The CMDB Problems Nobody Talks About
✗ Your CMDB metrics look impressive, but don’t help when things break
✗ Data quality nightmares that never seem to improve
✗ You’re mirroring data from discovery tools, not managing it
✗ Can’t answer basic questions like “what breaks if we change this server?”
✗ Your “98% accurate” CMDB becomes 60% accurate the moment something changes
✗ Stakeholder resistance because they can’t see value
What Is In It For You?
✓ No vendor pitches – This isn’t a sales session. It’s collaborative problem-solving with peers who understand your challenges
✓ Small group format – 12 people maximum means your specific challenges get proper attention, not generic answers
✓ Real experience – Facilitated by practitioners with 200+ ITSM implementations who’ve seen what works (and what doesn’t)
✓ Practical outcomes – Walk away with solutions you can implement, not theoretical frameworks
✓ Peer learning – The best insights often come from others who’ve solved similar problems
What you'll walk away with:
✓ Solutions to your specific CMDB challenges from peer discussion
✓ Practical approaches that work with real budgets and constraints
✓ Clear next steps you can implement immediately
✓ Connections with IT leaders who understand your frustrations
✓ Confidence to push back on vendor promises that don’t match reality
“Stop making CMDB harder than it needs to be”
Secure your spot
Agenda
A day focused on solving your problems
☕ 9:30 AM – Arrival & Coffee: Meet your fellow troubleshooters
👋 10:00 AM – Introductions & Challenge Sharing: Everyone presents their biggest CMDB headache
💡 10:30 AM – Roundtable Session 1: Collaborative problem-solving on data quality, stakeholder buy-in, and measurement challenges
🍽️ 12:00 PM – Working Lunch: Continue discussions in a relaxed setting – often where the best insights happen
🔍 1:00 PM – Roundtable Session 2 Deep dive into specific challenges raised in the morning
📋 3:45 PM – Action Planning Clear next steps for your environment
🏁 4:00 PM – Close
No presentations. No product demos. Just solutions.
Speakers
Chris has spent 23 years in ITSM helping organisations solve the problems that others don’t even recognise exist. While most consultants focus on standard IT assets, Chris has helped blue light services manage everything from fire engines to GPS locators, and building societies implement cross-departmental billing through their CMDBs.
He founded CIH Solutions in 2007 with a simple belief – customers need to be empowered to make their own management decisions, not sold expensive solutions they can’t maintain. This philosophy has driven over 200 ITSM implementations across the UK and Europe.
His approach challenges conventional CMDB thinking. Where vendors push complex federated systems, Chris helps organisations build practical solutions that work with real-world constraints. He’s particularly skilled at spotting the measurement problems that make CMDBs look successful while quietly failing to deliver value.
“The most dangerous CMDB problems are the ones that look like successes. If you’re measuring the wrong things, you’ll never know your CMDB is lying to you until it’s too late.”
Mike Walker is the Chief Technology Officer at CIH Solutions Ltd. He has led CMDB implementations and provided consultancy across a wide spectrum of sectors including construction, finance, retail, managed service providers, healthcare, law, public sector, and education. His work spans numerous service management platforms, with integration expertise covering data sources like Certero, SCCM, Intune, SolarWinds, SNMP, vSphere, and no end of home-grown systems or flat files(!) Whether using built-in capabilities or developing bespoke integrations, his approach is grounded in precision data handling.
Mike Walker’s core strength lies in understanding, transforming, and consolidating complex datasets – an essential skill for building effective CMDBs. His practical, results-oriented methodology consistently avoids the pitfalls of performative or checkbox-driven CMDB efforts. Instead, his pragmatic approach focuses on constructing logical, maintainable, and operationally valuable configurations.