What is IT Governance?

I am planning to start a series of posts here that will enable me to get motivated on compiling and collating my thoughts on IT Governance from my dissertation research. It will also be an avenue to compile a body of knowledge in terms of maturity models and add vignette's and thoughts of industry experts, leaders, practitioners and the academic, blend and see what unique perspectives emerge. Who knows I may invite other writers in the field to contribute and see where it goes...

So to start off, What is IT Governance? 

IT Governance is an integral part of Corporate Governance a direct responsibility of the the board of directors and the executive management of the company. It is an integral strategic component of the corporate governance model  that consists of:

1. Leadership
2. Organizational Structure and finally
3. The processes that define within those structures

All these ensure that the organization's information technology and technology in general sustains and extends the organizations's strategies and objectives.

The traditional roles of IT being support function is disappearing as technology becomes vital component in the delivery of services and products but at the same time technology is also the component that keeps running the systems and processes of the organization. Hence the role of the CIO's and IT Director's is thus becoming more than technology experts but have the inherent need to understand business and its reach so as to marry the two for effective partnership to deliver the objectives of the senior management. The ideal candidates for Governance  position have to have the unique ability to add value to the overall services & offerings of the business, assess & mitigate risks, and be involved in the optimization of business processes through the use of cost effective technology solutions.

Having known this what is the role of the executive management?

These can be summarized as follows:

1. Comply with corporate governance recommendations.
2. Be driven by stakeholder expectation/perception of value
3. Adopt a suitable IT Governance framework and empower the individual over IT
4. Ask the Right questions
5. Focus on Technology alignment to business, partners, delivery of services and the management of risk.
6. Finally Measure performance in building capability and achieve goals.

Thoughts For The Day,

Sam Kurien