Specialist training and consultancy firm, Analytix, has announced its international licensing as a provider of the TOGAF Standard Courseware 8.1.1 Edition.
This statement follows confirmation from The Open Group of Analytix's compliance with the TOGAF 8.1.1 Training Standard Courseware.
Analytix offers this course in association with Letsema Consulting.
In a recent interview with subject-matter expert and TOGAF certified trainer, Michael Pateras, he outlined the importance of TOGAF and the implications of this internationally recognised certification:
Q: Michael, what are the factors driving the need for implementing an enterprise architecture framework in an organisation?
A: In order for businesses to be more competitive, they need to be able to react to changes in their environment instantly, and for this to happen, they have to have the right information at the right time. Unfortunately, this information is normally spread across multiple disparate applications and platforms, resulting in low levels of information integration.
Enterprise architecture is about aligning the business with the information technology environment resulting in organisations being able to make informed decisions.
Q: In your opinion, how mature is the South African market in terms of adopting and implementing enterprise architecture in the public and private sectors respectively?
A: The South African market, although immature, has now realised the benefits of adopting enterprise architecture and as a result has experienced considerable growth in recent years.
Q: What constitutes a good enterprise architect?
A: A good enterprise architect should always align the businesses needs, vision, goals and long-term strategies with the enterprise architecture effort and should also be able to grow the maturity of enterprise architecture within an organisation. Finally, they should realise the importance of governance and ensure that what they are creating will be sustainable.
Q: What impact would The Open Group's globally accepted TOGAF certification have on an individual's performance and his/her career potential?
A: TOGAF is an exceptionally well-rounded framework that will help individuals understand the business as well as the IT environment. It will definitely help individuals to develop the necessary skills to walk into any environment and be confident in what they are doing in terms of analysing and documenting business/IT problems and needs and identifying areas of improvement. This is a skill that all organisations could use.
Q: What is the current demand for skilled and certified enterprise architects in South Africa?
A: There is definitely a skills shortage and a very high demand for individuals within the enterprise architecture space and becoming TOGAF certified will make you that much more marketable.
Q: What do you feel the key benefits are for a business in employing TOGAF-certified enterprise architects, or to provide existing enterprise architects with opportunities to become TOGAF certified?
A: Enterprise architects have the ability to fit into a business environment while also being able to play a role in the information systems/technology environment and vice versa. Employing someone that is TOGAF certified means that you are employing someone with the ability to 'problem solve'/analyse needs and identify opportunities that will benefit the organisation. Becoming TOGAF-certified also registers you as a member of The Open Group and enables you to take advantage of the membership benefits, such as working together with other members to problem solve situations that you may be having difficulty with, participate in EA conferences around the world, etc...
Q: From an individual's perspective, who will benefit from TOGAF certification?
A:* IT architects considering undertaking, or planning to exploit TOGAF for enterprise architecture projects
* Senior managers who need an understanding of TOGAF and enterprise architecture. Architecture tools designers who need an understanding of TOGAF.
* Those wishing to become TOGAF-certified.
Q: Will successful delegates obtain CISA/CISM CPE Credits for attending this course?
A: Yes. The Analytix TOGAF training course is directly applicable to the assessment of information systems or the improvement of audit, control, security or managerial skills to ensure a proper balance of professional development is attained. As such, this training falls under ISACA definition "workshops, and professional meetings and related activities not sponsored by ISACA". Fourteen (14) Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours are earned by attending this course.
Q: What are the dates for and where will the next Analytix TOGAF course take place?
A: The next TOGAF 8.1.1 course will take place 11 - 14 August 2008 at Analytix's premises in Illovo, Sandton.
For more information on, or to register for, the TOGAF Version 8.1.1 Training Course or other courses, please contact Analytix Customer Service on 011 215 2480, e-mail info@analytix.co.za or visit www.analytix.co.za.
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Analytix is a training and consultancy firm that assists organisations to understand, implement and comply with industry best practice standards and frameworks that lead to sustained process and business improvement. Its services are underpinned by internationally accepted IT management practices based on a range of de facto industry frameworks and standards including COSO, CobiT, ISO 27001, BS 25999, TOGAF, ISO 20000, ITIL and the Balanced Scorecard.
Letsema Consulting
Analytix teamed up with Letsema Consulting in delivering joint enterprise architecture training and consulting.
The Letsema Enterprise Architecture philosophy is to enable sustainable change within organisations, through first understanding the process before trying to simplify and then automate it. Through this philosophy, Letsema is able to provide organisations with strategic information management, consulting and implementation services that results in real operational improvements.
TOGAF
TOGAF, The Open Group Architecture Framework, is an industry-standard architecture framework that may be used freely by any organisation wishing to develop an information systems architecture for use within that organisation.
TOGAF has been developed and continuously evolved since the mid-90s by representatives of some of the world's leading IT customer and vendor organisations, working in The Open Group's Architecture Forum. Details of the Forum, and its plans for evolving TOGAF in the current year, are given on the Architecture Forum Web site, www.opengroup.org.
The Open Group
The Open Group is a vendor- and technology-neutral consortium, whose vision of Boundaryless Information Flow will enable access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global interoperability. The Open Group operates as a not-for-profit organisation, with more than 20 year of experience in the field. It has more than 300 member organisations, with over 6 000 participants in The Open Group activities from 19 countries.
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