Over the last three years, Atos Origin has built its own Olympic team from people with different skills, from different countries and different parts of the global organization. Combined with the time pressure everyone is under, this makes for an intense and exciting working environment at Torino.

Dedicated Experts

By late 2005, the permanent team of 102 Atos Origin Olympic experts was complete. By the time of the Games, the team managed by Atos Origin will be over 1500 people.

First in line to join the Torino team was a dedicated team of experts that travels around the world from one Olympic venue to the next. Among this group is Claude Philipps, Torino 2006 Winter Olympics Program Director, Major Events & Olympics, for whom this is the fourth Olympic Games. He left Athens for Torino the day after the 2004 Summer Olympics finished, and has been there ever since.

Joining the hard core of Olympics experts are the 60% of the team who were locally recruited, many of them from the Atos Origin offices in nearby Pont Saint Martin. “Every Olympic Games is a snapshot of the cultural environment of the country where it is held. Our teams have a strong local flavor, so there is a different environment every time,” says Claude.

From December onwards, more people started to descend on Torino: interns from universities, Atos Origin volunteers who have used their vacations to go to work in Torino, and more employees from Atos Origin’s Major Events Unit, deployed from Barcelona and Beijing.

Calm under pressure

With everything mapped out in advance, Claude says there has been no opportunity for panic to take over. "Everyone is working extremely hard. The roadmap is solid: we are using the same steps as we used in previous Olympic Games such as Salt Lake City and Athens,” he says. “We take it week by week, one step at a time."

Part of the challenge has been to create a cohesive Olympic team. "At the Athens Olympics, we had to manage a diverse team composed of 44 different nationalities, and create a sense of unity," says Patrick Adiba, Executive Vice-President, Major Events & Olympics. "This started with simple steps such as establishing English as the common language. Physically being in the same location was also important." The heart of the IT operations for Torino is the Main Technology Center. Although some of the Atos Origin employees are spread out across 28 different competition and non-competitive Olympic venues, the center is the base for the entire team.

“We also ensured that the logistics were carefully managed so that everyone got the right support on arrival – they understood what they were doing and how they fitted into the Olympic project,” explains Patrick. "The whole environment was directed at creating a team spirit."

Apart from the core Olympics Major Events team, few of the Torino team have prior experience of working at the Olympics and training is essential, especially in the key processes of knowledge transfer and capture. "Hundreds of volunteers are arriving in the final weeks before the games, and we have designed special 30-hour e-learning programs to allow them to do their homework before they set out for Torino," says Claude. "That way, everyone is up to speed before they arrive. We have no spare time in Torino!"