Certification Magazine - February 2008 - (Page 24) INSIDE CERTIFICATION ISACA’s New CGEIT Credential Meets Business Demands for IT Governance JOHN LAINHART The need for compliance, business and IT alignment, a better return on IT investments, stronger security, privacy and risk management, and more successful project execution are all driving executives to place a high priority on IT governance. IT involves huge costs and significant risks, but it also offers tremendous value to the business and is critical to an organization’s survival. Companies rely on IT for competitive advantage and are increasingly viewing IT governance as a key component of enterprise governance. To support the growing business demands related to IT governance, promote good IT governance practices and recognize skilled IT governance professionals, ISACA has developed a new certification: Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT). The international nonprofit association serves more than 65,000 IT governance, assurance and security professionals, and established the designation after realizing the need for a credential in the IT governance profession. “IT has become vital to the achievement of enterprise goals and delivery of benefits, and executives have realized that enterprise governance must be extended to IT as well,” said Howard Nicholson, chair of the CGEIT Certification Board. “ISACA performed extensive research and determined that there is a sound business need for a certification that recognizes expertise in the field of IT governance and helps enterprises identify and hire professionals who have IT governance knowledge and experience.” Supported by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) and built on ITGI’s intellectual property and input from subject-matter experts from around the world, the CGEIT designation is designed for professionals who have a significant management, advisory or assurance role relating to the governance of IT. The credential focuses on the five areas of IT governance: • Strategic alignment: Ensuring the link between business and IT plans; defining, maintaining and validating the IT value proposition; aligning IT operations with enterprise operations; and establishing collaborative solutions to add value and competitive advantage and contain costs while improving efficiency. • Value delivery: Executing the value proposition throughout the delivery cycle; ensuring that IT delivers the promised benefits against the strategy; concentrating on optimizing expenses and proving the value of IT; and controlling projects and operational processes with practices that increase the probability of success. • Risk management: Ensuring risk awareness of senior corporate officers, a clear understanding of the enterprise’s appetite for risk, and transparency about the significant risks to the enterprise; establishing risk management responsibilities in the operation of the enterprise; and addressing the safeguarding of IT assets, disaster recovery and business continuity. • Resource management: Optimizing the investment, use and allocation of IT resources and capabilities (people, applications, technology, facilities, data) in servicing the enterprise’s needs, and maximizing the efficiency of these assets. • Performance measurement: Tracking project delivery and monitoring IT services using balanced scorecards that translate strategy into action, and measuring the relationships and knowledge-based assets necessary to compete in the information age. 24 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE February 2008
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