What is IT Governance?

By: Mansoor Adenwala, Managing Advisor, Business Beam (Pvt.) Ltd

To put it simply
its.

performance

with

conformance
Image Credit: Bloomsberries via Flickr

[Governance is] the set of

organizational regulations
and standards exercised by
management to provide
strategic direction and
ensure that objectives are
achieved, risks are managed
appropriately, and resources
are used responsibly

but

why do you need governance for IT?

Planning complex IT projects

involves an array of political,
organizational, legal, technical,
cultural, and personnel issues best
dealt with by a team charged with
the responsibility for the successful
outcome of those projects

Governance
structure ensures
that the voices of
stakeholders are
heard, formalizes
quality decisionmaking, and is the
vehicle through
which complex IT
projects are
effectively
implemented

fine! but

what are the benefits

well

IT gets Aligned with the Business

you have Better

Control Over RISKS

you Reduce your Delivery time

provide Better Service Quality

and lower

Your $ervice osts

Resulting in

increased stakeholder value


Lynn Lawton
CISA, FCA, FIIA,
PIIA, FBCS CITP,
International President of ITGI

The bottom line is that

many organizations
worldwide are
needlessly sacrificing
money, productivity
and competitive
advantage by not
implementing effective
IT governance

Great!!
but how do we implement governance

[An organization] should select the governance arrangement

that best supports its business strategy while being compatible
with its culture. No matter what IT governance mechanism is
used, it must facilitate decision-making, ensure alignment
between technology and business goals, and communicate
governance principles and decisions
(Ross & Weill, 2004)

utilize the knowledge of

internationally acclaimed best
practice frameworks

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

Developed by OGC (Department of UK Govt)

5 Core Areas

Service Strategy
Service Design
Service Transition
Service Operation
Continual Service
Improvement

There are a lot of things

that the business does that
IT just doesn't know
about, [ITIL] allows us to
align ourselves with the
business instead of just
making them angry when
something they need isn't
available.

Christine Rose, Director of Global IT at Finisar, a

computer hardware manufacturer that adopted ITIL
in 2002.

Control Objectives for IT (COBIT)

Created by Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

CobiT [has] a focus

What is
COBIT?
4 Domains
34 Processes
214 Controls

on the delivery of
business objectives.
It provides metrics
and maturity
models to measure
achievement and
identifies the
associated
responsibilities of
business and IT
process owners.

Information Systems Audit and Control

Association (ISACA) International Vice
President Howard Nicholson

so how do we
these

start

on

frameworks

read books
and draft a project plan or

attend trainings and get

certified
or

(psst we provide ITIL v3 Foundation and

COBIT 4.1 Foundation trainings in Pakistan)

hire a consultant!

(guess who provides consulting / advisory services )

thats all very good

but is there a

business case

here

Enhance Help Desk Performance

Ontario Ministry of
Transportation: Resolved Help Desk
Incidents 98% of the time
Visa: Reduction in the time to resolve
Incidents by as much as 75%
Sallie Mae: Reduction in the length of Help
Desk calls by 40%
Raymond James Financial Inc: Number of
calls to the companys Help Desk dropped by
as much as 25% within 18 months
Source: Pink Elephant

Achieve Cost Savings

Victorian State Revenue Office:

Cost savings of $2 million per year
PEMCO: $500,000 within 12 months
Procter & Gamble: Realized a 6% to
8% cut in operating costs
Finisar: Cut the amount spent on IT
from 4% of revenue to 2.4%
Source: Pink Elephant

start today and stay

competition through IT

ahead of the

governance

presentation created and designed by:

Mansoor Adenwala
Managing Advisor
Business Beam (Pvt.) Ltd
Email: mansoor.adenwala@businessbeam.com
Ph: 051-2804380 - 81

For more information visit

www.itgovernance.co.uk
www.ogc.gov.uk
www.isaca.org
www.businessbeam.com

all images courtesy Flickr and attributed to their respective owners