ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT The Truth About IT Governance Defined properly and executed right, this business/IT strategy can help redefine your enterprise it governance. It’s one of those concepts that everyone is talking about. Indeed, many technology vendors and consultants have latched on to IT governance as the hot new sales category. Yet, based on the range of products and services being sold, a variety of IT Governance definitions have emerged, creating confusion in the market. So, where can business and IT leaders turn for a single, comprehensive definition of one of today’s key enterprise initiatives? Leading analysts are stressing the use of a new three pillar IT governance framework, based on work by the IT Governance Institute* (ITGI), emerging industry standards, customer best practices and thought leaders. This framework emphasizes the importance of ensuring that IT supports business goals, optimizes business investment in technology and appropriately manages IT-related risks and opportunities. Among CIOs and IT leaders, the three pillar model and its corresponding IT governance maturity model is rapidly gaining momentum, as it finally offers a clear route out of the endless cycle of spending, stretching, patching and paying that their organizations have struggled with for far too long. With this definition of IT governance, IT executives can finally gain an understanding of the value their technology investments will provide, as well as a clear means to link their investments to business needs and goals. With increasing pressure from executive teams and boards of directors, IT organizations can’t afford to rely on theories – they need governance that works. Framework for IT Governance PLAN Enterprise Architecture Planning MANAGE Service Alignment IT Transformation BUILD Portfolio Rationalization ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT The Three-Part Governance Framework The emerging IT Governance framework is applicable for any organization seeking to seize the benefits offered by this comprehensive, forward-looking approach to IT. The framework consists of three major components, which incorporates the “plan/build/manage” lifecycle, and enables IT transformation through an ongoing feedback loop connecting the three elements. The Three Pillars are: enterprise architecture planning, which focuses on: • Enteprise architecture modeling and management • Strategic IT planning and roadmapping • Standards management portfolio rationalization, which focuses on: • Application and infrastructure rationalization • Project-portfolio analysis • Merger and acquisition/ operational integration service alignment, which focuses on: • Service-delivery management • Business-relationship management • Vendor and outsourcer management • IT financial management • Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory compliance issues • Business-continuity planning Once IT leaders understand these three pillars, they typically gain a better understanding of why IT governance THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GOVERNANCE INSTITUTE The ITGI was established in 1998 to advance international thinking and standards in directing and controlling enterprise information technology. Based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, the Institute o�ers events, research and electronic resources designed to help enterprise leaders understand and have the tools to ensure e�ective IT governance. For more information, please visit www. itgi.org. META Group Sees Critical Role for IT Governance “To the CIO, IT governance means organizational structures, decisionmaking processes and an information foundation for driving controls across the enterprise,” says Val Sribar, an analyst for Stamford, Conn.based Meta Group. A major step toward IT governance is “the development of an information foundation upon which critical asset, financial, and compliance decisions can be confidently made,” Sribar adds. “Visibility into both the business and technology architectures is critical for growing and managing the enterprise.” Fortunately, there’s help for IT Bottom line: Good executives with governance goals: IT governance is a “Vendors like Troux have emerged to key to organizational fill the gap between governance prosuccess. cesses and IT operations,” Sribar says. matters – and which solutions can best help them achieve their governance goals. Typical vendors, for example, in the area of project portfolio management (PPM) or systems management, only address a portion of the overall framework. There is an emerging need for a comprehensive solution to the overall IT governance problem. Introducing Troux Technologies Troux is the only company that provides a complete IT governance system that links process and workflow automation, automated policy management, and the robust information foundation required for effective IT governance across the lifecycle. To solve the most challenging IT governance issues CIOs face today, Troux’s solutions leverage this foundation and across three domain areas: enterprise architecture: Enables Enterprise Architects to fully model the desired future state architecture, and provides the capabilities to create and manage standards and roadmaps aligned with this architecture. portfolio rationalization: Provides IT executives the visibility and tools needed to ensure application, infrastructure, service and project portfolios are aligned with the business and optimized for cost. service management: Enables IT organizations to automate the definition and management of business services, and ensures that critical performance, compliance and business continuity objectives are met. With each of its solutions, Troux brings deep domain expertise, best practices and maturity models needed to help CIOs and IT executives make IT governance a reality Conclusion Just as IT governance has come to the forefront of the CIO agenda, executives have found that a standard set of best practices and approaches haven’t been defined – until now. Troux Technologies provides the solutions and best practices required for CIOs and IT executives to effectively govern the planning, building and management of their IT operations. For more information on Troux’s breakthrough products and solutions for IT governance, please go to www.troux. com. An Invitation From Architecture & Governance Recently, Troux launched Architecture & Governance, a new magazine dedicated to the smart, rational and cost-e�cient use of IT resources to achieve corporate business objectives. If you are interested in learning more about IT governance, emerging best practices and tools and techniques that can truly change the way you do business, visit www.architectureandgovernance.com for details on our free subscription o�er.
