By Ash Patel, Marketing Specialist, The Open Group.
Recently we reached out to Michelle Horrobin, Digital Portfolio Director for The Open Group, to discuss her role, updates within her forum and lots more. Thank you again to Michelle for her time and for giving us an insight into her forum at large. Please see the full interview below:
- Please can you tell us how long you have been in your role and what you enjoy most about it?
I have been with The Open Group for almost two months and the time already seems to have flown by. Everyone from staff to members have been very welcoming and supportive. I love the positive, collaborative, and driven environment. - Are there any new updates within your forum that you can share please?
The upcoming launch of the Portfolio of Digital Open Standards at the Edinburgh 2022 event in October, which also includes the launch of the IT4IT™ Standard V3.0, and of course following on the heels of that is the IT4IT Certification!
It’s such an exciting time and I’m very proud to be a part of this digital transformation journey. - What are you most looking forward to for the year ahead?
I’m looking forward to meeting people in person and cross collaborations on new projects. Developing the strategy and roadmap for the next 12 months and making new connections.
There is also the Digital Platform demo being presented at the Edinburgh event that I’m excited to be a part of and seeing that come to fruition. - Have you got any exciting updates planned within your forum?
Alongside the upcoming new version of the IT4IT Standard and certification there will be the application of the Standard, with taking the use cases further and producing further guidance. As well as the cross-collaboration projects and connections with the portfolio across the Standards within The Open Group, such as the Security and Risk Architecture project in conjunction with the Security forum. - Can you describe your journey with The Open Group so far?
Many virtual meetings! This is the first time I’ve had to get to know a role and company completely remotely (thanks to Covid) and it’s certainly been different. I do love how everyone has taken the time to free up their calendars to share their roles and responsibilities with me. It’s hard to onboard a new staff member remotely – especially with the varying time zones – but the flexibility of everyone has been most appreciated.
- Is there any advice you can give for those looking to start in the industry?
Having a background in IT professional certifications and as a former Head of IT I can safely say it would be never stop learning. I’m always actively looking for new and more efficient ways to do something, asking questions, reading, and most importantly listening. I never expected to follow the career path that I have, but my learning experiences along the way, with working across many sectors and roles, made fundamental shifts in that path and I’m so glad that they did.
Try and help others as much as you can along the way, share experiences and best practice – plus you never know when your paths will cross again! - If you could give advice to your respective self before starting in your role, what would it be?
Actually it would be the same advice I had already been given by my predecessor – take the time to dive into the Standards and the background of The Open Group, to meet everyone with 1-1s, and to ask as many questions as possible! It certainly helped, and I’m glad I took the opportunity to do so.
Ash Patel, Marketing Specialist, joined The Open Group in 2020, initially working in the Certification Team as a Certification Services Agent, before moving into the Marketing Team where he now works on digital communications, content for the staff intranet (O-Zone), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and analytics. Ash holds a First-Class Bachelor’s Degree in Media Production (BA hons) from Coventry University and has a background in content writing, copy writing, script writing, photo editing, and video editing. He is based in the UK.