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Corporate and IT Governance

Governance is about focusing on those activities that have an impact on achieving the organization’s strategic goals. It is about holding people accountable for achieving the strategic goals, directing and controlling key activities, ensuring that the performance expected by the business is delivered. People accountable for good governance are responsible for making the changes necessary to deliver the performance expected by the business.

IT Governance is the responsibility of the board and an integral part of corporate governance. Information Technology Governance is a subset area of Corporate Governance. It focuses specifically on information technology systems, their performance and risk management. The widespread nature of information technology, its importance as part of the business strategy and the significant additional risks it introduces, make the governance of IT important.

Information technology can consume considerable resources with little real value being created. Few organisations have not experienced the disappointment of a failed IT project or the dissatisfaction from poorly delivered services and support. Still many organisations are familiar with the ever increasing cost of information technology not being match with ever more effective IT solutions. Equally true is the tremendous impact information technology has had in enabling businesses to grow, reduce costs and improve importance.

Therefore the board should be responsible for IT governance. It is expected that through effective and responsible leadership information, technology will be used to sustain and extend the company’s business strategy and corporate objectives. IT Governance is about the effective and efficient management of IT resources  facilitating the achievement of corporate objectives.

The primary goals of IT Governance are to assure the investments in IT generate business value and to mitigate the risks that are associated with IT. Achieving these objectives can be done by implementing an organizational structure with well-defined roles for the responsibility of information, business processes, applications and infrastructure.

Leadership, organizational structure and processes are used to leverage IT resources and drive alignment, delivery of value, management of risk, optimization of resources and performance measurement.

IT Management Processes are defined to organize IT activities in a manner that is intended to be efficient and effective. Processes exist at various layers within the enterprise and are influenced by the organizational structure and leadership provided. Implementing IT governance is iterative and occurs at the strategic, tactical and operational levels in line with stakeholders priorities. To achieve effective governance, executives require a governance framework that can take board level direction and translate it into prioritized operational activities, keeping focus on strategic objectives and establishing accountability for the outcomes delivered.  This framework should be focused on control and less on execution. It should optimize IT enabled investments, ensure service delivery and provide a measure against which to judge when things do go wrong.

IT Governance is driven top-down. It occurs at different layers with team leaders reporting to and receiving directions from their managers, with managers reporting up to the executive, and the executive to the board of directors.  Management should increase transparency and provide the board with complete, timely, relevant accurate and accessible information about:

The likelihood of IT achieving its objectives;

IT’s resilience to learn and adopt;

The judicious management of the inherent risks from using IT, including disaster recovery;

How well IT has recognized opportunities and acted on them.

Reports that indicate deviation from targets usually will already include recommendations for action to be endorsed by the governing layer. Clearly this will not be effective unless strategy and goals have first been cascaded down into the organization.

EBS CONSULTING APPROACH TO IT GOVERNANCE

IT Governance should be viewed as how IT creates value that fits into the overall Corporate Governance Strategy of the organization and never be seen as a discipline on its own. It is about the governance of management processes and decisions relating to the information and communication services used by an organisation. The range of IT governance decisions is broad – from technical architecture to project prioritization and funding. The abdication of responsibility in the process of decision making leads to undisciplined decisions made by whoever has sufficient political clout.

EBS approach makes it possible for any type of organization to create a shared responsibility for critical IT systems and ensures that IT related decisions are made and driven by the business.

When corporate information technologies are designed and built with purpose to bring changes and transformation in organization instead of just to facilitate processes, IT Governance becomes central point of business success. The process of business transformation is prime enabler of innovation and new business models. It offers many rewards, but it also has the potential for many risks, which may disrupt operations and have unintended consequences. EBS Consulting services allow the achievement of balance of risk and rewards, when using IT to enable organizational change.

EBS consulting services in IT Governance area deliver knowledge and skills in implementing key best practices, including the design of an effective governance framework with well-defined roles and responsibilities for stakeholders. The implementation of the appropriate framework ensures that the company IT investments are aligned and delivered in accordance with corporate objectives and strategies.

EBS IT GOVERNANCE CONSULTING SERVICES COVER:

Definition, establishment and alignment of the IT governance framework with the overall enterprise governance and control environment. Basing the framework on a suitable IT process and control model and providing for unambiguous accountability and practices, in order to avoid a breakdown in internal control and oversight;

Adopting an IT Governance Framework.  Assistance to the board in considering whether the established IT Governance framework : is generally accepted and covers all areas of IT activities; presents IT activities in a manageable and logical structure; is business orientated and capable of linking IT activities to business goals; provide with control objectives suitable to uncover IT issues; supports risk management; guides in aligning IT initiatives with real business needs; contains performance measures to judge success and failures;

Provision of independent assurance in the form of external audits (reviews), that give a timely feedback about the compliance of IT with the organization’s policies, standards, procedures, and overall objectives;

Regular IT resource assessments, ensuring  that IT has sufficient, competent and efficient resources to meet the business demands;

Proofing of the delivered value – the demonstration of the benefits that can be achieved from each IT investment;

Performance management services – the accurate, timely and relevant portfolio, program and IT projects performance reports to senior management. This service provides a thorough review of the progress being made towards the identified objectives.