IT Winners is an independent consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa and the UK, provided by Gary Hardy, an expert in IT risk management with 30 years experience in the IT industry. Gary has held Director level positions with Deloitte & Touche, Zergo and Arthur Andersen, and has been involved for many years in furthering IT risk management methods and approaches. Gary is also a long term member of ISACA and is one of the founding members of the CobiT® Steering Committee and development team.  Gary is also currently an Advisor to the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) and Deloitte South Africa.

IT Winners specialise in IT risk management - but with a difference. IT Winners' goals are increasing the value and performance of IT, and improving the interface between IT and the business. We don't believe in prolonged analysis of project failure, operational weakness or poor IT controls. By taking a practical and positive approach to the challenges of IT delivery, IT Winners is able to help organisations avoid unnecessary risks and failures, improve the quality of service to users, improve efficiency and lower costs. Using business-oriented terminology and metrics, we also help improve the teamwork, communication and overall transparency of the IT function. The benefits are management buy-in and trust, confidence in the IT management team, and alignment of IT with real business needs.

IT is more and more significant and vital for business success. IT accounts for a very significant proportion of an organisation's costs, is mission critical for key business functions, and is the most likely tool for increasing competitive advantage - but because IT is complex to manage most organisations fail to get a good return from their IT investments. IT functions spend most of their time fire-fighting and struggling to deliver new projects in ever-tighter timeframes. They rarely have the time or objectivity to take a look at their own organisation, reassess their own internal processes and technology or focus on how they could better communicate with the business.

This is where IT Winners help - creating quick wins from our assignments, and helping organisations win with their IT initiatives so there is a sustainable IT value contribution.

To achieve this we try to follow five simple but powerful principles:

· Follow the 80/20 rule - do the simple things first
· Don't re-invent wheels - follow best practices
· Be pragmatic and practical - avoid trying to be technically too smart
· Make sure IT and the business users are talking the same language
· Simplify and Standardise wherever possible