Performance management specialist, Analytix, has signed an agreement with Unisys Africa to offer companies a comprehensive, best practice solution for IT governance covering in-house training and ongoing, hands-on consulting and tools.
Johan Botha, managing director of Analytix, says the agreement arose from a common vision to close the gap that exists between companies` theoretical knowledge and the need for IT governance, and their capability to effectively implement the necessary frameworks and tools.
Analytix is the South African leader in practical training in COBIT, having trained some 400 IT professionals in over 70 organisations since 2001. Among its clients are Eskom, Theba Bank, Unisys, arivia.kom, Liberty Life, Old Mutual, Sasol and Anglo American, as well as a growing list of parastatals such as the SABC, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Correctional Services.
In terms of the agreement, Analytix will team with Unisys to provide customised in-house IT governance and COBIT training, as well as post-implementation auditing.
"We will also be able to add value through our experience and consulting skills in performance management, particularly in respect to articulating and refining IT strategies in a balanced scorecard framework, and the measurement and tracking of key performance indicators related to the IT organisation and processes," adds Botha.
Allan Wattrus, consulting practice director of Global Infrastructure Services (GIS) at Unisys, says Unisys will use its strong service delivery skills and consulting capability to provide hands-on support in the practical implementation of the COBIT framework within the client organisation.
"A Unisys consultant will attend the two-day COBIT in-house training course alongside the students and, from that point, will become `embedded` within the organisation," Wattrus explains.
"He will be responsible for installing the IT process maturity software tool, populating it with company information and driving it to the point where a detailed project plan can be created."
He will also ensure measurement tools are put in place to gauge the ongoing effectiveness of the plan.
"Analytix and Unisys will together provide the client organisation with a quick-start, though meticulous platform to begin its journey towards excellence," he says.
Leveraging its global experience, Unisys will utilise IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world, in combination with accepted project management methodologies and related software, to ensure that customers attain maturity in their IT governance projects.
Unisys` own IT security and implementation framework and IT Security Benchmark and Assessment Tool (BEATO) will also form part of the solution.
Once COBIT has been successfully implemented within the client organisation, the Unisys consultant will visit the company on a monthly basis, working with the client to ensure the project plan is proceeding according to set objectives, to update the information in the model and to monitor user satisfaction levels.
This will be followed a year later by a formal IT audit, conducted by Analytix. "One of the advantages of working in this way is that the client will have two separate, yet specialist organisations, each leveraging their particular expertise to ensure success," notes Wattrus.
He adds that this is also a much more cost-effective solution than employing people internally to perform these functions.
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Analytix is a South African consulting and training firm specialising in the measurement and improvement of organisational and individual performance.
Specialising in performance management solutions, Analytix assists organisations to translate, implement and manage strategy, by linking objectives, initiatives and measures to an organisation`s strategy. Analytix facilitates the review of business processes and internal workflows that focus key employees on a common strategy to assist the organisation to become innovative and strategically focused.
Analytix supports the widely acknowledged balanced scorecard approach. The balanced scorecard provides a well-proven framework for measuring organisational effectiveness and performance in both profit and non-profit organisations.
Analytix is also SA`s most successful practical IT governance and COBIT training provider, with more than 400 IT managers and process owners from over 70 companies having attended its training and facilitation programmes since 2001.
Analytix furthermore assists companies in getting started with their COBIT implementations. This is done through a facilitation process applying COBIT principles and using a tool to select key COBIT objectives, assess IT process maturity, develop projects with corrective actions/activities and report to IT and corporate management in clear business terms, free of IT jargon.
These courses are SETA accredited which means that organisations trained by Analytix will receive considerable tax benefits as well as a portion of what they contribute towards skills development levies.
Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. Unisys Africa Limited aims to identify the changing information needs of its customers, and provide quality solutions and efficient systems which communicate information and add knowledge and value on a sustainable basis, and facilitate the ability of its customers to achieve competitive advantage in their own markets.
Unisys Africa Limited is the sole supplier of products from Unisys Corporation and the accredited distributor for products from other established suppliers.
The company is committed to the evolving open systems standards - a facility which allows computer users freedom of choice from multiple vendors, while maintaining compatibility of applications software and safeguarding investment in development costs.
Due to the philosophy of the Unisys Corporation, Unisys Africa Limited is in a unique position in that it is not restricted by the technology from one particular manufacturer. This gives us the flexibility to derive a solution that matches the requirements of our customers.
COBIT
Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT), first published by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) in 1996, now in its third edition, is fast becoming the most popular and internationally accepted set of guidance materials for IT governance. COBIT, with its strong business orientation, is designed to be an IT governance aid to management, provides clear policy and good practice for IT governance and creates the linkages and necessary alignment between business objectives and IT management tasks
COBIT benefits:
* Guides and assists management in deciding the level of IT risk to accept.
* Provides appropriate control practices for IT, and define IT process best practice.
* Allows IT to conduct a maturity assessment for corporate review.
* Provides a path to follow for continuous improvement of the IT processes.
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