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  • IT4IT Architect, Logicalis SMC

    Q: How long have you been involved with The Open Group?

    I have been involved within The Open Group for a few years now, from the start of the initiation of the IT4IT™ Forum (and even before that as a result of my work at Shell).

    Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it? 

    I have been working as an IT management architect for the last 10 years, being involved in IT management for over 16 years. IT management is my work day-in day-out, designing IT management processes, tools, integrations, etc. I work in improving IT organizations, implementing new capabilities such as ITSM, service monitoring, cloud provisioning, DevOps, test automation, IT financial management, Multi-vendor sourcing, agile development, and many more. 

    Q: Why did your organization become a member and what does your involvement look like

    I was working as a contractor at Shell to participate in the development of the IT4IT Reference Architecture, so I was involved at an early stage. My involvement has been by using IT4IT as an early adopter, contributor, etc. 

    Q: How has membership in The Open Group benefited you, your organization and the industry at large?

    All IT organizations, or any organization involved in delivery of IT services are benefiting from the work of The Open Group such as TOGAF® and IT4IT. The IT4IT standard provides the structure to explain to organizations what they need to do, to improve the IT function and make it future proof. On the longer term, the IT4IT standard will revolutionize the way we can implement IT management, combining IT services from many different service providers (such as Cloud), but still being in control of costs, risks, etc. 

    Q: What contributions do you hope to bring to The Open Group?

    I hope to bring a few contributions to The Open Group IT4IT Forum:

    1) Participate in the further refinement and continuous improvement of the IT4IT Reference Architecture

    2) Being an enthusiastic evangelist for IT4IT and promoting The Open Group

    3) Promote and sell the IT4IT thinking and vision; and invite more organizations to join.

    4) Helping to deliver a standard that will change the way we plan, source, deliver and run IT.

    Q: Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?

    It is important that the right mix of organizations join The Open Group and the IT4IT forum, being:

    - Organizations consuming / using IT services (with internal IT functions and external eco-system)

    - Service providers providing IT services (e.g. sourcing vendors, cloud vendors)

    - IT management software vendors, vendors developing IT management tools according the IT4IT standard.

    - Consultancy firms implementing IT management 

    We need software vendors to develop IT management solutions supporting the IT4IT vision and standard. We need consumer organizations that implement IT4IT and ask for IT4IT compliant solutions. We need service providers to implement IT4IT as part of their service offerings to achieve plug-and-play IT service integration.

    Q: What are your hobbies?

    I play drums in my garage, have a number of drones to fly and I often repair the bikes of my kids (I got, believe it or not: 5 kids). And IT management is my hobby :)

    Q: What book are you currently reading?

    Currently reading an e-book called "How to Fly a Horse" by Kevin Ashton (the man behind the term "Internet of Things"). This book, I just started, is about the behind-the-scenes process of creativity, invention and great discoveries. 

    Q. What social networks do you belong to?

    I am using different social networks, being LinkedIn, Twitter (if considered Social Network), FaceBook, and a traditional network being my family and friends.

    Q: Any last thoughts?

    We need to fundamentally change the way we approach IT management. IT4IT is providing an opportunity to change the way we manage and operate IT. In the past managing IT was an after-thought, not planned as part of IT service development and operations. We introduce new technologies such as cloud, big data, IoT, etc. however without the right management capabilities we will not reap the benefits! As an industry we need to mature, we need a standard that will enable us to manage the new digital world.

     

    Rob Akershoek is an IT management architect and consultant at Logicalis SMC. For over 20 years, he has been involved in improving IT organizations by designing and implementing integrated processes and tools. He has been working on dozens of projects to implement best practices (such as ITIL and COBIT) and the roll-out of numerous integrated IT management solutions. 

    This included projects related to Enterprise Architecture (EA), Application Portfolio Management (APM), Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Continuous Delivery, Agile and Lean software development, Test Management, Deployment automation, Service Monitoring, IT Service Management (ITSM), Software Asset Management (SAM), IT Financial Management, IT reporting, CMDB and automated discovery. 

    Currently Rob is working as an IT4IT™ architect at Shell responsible for the solution architecture and design of IT management solutions. In this role, Rob has been involved in The Open Group IT4IT Forum from the start and is Chair of the forum.  Rob is also lead author of the management guide, IT4IT™for Managing the Business of IT.