The King III Report on Governance in South Africa was released on 1 September, and one of the significant enhancements to the report is an entire chapter on IT governance.
IT governance experts, Winston Hayden and Esther Pedro, from ISACA South Africa, the association representing IT governance professionals, were called upon in the development of the IT governance chapter.
“Industry has acknowledged that IT is a significant part of today's organisations, and therefore the governance of IT needs to be appropriately emphasised,” says Winston Hayden, Vice-President of ISACA South Africa.
“IT governance is an integral part of corporate governance and ensures that IT sustains and enhances the organisations' strategic objectives,” adds Esther Pedro, the association's Board Secretary. “It is now clear that an organisation's board or executive is responsible for the governance of IT.”
Organisations should reference an IT governance and control framework such as COBIT and ValIT as a guide to establishing good IT governance practices as recommended by the King III Report. ISACA and its research affiliate, the IT Governance Institute, are the developers and custodians of COBIT.
The King III Report on Governance in South Africa can be obtained through the Institute of Directors of South Africa at http://www.iodsa.co.za. Additional information and guidance on IT governance can be obtained from ISACA (www.isaca.org.za).
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ISACA
ISACA is a member association representing IT governance, security and assurance professionals. The association was established back in 1969 and now has approximately 86 000 members worldwide in over 160 countries. www.isaca.org. The associations members hold various positions in enterprises from CIOs, IT executives, risk managers, compliance officers, consultants, educators, IS security professionals, regulators, internal auditors, and IS auditors, to name a few. The association also provides the globally recognised CGEIT certification (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise Information Technology) for professionals who wish to be recognized for their IT governance-related experience and knowledge. ISACA established its research affiliate, the IT Governance Institute (www.itgi.org) in 1998. The purpose of the ITGI was to advance international thinking and standards in directing and controlling an enterprise's information technology. Effective IT governance helps ensure that IT supports business goals, optimises business investment in IT, and appropriately manages IT-related risks and opportunities. ITGI provides original research, electronic resources and case studies to assist enterprise leaders and boards of directors in their IT governance responsibilities. ISACA and the ITGI published COBIT, the world's leading IT governance and control framework. http://www.isaca.org/cobit, and has released various IT governance related publications such as the IT Governance Implementation Guide, IT Governance & Process Maturity, Information Security Governance, Governance of IT Investments (ValIT), the IT Assurance Guide and the due to be released Risk IT Framework (RiskIT).