Real IRM
Integrating Resources through Enterprise Architecture

In an exclusive interview with CIO Review, Stuart Macgregor, the CEO of Real IRM discusses the way Real IRM is furthering the Enterprise Architecture profession:

Even the most competent of organizations tend to face market competition. What are Real IRM’s key differentiating factors?
At Real IRM, we aim to provide the best EA service offering in the market. We believe that EA is a vital business discipline that acts as the ‘lynchpin’ between corporate governance and IT governance. In this context, EA should:

• Support stakeholders in their quest to drive organizational transformation -to maximize value, minimize risk and optimize resource allocation.
• Help business leaders to visualize and create a shared understanding of how the organization’s various elements interrelate.
• Become a strategic business capability to manage complexity and change.
• Transform yesterday’s enterprise applications and processes (often fragmented, legacy systems) into an optimized environment that fosters agile and innovative delivery of business strategy.

To achieve these goals with our clients, we strongly emphasize that the EA practice needs to be run as if it were a business in its own right–so that it is positioned to evolve in scope and relevance, and add increasing value to the enterprise.Like any business, it must have a clearly-defined solution offering and a very good understanding of the ‘customer’ (the key business and IT stakeholders throughout the organization).

This principle–which runs like a golden thread through the entire ambit of people, tools, process, content, products and services–is fundamental to successful EA.

Can you give us a detailed view on Real IRM’s flagship products/services, which facilitate organization’s transition to an integrated environment with optimized processes?

On the education side of our business, we work with organizations needing to develop internal EA competency and with individuals wanting to become practicing enterprise architects.

Our courses cover every aspect of EA–including frameworks, techniques, tools and people. In addition, we are an Open Group accredited training provider and offer certifications in TOGAF®, ArchiMate® and Open FAIR®.

Our professional services and EA Practice divisions assess the state of enterprise architecture in the client environment, and work collaboratively to initiate, standardize, stabilize, optimize or reignite the client’s EA function.

We take a long-term/partnership approach, and remain closely involved throughout every phase of planning, building, running an EA practice, and ensuring the necessary change leadership is embedded within the organization. In this way, we act in a permanent advisory capacity, helping the client grow their EA capability, tackle new problems that come along, and ultimately achieve the transformative results that EA promises.

Talking about the company’s roadmap, where do you see Real IRM few years down the line?
Our intent is to continue driving the professionalization of EA, and to retain our market leadership position–particularly in the African region.

We are becoming increasingly involved in redefining the architectures for central banks in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In this regard, we’re contributing to the up-skilling of individuals, improving efficiencies and service delivery for governments, and the financial sector.

As its local representative, Real IRM is also promoting and evangelizing The Open Group in Africa; so we’re focused on exposing EA best-practice in collaborative environment–allowing for the boundary less flow of information to solve business challenges and social challenges. Within The Open Group we have established the EMMM Forum which deals with transformation in the mining and minerals sector.