A Careful Study On The Principle of IT Governance
August 13, 2010 by Paul
Filed under Uncategorized
Whether you are someone who is in charge of the IT department or you are in a position where you are going to need to work with them in the future, you need to understand that no matter what business you are in, IT governance is something that you are going to need to look at. There was a time not so long ago when the workings of Information Technology departments were most mysterious to the people who were not in it. There was a belief if not an understanding of the IT department as a thing apart, which people did not want to acknowledge or take time with. That sort of thinking is shockingly dangerous in a modern setting and when you are looking to change it, you are going to need to think about what you can do with IT governance.
IT governance is a essentially defined as a set of processes that will allow the company to manage all the functions, processes and assets that belong to IT and which will support business goals. There is a strong sense of the IT department being brought into the fold as it were, and there is a great deal of thought that has been put into ways to make sure that the IT department is more integrated into the rest of the company. IT departments that have been integrated into their companies have a higher degree of responsibility and accountability to their employers and this can help unify the company a great deal in a number of different ways.
When you are looking at the IT department of years past, they have largely been considered to be a regulatory body rather than a contributing one. They are there to manage the computers and unless things went wrong, they were often regarded as a drain on company resources and time. When you are thinking about this kind of IT department, it is no wonder that there was a schism there. This schism was one that was perpetuated on all sides and it is one that has hurt both the IT department and the company as a whole. As more and more companies are waking up and streamlining their processes and their operations, they are realizing that there are many reasons why they might need to see a new kind of unity emerge.
There are plenty of impetuses towards this move. For instance, a lot of change regarding IT governance has come about due to regulatory issues. For instance, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been instrumental in how IT departments are run in the United States, while in the United Kingdom, Basel II has done much the same.
Take a moment to think about how your company has worked towards getting more cohesion with the IT department and how you can move ahead and get the cooperation that you need. Every responsible company has thoughts towards IT governance, so see where you stand.