We’d like to thank all 28 teams for taking the time to participate in our inaugural itSMF UK Challenge Cup competition – we’ve had a brilliant time facilitating the heats and have been delighted with the feedback received.
Each team, with a maximum of 4 players per team, competed against other member organisations by playing the RUN-IT simulation from SXP. The essence of the RUN-IT simulation was for each team to run the IT services for an airline, ‘Global Air’. Although fictitious, the Global Air business model is based on a real airline and the strategies and their impacts in the simulation are based on industry researched and recognised metrics, adding to the realism of the experience.
Henry and Jason from SXP said that they were really impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm given by all the teams throughout a very intense experience, and everyone should be very pleased with how they performed; the high scores and very close competition across all the heats were testament to the calibre of the teams that entered. Furthermore, they were delighted with the learning takeaways, which showed that there was more to the event than just points.
Alongside the learning experience, there was of course a competitive element and we’re delighted to announce the organisation with the top score, and winner of the 2023 Challenge Cup, is:

Upon hearing the news, Team Captain Holly Chapman commented, “The challenge cup offered a great opportunity to bond as a newly formed team and to envisage IT decisions and the impact they have on the business. It was a real eye-opener and good reference point for some of the IT business change that we are currently trying to achieve. Thank you to itSMF UK for a great initiative that really demonstrates the value of membership.”
Holly and the team were presented with their trophy at the PSMA23 awards dinner in November by Awards Special Guest Troy Hawke and itSMF UK General Manager Graham McDonald – accompanied by Henry Strouts & Jason McClay from SXP. Holly and the team decided to split the £1,000 charity donation across three very worthy causes:
The British Heart Foundation (in memory of John Chapman)
Kent PACT
MSF Médecins Sans Frontières

We’ve received amazing feedback from this year’s participants and so will be repeating the Challenge Cup next year – watch this space for the 2024 announcement! If you can’t wait that long, and would like to have a dedicated delivery of the RUN-IT simulation for your organisation, please contact us to discuss your requirements and pricing etc.
Tracking the performance of the top 3 teams – so close!

itSMF UK
itSMF UK is the country’s leading membership association for service management professionals – with members ranging from individual service management practitioners to large multi-national organisations.
We have spent the last three decades helping ITSM professionals both to be better and to do better. As the first of an international network of itSMF chapters, we continue to enrich the working lives of our members through our conference and events, professional guidance, focused content, annual awards, competency management, leadership council, member groups, and new communities of practice.
View our membership video or visit us at www.itsmf.co.uk