This BriefingsDirect IT operations innovation panel discussion focuses on the changing role of IT service management (ITSM) in a hybrid computing world.

As IT systems, resources, assets, and information are more scattered across more enterprise locations and devices -- as well as across various cloud service environments -- how can IT leaders hope to know where their "stuff" is, who’s using it, how to secure it, and then accurately pay for it?

Better than ever, it turns out. Advanced software asset management (SAM) methods can efficiently enforce compliance, reduce audit risk, cut costs, and enhance end-user productivity -- even as the complexity of IT itself increases.

We'll hear from four IT leaders about how they have improved ITSM despite such challenges, and we'll learn how the increased use of big data and analytics when applied to ITSM improves inventory control and management. We'll also hear how a service brokering role can also be used to great competitive advantage, thanks to ITSM-generated information.

To learn more about how ITSM solves multiple problems for IT, we're joined by Charl Joubert, a change and configuration management expert based in Pretoria, South Africa; Julien Kuijper, an expert in asset and license management based in Paris; Patrick Bailly, IT Quality and Process Director at Steria, also based in Paris, and Edward Jackson, Operational System Support Manager at Redcentric, based in Harrogate, UK. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. [Sponsor: HP.]