During April 2006, the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) released the first documents of its Val IT (achieving the Value from IT) initiative. This global initiative is intended to respond to the need for organisations to optimise the realisation of value from IT investments.
Val IT is a governance framework that consists of a set of guiding principles, and a number of processes conforming to best practice in the governance of IT investments.
"Fujitsu, in working closely with the ITGI on this initiative, has contributed significantly to the development of the Val IT framework and management practices," says Fujitsu Managing Consultant Andre February.
It addresses assumptions, costs, risks and outcomes related to a balanced portfolio of IT-enabled investments, provides benchmarking capability and allows enterprises to exchange experiences on best practices for value management.
"Organisations continue to make significant IT-enabled business investments to sustain, grow and transform those parts of the business that have a critical IT component. The team found that such investments, when managed well within an effective governance framework, provide organisations with significant opportunities to create value," says February.
"Many organisations have created value through well chosen investments and their effective management. However, without effective governance and management, these investments can also provide significant opportunity to erode or destroy value.
A key lesson is that IT investment is no longer only about implementing IT solutions. It is increasingly about implementing IT-enabled change. This implies greater complexity and risk than historically has been the case. The management practices that have traditionally been applied are no longer sufficient, he says.
February believes IT-enabled business investments can bring huge rewards, but only with the correct governance and management processes. Up until now management has not had a clear way to consider investments in IT - to report on or monitor the potential success or failure of such investments.
Effective governance starts with leadership, commitment and support from the top. However, such leadership, whilst critical, is not enough. Val IT supports the leadership by providing a comprehensive framework, with a full complement of supporting processes and other guidance materials.
These are developed to assist the board and executive management in understanding and carrying out their roles related to IT-enabled business investments.
It provides a one-stop, credible and codified source to support the creation of real business value from IT-enabled investments. Val IT has relevance to all management levels across both the business and IT. From the CEO and the C-suite to those directly involved in the selection, procurement, development, implementation, deployment and benefits realisation processes.
Val IT extends and complements Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT), jointly promoted by ITGI and Information Systems Audit and Control Association - ISACA, which provides a comprehensive control framework for IT governance.
Specifically, Val IT focuses on the investment decision such as are we doing the right things, the realisation of benefits and are we getting the benefits?
COBIT in turn focuses on the execution, namely are we doing it the correct way, and are we getting things done well?
Fujitsu with its extensive experience in enterprise value management continues to work with the ITGI and a team of practitioners, academics and researchers to further develop the Val IT framework, now available to all ISACA and ITGI members.
The Val IT documents (covering the framework, the business case and a case study) are available from www.itgi.org/ and www.isaca.org/.
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The IT Governance Institute (ITGI) was established in 1998 in recognition of the increasing criticality of information technology to enterprise success. In many organisations, success depends on the ability of IT to enable achievement of business goals. In such an environment, governance over IT is as critical a board and management discipline as corporate governance or enterprise governance. Effective IT governance helps ensure that IT supports business goals, maximises business investment in IT, and appropriately manages IT-related risks and opportunities.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu Services is one of the leading IT services companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa. It has an annual turnover of lb1.99 billion, (EUR2.86 billion) employs 15 200 people and operates in over 20 countries. It designs, builds and operates IT systems and services for customers in the financial services, telecom, retail, utilities and government markets. Its core strength is the delivery of IT infrastructure management and outsourcing across desktop, networking and data centre environments, together with a full range of related services, from infrastructure consulting through integration and deployment.
Headquartered in London, Fujitsu Services is the European-centred IT services arm of the Fujitsu Group. The Fujitsu Group is a US$44.5 billion (EUR34 billion) leader in the provision of IT systems and services for the global marketplace.
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