Armed Forces Covenant

By signing the Covenant, our organisation agrees to help ensure that those who serve or have served are treated fairly and not disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives. Specifically, itSMF UK will be:

• Promoting the Armed Forces Covenant, the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme, and our support for the Armed Forces Community to our staff, members, partners, and the wider public.
• Offering a discounted ‘individual’ membership fee for members of the Armed Forces Community looking to develop a career in, or simply learn more about, IT Service Management (please contact the office for the discount code).
• Creating a dedicated Defence Community of Practice (CoP) for members with an Armed Forces connection will provide the opportunity to network, support one another, and attend focused events with guest presenters (online and in-person).

Many of those who leave the Armed Forces move into a career in service management, and the technical and leadership skills developed in the Services can be particularly valuable to organisations with a service management function. Despite this synergy, it’s not always easy for Service personnel to transition to a civilian role, and itSMF UK is committed to doing all we can to assist them.

This initiative is the brainchild of itSMF UK member Cristan Massey, cinch lead service delivery manager and an Army reservist. Until recently Cristan chaired our Design & Transition Community of Practice and has taken on the task of getting the Armed Forces CoP off the ground; he will be reaching out to other service personnel within the membership and devising ways to attract others with a military background to our community Cristan is supported in this role by itSMF UK Board Member Valerie Wilson of BT, an ex-reservist and keen supporter of the Covenant who is actively involved in helping former military colleagues to find a new career in ITSM.

The story of how Val and Cristan made the transition from the Armed Forces to service management can be found here. If you’re interested in finding out more about the new CoP, please get in touch with [email protected].