Information technology governance is a subset discipline of corporate governance focused on information technology (IT) systems and their performance and risk management. The rising interest in IT governance is partly due to compliance initiatives, for instance Sarbanes-Oxley in the USA and Basel II in Europe, but more so because of the need for greater accountability for decision-making around the use of IT in the best interest of all stakeholders.
IT capability is directly related to the long term consequences of decisions made by top management. Traditionally, board-level executives deferred key IT decisions to the company's IT professionals. This cannot ensure the best interests of all stakeholders unless deliberate action involves all stakeholders. IT governance systematically involves everyone: board members, executive management, staff and customers. It establishes the framework (see below) used by the organization to establish transparent accountability of individual decisions, and ensures the traceability of decisions to assigned responsibilities.
Read more about Information Technology Governance: Definitions, Background, Problems With IT Governance, Frameworks, Professional Certification
Famous quotes containing the words information technology, information, technology and/or governance:
“As information technology restructures the work situation, it abstracts thought from action.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“The family circle has widened. The worldpool of information fathered by the electric media—movies, Telstar, flight—far surpasses any possible influence mom and dad can now bring to bear. Character no longer is shaped by only two earnest, fumbling experts. Now all the world’s a sage.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“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)