Q: How long have you been involved with The Open Group?
Since 2006 our company showed interest for The Open Group and I’ve been involved in our actions regarding The Open Group since then

Q: Why did you become a member and what does your involvement look like?

Our company Getronics and especially our part Getronics Consulting have always had an interest in developing and spreading standards for IT management. We believe that standards are necessary to support organizations (people,processes and technology) to interact with each other. Unnecessary to mention that the boundarieless information view of The Open Group attracted us.

We’ve been members since 2007 and our representatives have been involved in different working groups since then. 

Q: How has membership in The Open Group benefited you, your organization and the industry at large?

We support the ideas of the open group and try to involve as many colleagues and customers to do the same. Sharing the same language helps us to explain how our services and solutions can support our customers. In networked organizations standardization helps them to interact and the more our society develops the more we see a growing need for interaction.

Q: What contributions to The Open Group are you most proud of?

Until now we are proud that we helped writing books and whitepapers for The Open Group.

Q: Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?

In a world where everything is linked to everything standardization plays an important role. The more members The Open Group has the more organizations can get involved in developing these standards and use them. With that we will all support the development of the Boundaryless Information Flow™.

Q: What are your hobbies?

I like to make things. That can go as far from making good food to rebuilding parts of my house, after all I was educated as a building engineer: architect. We like to create.

Q: What book are you currently reading?

Symmetry | Marcus Du Sautoy: A Journey Into the Patterns of Nature

About Tom Van Sante

Biography: Tom van Sante is Program Director and Principal Consultant / Enterprise Architect for Getronics. He started his career in IT over 30 years ago after studying Engineering/Architecture. Working in a variety of functions, from operation to management, he has always operated on the borders between business and IT. He was involved in the introduction and development of IT standards like ITIL in the Netherlands. Tom van Sante has worked in numerous appointments for lots of different organizations where he advised on the use of IT in modern society. He was responsible for the introduction and development of TOGAF® within Getronics. Tom is co-writer of the TOGAF Pocket Guides and author of a number of other publications on IT standards and Architecture.