

▪️ Ensure you connect 15 minutes before the session starts and log-in as a guest.

To help with the set-up, please download the  Adobe Quick Start Guide.

Adobe Connect only requires that you have an internet connection, and a web browser, to attend the web conference. If you have problems connecting whilst using Microsoft Edge browsers, then please try Google Chrome or Firefox. 

 

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Happy Customers

“Many thanks for the boost of confidence this SDI training has given me and for all the helpful tips and information.

It was really refreshing to be guided by someone who has a clear passion in delivering great service and who also has lots of experience in helping others to do so.”

DAN UPTON Plymouth University

“The best training course I have ever been on!

Extremely insightful and informative. If you’re looking to get into management, this course is for you!”

GARY WHEATE Service Desk Manager, Lanware

“I definitely recommend this course if you want to further your career in the IT Service Desk industry.”  

TEAM LEADER Anglia Ruskin University

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