Problems With IT Governance
Is IT governance different from IT management and IT controls? The problem with IT governance is that often it is confused with good management practices and IT control frameworks. ISO 38500 has helped clarify IT governance by describing it as the management system used by directors. In other words, IT governance is about the stewardship of IT resources on behalf of the stakeholders who expect a return from their investment. The directors responsible for this stewardship will look to the management to implement the necessary systems and IT controls. Whilst managing risk and ensuring compliance are essential components of good governance, it is more important to be focused on delivering value and measuring performance.
Less than a quarter of all enterprises have adopted any major IT governance standard despite the potential benefits to performance and profitability. While different companies have different reasons, the failure is often a reflection of the belief that IT governance standards are too expensive to implement, that they don’t reflect reality, or that it is unnecessary if they have already reached compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and other standards. However, the benefits that can be achieved by following the best practices should outweigh these perceived issues.
Read more about this topic: Corporate Governance Of Information Technology
Famous quotes containing the words problems with, problems and/or governance:
“I conceive that the leading characteristic of the nineteenth century has been the rapid growth of the scientific spirit, the consequent application of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems with which the human mind is occupied, and the correlative rejection of traditional beliefs which have proved their incompetence to bear such investigation.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Belonging to a group can provide the child with a variety of resources that an individual friendship often cannot—a sense of collective participation, experience with organizational roles, and group support in the enterprise of growing up. Groups also pose for the child some of the most acute problems of social life—of inclusion and exclusion, conformity and independence.”
—Zick Rubin (20th century)
“He yaf me al the bridel in myn hand,
To han the governance of hous and land,
And of his tonge and his hand also;”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)