| By Serge Thorn |
Article Rating: |
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| January 31, 2008 08:00 AM EST |
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7,850 |
Governance is currently a key topic for many IT functions.
Its definition varies, but its key themes are true for all companies:
effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability. Business value and risk mitigation
are also at its center and represent a significant part of enterprise
governance overall. Due to the horizontal nature of IT, where almost everyone
in the enterprise uses IT assets to complete their responsibilities, the impact
of effective IT governance is quite visible throughout an organization.
IT governance defines a structure of relationships,
processes, and measurements to direct and control IT assets (e.g., people,
finance, infrastructure) to achieve the enterprise’s goals by adding value
while balancing risk with return. It helps to define roles and responsibilities
and specify an accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in IT
and accountability for using IT assets. IT governance also helps to standardize
best practices and define monitoring methods.
Among the various components of an IT governance framework, service
management and enterprise architecture (EA) are key techniques used to reach a
high level of quality and excellence through continuous improvement.
Service Management
For many years, service management and the IT Infrastructure
Library (ITIL) have been the drivers for improving the quality of services for
end users. Many companies’ IT functions deployed the ITIL v2 processes covering both service support and service delivery.
The purpose was to:
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Increase customer satisfaction with IT
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Enhance communication with clients
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Achieve higher reliability in mission-critical systems and infrastructure
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Improve the cost benefit of services
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Create “common sense” among staff
Many people have recently jumped on the ITIL bandwagon. All
software and IT consulting companies claim to have mastered service management.
ITIL is now a given and every single IT data center is now embracing the
framework that has become an IT governance pillar.
But how can we achieve so-called IT/business alignment if service management contributes but isn’t as visible, despite what the IT industry claims?
Serge Thorn is currently developing and delivering new Enterprise Architecture consultancy and training services, implementing Governance and managing IT Operations.
Before he was in charge of International Governance and Control, implementing different best practices around IT Finance/Procurement, Audit/Risk management, Vendors Management (with Service Level Management) in a Bank.
Previously Serge worked in a Pharma in charge of the Enterprise Architecture worldwide program and Governance, the IT Research & Innovation, following the reorganization of the IT Department, implementing Service Management based on ITIL Best Practices and deploying new processes: Change, Configuration, Release, and Capacity/Availability Management, responsible for the Disaster Recovery Plan and for the System Management team.
Prior to this, he was responsible for the Architecture team in an international bank, and has wide experience in the deployment and management of information systems in Private Banking and Wealth Management environments, and also in the IT architectures domains, Internet, dealing rooms, inter-banking networks, Middle and Back-office. He also has been into ERP and CRM domains.
Serge's main competencies cover the perfect understanding of banking activities, and industry, the design of new systems, IT strategies, IT Governance and Control, Innovation, new technologies, Enterprise Architecture (including BPM and TOGAF 9), Service Management (ITIL V 3), Quality System ISO 9001:2000, team management, project and portfolio management (PMI), IT Finance, organization and planning.
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