Achieve IT Governance by Adopting Good Practices

credit: Karbondiary

Good IT Governance Practice Enables:

• Leadership to ask the right questions and interpret the answers
• An appropriate IT governance framework to be adopted
• Critical success factors to be addressed by leadership

Focus Areas—Ask Questions—Get Answers

Strategy ‘the right stuff’	Architecture ‘done right’
Delivery ‘done well’	Value ‘getting benefit’

Board members and executive managers in business and IT regularly consider IT strategy, IT architecture, IT delivery and IT value. They want to know if they are doing the right stuff, doing stuff the right way, getting the stuff done well, and getting benefit from the stuff.

Key areas to continuously consider by leadership:

Strategy	Doing the right things
	Investments aligned with vision
	Investments consistent with business principles
	Investments contribute to strategic objectives
	Investments are focused on real business needs and priorities
	Knowledge and understanding of total investment in/spent on IT
Architecture	Doing things the right way
	Investments are in line with the enterprise’s architecture
	Investments are consistent with architectural principles and standards
	Leverage synergies between investments
	Optimal use of IT infrastructure and other assets and resources
Delivery	Getting things done well
	Effective management, delivery and change processes
	Competent resources to deliver capabilities and changes
	Services are delivered reliably, available, and are   secure
Value	Getting benefit from things
	Understanding of what constitutes value for the enterprise
	Understanding of the expected benefits
	Accountability and relevant metrics for realizing the benefits
	Effective benefits realization process

Use a Comprehensive IT Governance Framework

Good IT governance is almost impossible without leveraging an effective governance framework. An effective IT governance framework defines which decisions have to be made, who is involved in making them, how they are made, and exactly what the process is for ensuring that these decisions are carried out in the appropriate manner. The application of the IT governance framework helps significantly improve the business's return on investment. Leveraging the framework also ensures that results are monitored and that corrective actions are taken when expected results are not realized.

Develop an IT governance framework based on industry best practices. For example, ITGI’s: Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). Implementing a framework helps to improve IT governance and returns on business investments. A framework needs to be continuous process focused on creating value.

Applying IT Governance to Achieve Business Objectives

In addition to asking hard, pointed questions—and putting a guiding framework in place—the effective implementation of IT governance involves changing culture and behavior.

Executive leadership needs to be committed to leveraging the IT governance framework and the value that it delivers to the enterprise. The goal is to target IT’s governance objectives, ensure they are clearly defined, realistic and communicated in plain English.

Effective partnerships need to be established between business and IT leaders, supported by IT’s interest in and understanding of the business, and sharing of technology-related issues and opportunities. An effective partnership enables a collaborative approach to strategy development and a shared focus on creating value from IT investments and managing risks.

Develop and implement a set of processes supported by roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. Establish an appropriate set of guiding principles, organizational structures and processes that fit the style, skills, and operational norms specific to the enterprise.

An IT governance framework leverages suitable analysis, communications tools, performance metrics and other benchmarks to help make the business’s and IT’s performance to be more transparent and enable direction and control.

IT aligned business Goals

Perspective	Business Goal
Financial	Ensure IT investment is directly aligned with an Enterprise Strategy, or a Profit Center/Support Center initiative
	Improve the focus of IT spending on strategic priorities by ensuring all leadership stakeholders have a voice
	Ensure investments have both a financial and operational impact analysis
	Demonstrate IT value and increase corporate profit margins
Customer	Provide a transparent IT decision making process that  ensures the linkage to Corporate goals and objectives, and compliance mandates, is clear
Internal	Formalize exception processes to ensure proper controls are in place
	Ensure compliance with policies and standards

Maintaining IT Governance Best Practices

• Effective management practices
• Run improvement programs with a series of phases
• Ensure improvements are sustained and adopted
• Implement cultural change as well as new processes
• Clearly define objectives and communicate them
• Manage expectations at all levels
• Implement easy changes, deliver value, and build from there
• Obtain leadership buy-in and ownership
• Avoid being perceived as bureaucratic
• Avoid confusing checklists

Next in this series: 3. Measure IT Governance Performance