On the latest episode of Putting the Human into Technology, I sat down with Aaron Perrott, Chief Technology Officer at KTSL, for a conversation about AI, data, IT Service Management, and how technology leaders can use both to make better decisions, reduce noise, and create more resilient systems.

Aaron brings more than 30 years in IT, having started on a service desk in the NHS before moving through development, databases, architecture, and design into executive leadership. Today, as CTO at KTSL, he works at the intersection of technology, operations, and business problems — helping organisations understand not just what technology can do, but what problem it should actually solve.

What we covered

• How KTSL has approached AI over time — from building models around service management and IT operations data more than a decade ago to now using tools like Copilot and Claude day to day across the business.
• Where AI is delivering practical value today — including faster analysis of ticket and event data, improved knowledge creation, better document and tender drafting, and using prompting to accelerate application development.
• Why training still matters — especially for non-technical teams, where unlocking value from AI often comes down to showing people how to use the tools properly inside the flow of their work.
• How AI is shortening the path from data to action — helping organisations identify repeat incidents, isolate poor data quality, surface patterns faster, and build a clearer business case for automation and improvement.
• Chained AI and self-healing systems — where one AI process feeds another to pull logs, analyse errors, locate the right knowledge article, and in some cases trigger fixes automatically with the right guardrails in place.
• Leadership, dashboards, and decision-making — why reporting should increasingly be real time, how AI can suppress noise, and how leaders can get to better decisions faster by bringing together multiple data points in one place.
• DEX and user experience measurement — how analysing user journeys inside applications can reveal friction points and even support rapid UI improvements based on real behaviour.
• Will AI replace us? — Aaron’s view that it will not, because human imagination, instinct, validation, judgement, and empathy still matter, even as AI changes the shape of entry-level and technical roles.

Why this conversation matters

If you lead technology, data, operations, or service delivery, this conversation is a useful reminder that AI value rarely comes from hype alone. It comes from applying it to real operational problems: reducing manual effort, improving the quality of decisions, identifying where processes are broken, and creating the space for people to focus on higher-value work.

Aaron shares a grounded perspective shaped by years of hands-on experience in service management and enterprise technology. He talks openly about the importance of guardrails, the limits of poor-quality data, and the reason humans still need to stay firmly in the loop — particularly when judgement, accessibility, behaviour, and user context matter.

Whether you’re a CIO, IT Director, Head of Service, operations leader, or someone trying to work out where AI genuinely fits inside an organisation, there is a lot in this discussion that will resonate.

Watch the full episode

Connect with Aaron

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aaron-perrott-0855801
• KTSL: ktsl.com

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Putting the Human into Technology is the podcast for leaders who want to cut through the hype and focus on how technology and data actually deliver outcomes for people and organisations. Subscribe on YouTube and follow me on LinkedIn so you don’t miss the next conversation.