ITIL 4 Foundation Training for MSP Service Teams

ITIL 4 Foundation training for MSP service managers, IT service dispatchers and team leads, plus SLA courses and new manager AI roleplays. Every Empath Learn seat includes it: Empath, Microsoft Learn and Curated Collection courses.

Get the Full Course List

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1,200+

Leadership and Management Courses

100+

New Manager Courses and Lessons

40+

Manager Titles with AI Roleplays

ITIL Courses, ITIL 4 and ITIL 5

What Training Does a Service Manager Need?

Empath's ITIL, SLA and IT service dispatch courses help MSP service managers standardize how the desk runs. They also work as team lead training for a senior tech stepping up.

Your service managers, IT service dispatchers and team leads need:

ITIL 4 Foundation, with the newer ITIL 5 syllabus beside it
SLAs, escalations and desk metrics such as mean time to resolution
IT service dispatch, from ticket triage to technician workload
Coaching, feedback and accountability conversations, with AI roleplays for practice
New manager skills such as delegation, plus harassment prevention for supervisors

Assign courses with a due date and track progress on the Learning Progress dashboard. Empath adds new courses every week.

With the ConnectWise PSA integration set up, assigned courses can create weekly training tickets, and Empath adds tracked learning time to the prior week's ticket. Staff email addresses must match in Empath and ConnectWise; unassigned courses and historical learning time do not sync.

Service Manager Courses by Skill

A sample from the full course list. All are included in every Empath Learn seat.

Skill	Courses and Lessons	Example
ITIL 4 and ITIL 5	8	ITIL 4 Foundation - Exam Preparation Training
SLAs, metrics and service desk process	5 by Empath	The MSP Three Metric Makeover
IT service dispatch	1 by Empath	The Foundations of MSP Dispatching
New managers	100+	New Supervisor Fundamentals
Coaching and counseling	90+	Coaching Crash Course
Communication for leaders	100+	Difficult Conversations
Delegation	20+	Expert Insights: Effective Delegation with Brandon Smith
Team building	60+	Hiring For Great Teams
Engagement and motivation	100+	High-Functioning Burnout in MSPs
Customer service	100+	Customer Service 101

A course can count in more than one row.

Empath Courses for Your Service Managers

Service manager training from Empath on ITIL, IT service dispatch, SLAs, metrics, escalations and leading a team.

ITIL 4 Foundation - Exam Preparation Training, Empath. More than 20 lessons that follow the official ITIL 4 Foundation course material. 82 minutes.
ITIL 5 Foundation, Empath. Follows the current 2026 ITIL 5 Foundation syllabus, in more than 30 lessons. 101 minutes.
ITIL For Service Managers, Empath. Applying ITIL in a busy MSP team with RACI, dashboards, a daily huddle and one-page SOPs. 21 minutes.
ITIL at the Desk, Empath. Six ITIL 4 practices of the service desk, from incidents to changes. 25 minutes.
Rules of the Desk, Empath. Incidents versus problems, SLAs versus OLAs and declaring a major incident. 55 minutes.
Introduction to SLAs for MSPs, Empath. SLAs versus SLOs, tracking SLAs in your PSA and common SLA misconceptions. 46 minutes.
The MSP Three Metric Makeover, Empath. Mean time to resolution, first call resolution and ticket reopen rate. 37 minutes.
Balancing Capacity and Availability, Empath. Matching the work a team can handle to the time it is available. 74 minutes.
The Foundations of MSP Dispatching, Empath. IT service dispatch basics: ticket triage, SLAs and managing technician workloads. 35 minutes.
Ticket Escalations 101, Empath. When and why tickets escalate, and how to hand one on clearly. 86 minutes.
Hiring For Great Teams, Empath. How top MSPs hire and build their teams, and why it drives profit. 43 minutes.
High-Functioning Burnout in MSPs, Empath. Spotting burnout in your most dependable staff, and what leaders can do. 103 minutes.
The Path from Manager to Director, Empath. What changes at director level, where you manage at scale. 20 minutes.

Microsoft Learn for Power BI and Psychological Safety

Microsoft's own training, in the same seat: a short list for this role.

Create dashboards in Power BI, Microsoft. Pinning visuals from different reports into one dashboard. 59 minutes.
Build psychological safety, Microsoft. What psychological safety is and how to build it on your team. 88 minutes.

Curated Collection Courses and AI Roleplays for Managers

The Collection's 14,000+ courses, plus hundreds of AI roleplays where a manager practices a real workplace conversation and gets instant, personal feedback (what went well and what to change).

ITIL® 4 Foundation: Introduction, Skillsoft. What is new in ITIL 4 and what the Foundation exam looks like. 24 minutes.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library v4 (ITILv4), Foundation - Practice Test, Skillsoft. Practice questions in the style of the ITIL 4 Foundation exam. 60 minutes.
New Supervisor Fundamentals, BizLibrary Productions. Going from coworker to leader and your first team meeting, with AI roleplays. 51 minutes.
Coaching Crash Course, BizLibrary Productions. How to coach employees at every skill level, from novices to experts. 30 minutes.
Exceptional Leadership Communication: Effectively Giving Feedback, BizLibrary Productions. A lesson on the right mix of positive and negative feedback. 9 minutes.
Expert Insights: The Art of Accountability Conversations with Karin Hurt & David Dye, BizLibrary Productions. Delivering difficult feedback and setting expectations, with an AI roleplay. 47 minutes.
Expert Insights: Effective Delegation with Brandon Smith, BizLibrary Productions. Delegating so your team takes ownership. 62 minutes.
Difficult Conversations, The Jeff Havens Company. Handling uncomfortable or contentious conversations calmly. 44 minutes.
Customer Service 101, BizLibrary Productions. How to connect with customers and handle upset ones, with an AI roleplay to practice on. 45 minutes.
A Harassment-Free Workplace for Supervisors (California), BizLibrary Productions. Harassment prevention for supervisors; New York and Texas editions too. 125 minutes.

Illustration of a video course and course progress in Empath

New-Hire Basics Everyone at Your MSP Takes

Whatever the role, new hires can start with these four.

New MSP Employee 101: The Essentials for Everyone, Empath. How the MSP business model works, and the terms MSP staff use. 87 minutes.
Time Tracking: What Every MSP Employee Needs to Know, Empath. Why accurate time entries matter for profit and client satisfaction. 31 minutes.
Introduction to Security Awareness, Empath. Why people are the weak link in security, and how MSPs run security awareness training. 58 minutes.
AI Fluency, Empath. How to work with AI in everyday tasks, with videos from Anthropic. 69 minutes.

For more onboarding courses, see new-hire training for MSPs.

Questions About ITIL 4 Foundation and New Manager Training

Short answers for MSP owners and the service managers they train.

What does ITIL 4 Foundation training cover?

ITIL 4 Foundation training covers the main ideas of IT service management and the practices of a service desk, such as incidents, problems and changes. In Empath, ITIL 4 Foundation - Exam Preparation Training has more than 20 lessons that follow the official course material, and ITIL at the Desk applies six ITIL 4 practices to an MSP desk.

Should my team learn ITIL 4 or ITIL 5?

Take ITIL 4 Foundation if your team has started ITIL 4 certification, and start new learners on ITIL 5 Foundation, the current 2026 syllabus. As of October 2026, the official ITIL site says ITIL Version 5 is being introduced in a phased release and that ITIL 4 remains available. Empath has a course for each and does not award the certification.

What does it take to become an IT service dispatcher?

Empath Learn helps an MSP dispatcher learn ticket triage, SLA application and workload balance. The Foundations of MSP Dispatching covers those skills; Introduction to SLAs for MSPs and Ticket Escalations 101 add detail. Put your own ticket routing rules beside the courses in one pathway, then assign the pathway to a new dispatcher.

What is the best training for a new manager at an MSP?

Empath Learn can start a new MSP service manager with New Supervisor Fundamentals, which covers the move from coworker to leader. Add coaching and delegation courses that fit the role. The Curated Collection has more than 40 leadership and management titles with an AI roleplay and personal feedback on what went well and what to change. Assign a short pathway before expanding it.

Is service manager training included in Empath Learn?

Yes, service manager and IT service dispatch training is included in every Empath Learn seat, on every plan. It covers Empath's own courses, Microsoft Learn and the Curated Collection with its AI roleplays. Live streams and the tools to build your own courses come too. For plan costs, see empathmsp.com/pricing.

How do I assign a pathway to my service team?

A Manager or Content Admin in Empath assigns the pathway to a person or team with a due date, and every course in it is assigned at once. Progress shows on the Learning Progress dashboard. Empath's knowledge base also shows how to run training as a recurring PSA ticket with its own time entry.

Want to See It for Your Service Desk?

Book a demo and we will show you the ITIL 4 Foundation course and the new manager roleplays in Empath Learn. Bring your escalation rules and ask how they would look as a pathway.

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ITIL 4 Foundation Training for MSP Service Teams

Start Here: A Service Manager's First Three Courses