Insufficient IT staff availability, service delivery issues and difficulty proving the value of information technology (IT) continue to plague executives at organisations around the world, according to a new report by the non-profit, independent IT Governance Institute (ITGI).
ITGI commissioned a global survey of 749 CEO-/CIO-level executives in 23 countries to determine executives' IT governance priorities and the IT-related problems their organisations have faced.
According to the IT Governance Global Status Report 2008, which is available as a complimentary download at www.itgi.org, 58% of respondents noted an insufficient number of staff, compared to 35% in 2005.
Also, 48% said that IT service delivery problems remain the second most common problem, and 38% point to problems relating to staff with inadequate skills. Thirty percent of respondents also reported problems anticipating the return on investment (ROI) for IT expenditures.
The study is a follow-up to ITGI's 2003 and 2005 surveys and tracks IT governance trends over the past four years. Several important business developments relating to IT are identified in the report, including:
* 93% of respondents said that IT is somewhat to very important to the overall corporate strategy-an increase of 6% from 2005.
* IT is always on the board agenda, according to 32% of respondents - up from 25% in 2005.
* 18% of respondents said the IT department always informs the business about potential business opportunities, up from 14% in 2005.
* Awareness of the Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) framework for IT governance has surpassed 50%, nearly doubling since 2005.
* Use of COBIT has doubled (from 8% in 2005 to 16%).
Areas for improvement include alignment - 36% of respondents reported that alignment between IT strategy and corporate strategy is average, poor or very poor. Additionally, implementation of IT governance-related activities varies around the globe. The percentage of organisations that are in the process of implementing or have already implemented IT governance practices in different regions are:
* South America, 27%
* Asia, 44%
* Europe, 50%
* North America, 50%
"The bottom line is that many organisations around the world are needlessly sacrificing money, productivity and competitive advantage by not implementing effective IT governance," said Lynn Lawton, CISA, FCA, FIIA, PIIA, FBCS CITP, international president of ITGI.
"Well-governed enterprises have been shown to provide a better return to stakeholders, and the same goes for governance over information technology. Executives need to direct their IT for optimal advantage, manage IT-related risks and measure the value provided by IT."
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