Our history

Founded in 2002, IT Governance Ltd started as an e-commerce business offering just a few books and documentation toolkits on information security. Since then, the company has grown to become a global provider of comprehensive solutions and a recognised authority on ISO 27001 certification.

IT Governance was founded by Alan Calder, who is its executive chairman. The company's early days were defined by the demand for expertise in implementing ISMSs (information security management systems) – which was still a relatively new field at the time. In fact, Alan and his fellow director, Steve Watkins, were the first people in the UK to successfully implement an ISMS compliant with BS 7799 (the precursor to ISO 27001).

Based on their experience, Alan Calder and Steve Watkins co-wrote and published IT Governance: An International Guide to Data Security and ISO27001/ISO27002 (now in its seventh edition), the definitive compliance guide to the ISO 27001 standard. Today, this book is the basis for the Open University's postgraduate course on information security.

With cyber security becoming a top business priority, and the increasing demand for specialist services, IT Governance has been growing rapidly. The company has considerably expanded its portfolio of products and services over the past few years, while also deploying technology to innovate its offerings and enable the delivery of its solutions globally.