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The IT Governance Evangelist

Passionate advocacy for improving IT Governance processes

Who owns IT Governance, the Business or IT?

 

Is IT Governance primarily a function of the business, or a function of IT?

 

Many organizations are misled by the label. Sure, IT enables IT Governance, but the ITG discipline is a means for the business to govern IT, to ensure IT is aligned, delivering value and appropriately managing risk, resources and performance. The business must govern IT just as it must govern every other important business function, such as Finance or Human Resources.

 

Recently I received affirmation that some organizations are coming around to this way of thinking.

 

During a trip to Australia, I spent five days in three cities as the featured speaker in a seminar series entitled "Critical Components of Effective Project Management Offices (PMOs)". While there, I visited with several organizations to discuss their IT Governance challenges.

 

My very first meeting was with an IT leader from one of the government agencies located in Sydney. He wanted to meet with me to obtain a greater understanding of IT Governance. As he introduced me to his four colleagues, I was amazed to find that not one of them was from IT! They were all from the "business side" of the organization!

 

This IT leader recognized the role of the business as a partner--if not leader--of IT Governance in their organization. He was hosting this discussion to provide his peers with critical insight into their IT Governance roles and responsibilities. We had a great meeting and they are now eager to work together to achieve the enterprise-wide goals of IT Governance.

 

As I continue my travels evangelizing IT Governance, I expect the overwhelming majority of my audience will be members of IT. I look forward to the day when they are outnumbered by the real owners of IT Governance--the business partners IT serves.

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About Steve Romero

Steve Romero is the IT Governance Evangelist at CA, Inc. In this capacity, Romero acts as a strong advocate for the customer, speaking around the world to users, prospective customers, industry organizations and IT luminaries to identify and communicate IT governance best practices. His mission is to help IT organizations improve the effectiveness of their initiatives and their engagement with internal customers. Romero’s areas of focus include developing ITG processes, improving ITG maturity, optimizing IT portfolio decisions, aligning IT with the corporate strategy and maximizing IT’s return on investment. Romero is an innovative, passionate IT professional with over 30 years experience working in almost every area of IT. For the past 10 years his career has focused on helping large enterprises run their IT departments like a business. Steve is a recognized expert in IT Governance, IT program and project management and business process management. He is a Certified Project Management Professional, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, ITIL Foundation Certified, a Certified Process Master, and a Certified Computer Professional. Romero’s extensive technical and IT leadership background started in the US Navy before joining Pacific Bell where he founded numerous ground-breaking governance processes. He then joined Pacific Technology Consulting to create, launch and lead their IT project management consulting practice. Romero worked at Charles Schwab and the California State Automobile Association as an IT Director where he resumed leading the establishment of formal process management and IT Governance processes. Romero is a member of the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a San Francisco Chapter committee member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), and the President of the Information Technology Service Management Forum (itSMF) San Francisco Local Interest Group. He is a Board Member for the Center for Electronic Business at San Francisco State University and is a regular guest speaker in their Masters Program. Romero attended the University of LaVerne, graduation cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.
 
 
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