The issue of IT governance has been gaining importance within companies since 2009. This is mainly due to the fact that today’s economic world is dominated by information and innovation. IT governance is essential to the functioning of all businesses. So what is it? And how can you implement it in your company?
IT governance is a concept from the 1990s that brings together several information technologies. It is a formal framework for developing these technologies so that they are in line with a company’s strategy and objectives. Mainly implemented by the IT services department, the skills of other staff are also required. The information technologies covered by IT governance include:
All these information systems have their respective roles and are all aimed at achieving the company’s objectives and strategy. IT management makes it possible to plan, organize and manage the use of a company’s various resources. While IT compliance aims to protect sensitive personal and corporate data.
IT activities are all the tasks carried out by your company’s IT department to achieve the objectives set. Risk management is the set of rules and activities to be carried out to ensure the security of your company’s IT system.
Establishing effective IT governance is vital for ensuring the seamless operation of IT companies and the achievement of business goals. Without effective IT governance, the organization risks inefficiencies that could detrimentally affect the business. This includes potential pitfalls such as failing to properly identify and manage data, encountering security vulnerabilities, and misallocating resources in ways that do not align with the company’s strategic objectives. Such pitfalls make it challenging to fulfill these objectives, and hinder value creation.
What’s more, a successful implementation of IT governance can address these issues, offering numerous benefits including improved data management, enhanced security measures, and more strategic resource allocation. This alignment between IT operations and business strategy is essential for driving organizational success and value generation.
Implementing successful IT governance requires a multi-step process that ensures value creation for your business. The initial step is preparation, which involves engaging all stakeholders critical to the company’s smooth operation. This group includes senior IT managers, customers, employees, and partners. It’s essential to clearly define tasks and responsibilities for each party to foster an IT strategy that contributes to the company’s value creation. Setting priorities and determining which team members will manage IT resources are also key components of this stage.
Next, it’s vital to develop an effective action plan that addresses specific IT challenges and projects, while ensuring that the IT governance objectives are in harmony with the business’s goals for value creation. Maintaining focus on strategic goals during the IT governance setup is vital and for that, you need to plan a long-term roadmap.
The communication of the IT governance plan completes the implementation. All stakeholders should be informed of the IT governance plan to facilitate its implementation.
There are many practices when it comes to IT governance. The best of them can be grouped into five fundamental practices. Firstly, you can establish an effective strategy. This involves planning the information system as part of your business planning process. You must also align this system with your company’s activities.
Next, you need the right management tools. This helps you to manage and measure the performance of your information system. These tools are also used to communicate about the system and to manage relationships.
Another practice is to demonstrate the value and contribution of your actions. This means managing the information system projects that contribute to value creation and their portfolios.
As for the fourth best practice, you need to be aware of the risks associated with implementing IT governance. This requires good risk management. Finally, good asset management is another good governance practice.
This is a simple step, but very important for efficiency. This alignment is about putting strategic processes in place that give you the ability to achieve your company’s business goals. Henderson and Venkatraman established a principle for strategic alignment. According to them, there are four different models:
The operations or activities that will be carried out by the employees, especially the IT departments of the DSI (Information Systems Department), contribute to the achievement of the company’s ambitions.
It’s a simple process, but a very essential one for efficiency. This alignment consists of putting in place strategic processes that offer you the possibility of achieving your company’s commercial objectives. Henderson and Venkatraman have established a principle for strategic alignment. According to them, there are four different models:
The operations or activities carried out by employees, especially the IT departments help to achieve the company’s ambitions.
You have a wide choice of IT tools and technologies or frameworks to support IT governance. Among the most popular, we find in particular the COBIT, COSO, and CIS frameworks.
The COBIT framework (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) is a tool that should initially be used for IT auditing. However, it has been developed and is also effective for IT governance. This tool is more focused on the management of risks related to information systems.
The most comprehensive governance support technology available, ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) takes into account information technology management and IT governance. It thus ensures that all IT services comply with the company’s managerial practices.
Mainly used to secure information, ISO provides a security system that meets international standards. It promotes the organization’s optimization of cybersecurity controls and the establishment of comprehensive systems to help manage information security.
The CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) gives you the opportunity to improve your company’s IT performance. It rates these on a digital scale from 1 to 5.
Regarding the CoSO, it is not a tool specifically designed for IT governance. You can use it to manage the risks incurred, deter fraud within your organization… Another technology that helps reduce business risk is CIS. The latter makes it possible to strengthen the resilience of your organization’s technological infrastructure .
You need to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of your company’s IT governance. This helps you to know the flaws and shortcomings of your project in order to improve it. Measurement and evaluation are carried out by a specialized organization.
If the governance of your company’s information systems is recognized, you benefit from a certain credibility. This gives you the opportunity to attract more customers and partners. Your company may also be recommended by the organization in question. This assessment is based on the information found on your dashboards and which concerns:
You can work on these fundamental points of your IT governance, if there are shortcomings, with the aim of improving it.
With this constant evolution of society and different markets, the importance of IT governance is no longer to be proven. All businesses need it. Well-established IT governance is essential for their proper functioning in these times when information takes an important place in our society. It guarantees you a good return on your company’s IT investments by creating value.
It also promotes the improvement of your organization’s business processes with the digitization and automation of the various trades. This leads to a reduction of the latter and at the same time the optimization of the operating costs of your company. Well-established IT governance also helps mitigate the risks associated with this use of IT. It also increases performance and competitiveness within the company to achieve more positive results.
You can therefore set up a well-established IT governance for your organization. At Lemon Learning, we offer training offers to improve the skills of your employees. This gives you the opportunity to ensure the effectiveness of your IT governance.