Double Olympics involvement

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Colin Rudd, the new chairman of the IT Service Management Forum (itSMF UK), is looking forward to being involved in the Olympic Games – for the second time in 32 years.

Colin, who took over the chair from Barry Corless last November, has been a part of the IT Service Management industry for 40 years, having started his career on the technical side before progressing into service desks and support desks.

After developing a change management process to control the operation of data centres, he moved into networks and network management, writing his first book on network service management in 1991.

But it was in 1980 that Colin had the opportunity to work on the network at the Moscow Olympics, an experience that he will never forget. A keen athlete who runs 20 to 30 miles a week, he also applied to be a volunteer member of the events team for London 2012, and was delighted to be accepted. “It’s not often you get the chance to be involved in two Olympic Games, 32 years apart!!” he said.

Colin, who has been involved with the itSMF UK since its inception, has some exciting new plans for the organisation which he shared at an itSMF UK educational seminar last month. He believes that although the industry has moved on, the challenges facing service managers today are the same as they always were: delivering quality services, identifying and meeting customer requirements and delivering value for money to customers and business.

Despite these constant themes, however, he believes the way that people work and the type of support they require from a forum like itSMF UK is changing all the time.

A key player in the evolution of ITIL, Colin has been instrumental in helping to move the focus of the industry framework from technology to business requirements. ITIL is now very much focused on delivering value to the business at every stage of the service lifecycle. As Chairman, Colin intends to follow the ITIL example to increase itSMF UK’s value proposition, being acutely aware that, in the current climate, organisations are questioning the value of membership organisations. Rudd continues: “We will be going out and talking to members of itSMF UK and understanding what value they receive. We want to understand how we can work with them to increase the value that the itSMF UK can deliver to our members”.

Colin’s key goal for his time in office is firstly to understand where the organisation is now, and where it wants to be. “I think that we need to be more agile for one, and be able to react more quickly to the marketplace and to the needs of our customers and members. I also want to raise the organisation’s profile during my two-year tenure, to get more recognition and acceptance at the C-Level within organisations”.

For more information about changes to Board of the itSMF UK, please contact or call .