Strategic IT GovernanceMahetab khan

What is Strategic IT Governance?

IT governance is the formal process of defining the strategy of the IT organization and overseeing its execution to achieve the goals of the enterprise.

Aligned/synchronized with the enterprise strategy, including

other key asset strategies

Decision rights

framework & mechanisms

Vision,goals/priorities, measures; value

prop & service portfolio;resource approaches &

commitments;change management

plans

Translation intoaligned, tactical, operational

plans; closed-loop monitoring & control;accountability;

regulatory compliance

Why is IT Governance important?

Compliance with regulations

Competitive advantage

Support of enterprise goals

Growth and innovation

Increase in intangible assets

Reduction of risk

IT Strategic Alignment, such as formalized business objectives, up to date IT strategy, linkage between business objectives and IT initiatives;

Value Delivery: IT tactical plans, clear benefits for each level of the organization: infra-structure (systems uptime), applications (degree of automation), operational (productivity), financial (income);

Risk Management: defined responsibilities for risk management, risk analysis methodology, defined strategies for addressing risks, continuous monitoring of threats, occurrence and impact;

Resource Management: sourcing strategies, human management practices, user manuals, segregation of duties, time reporting, infra-structure life cycle management, acceptable usage policies.

Performance Measurement: relevant and measurable metrics, continuous monitoring and reporting, follow-up policies, root cause analysis and problem management, benchmarking against industry practices and proven standards or frameworks.

Elements of IT Governance

Core Competencies for Effective IT Governance

Enterprise Architecture

Mgmt

Relationship Mgmt

IT Strategy Mgmt

Financial Mgmt

Supply / Demand

Mgmt

Portfolio Mgmt

IT Operating Model

• Align operational and strategic IT investments to business strategies & objectives.

• Establish policies, standards, models and processes for managing IT as an enterprise asset

• Lifecycle management of infrastructure, applications and services

• Understand the drivers of IT costs to allocate appropriate costs to the consumers of IT services.

• Establish effective, collaborative relationships with business stakeholders and suppliers.

• Balance the demand for IT services with available resources to meet immediate and strategic goals.

Benefits of IT Governance

Strengthens the relationship between the organization and IT; Helps ensure limited IT resources are focused on the right strategic and tactical activities at the right time

Synergies with Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and other risk management activities; Helps ensure the appropriate IT risk management processes and activities are in place and operating effectively

Enhanced visibility into the IT Function’s ability to achieve its both tactical and strategic objectives; Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for day-to-day activities and longer-term/strategic initiatives

Improved adaptability of the IT Function to organizational and IT environment changes; Formality of Governance structure, processes and activities enables more efficient and effective response to change

Strategic IT Governance Framework

Capability Maturity Modeling Integration (CMMI)- For Process Improvement

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)- For IT Service Management.

Six Sigma- For Process Improvement especially security processes.

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) - For information technology (IT) management and IT governance

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) - method to assess an organization’s performance in different areas.

Frameworks for IT Governance

Who is involved?

Team leaders

Managers

Executives

Board of Directors

Stakeholders

Challenges and Concerns Relative to It governance

Needs, Issues & Challenges

Procedure, Audits, Metrics

Control

StrategicTactical

Operations

Demand

IT andBusiness

Resources

Supply

Capital, Capacity, Priorities

Planning

Alignment Flexibility

EfficiencyQuality

Lack of Business aligned strategyLack of Business aligned strategy

Reduce costs across business Reduce costs across business Ineffective project ManagementIneffective project Management

Deployment Complexity through lack of standard & legacy

Deployment Complexity through lack of standard & legacy

No Audit Trails No Audit Trails

Management of Service ChangesManagement of Service Changes

Must reduce IT costs by 30%Must reduce IT costs by 30%

Lack of IT resource transparencyLack of IT resource transparency

Missed targets due to lack of steering control Missed targets due to lack of steering control

Deployment Complexity in number of project

Deployment Complexity in number of project

Cannot aggregate need and distribute ROI

Cannot aggregate need and distribute ROI

No means of governing outsourced contractsNo means of governing outsourced contracts

No means of capturing demandsNo means of capturing demands

No means of prioritization of business need

No means of prioritization of business need

No means of reporting SLANo means of reporting SLA

Making new outsourcing decisions

Making new outsourcing decisions

Aligning IT and Business Strategy

Corporate Mission – Business Goals – IT Strategy

Requires involvement from many levels and activities within the enterprise.

Lack of alignment leads to adverse business issues.

Strong IT Governance contributes toward proper alignment.

Ensuring Value and Effectiveness

IT issues are the least understood, despite increasing reliance placed on IT.

Initiate IT governance structures with the right level of executive involvement.

Board of Director’s require essential IT related skills

IT Governance

Consists of leadership, organizational structures and processes that safeguard information.

Security over information assets.

Benefits of IT Governance.

IT is a top-down process.

Measuring IT Governance Performance

Measuring IT performance is a key concern as it demonstrates the effectiveness and added business value of IT.

Commonly seen as the IT “Black Hole” – costs continually rise without clear evidence of value derived from the IT function.

Traditional performance measurement methods require monetary values which are hard to apply to IT systems.

IT Governance Performance Management Approaches

IT Balanced Scorecard

One of the most effective means to aid an organization in achieving IT and business alignment.

Provides a systematic translation of the IT strategy into tangible success factors and metrics.

Gives a balanced view of the value added by IT to the business.

Calculating the value of IT investments is a business issue for which business managers are ultimately responsible for.

Thank you