IT governance is still in its infancy, with companies only now starting to understand its importance, says IT governance specialist Dr Marthi Pohl, who is working with professional services firm Analytix to offer IT governance assessments.
Pohl says IT governance audits have mainly been conducted in major corporations so far, and many companies are still lagging in the process. "They need to understand the cost and performance benefits of properly aligning IT initiatives with business objectives."
[VIDEO]Pohl says good IT governance should encompass the strategic alignment of the IT processes with the business objectives, the delivery of value to the business, ensuring that all risks are addressed and ensuring that IT is managed effectively and efficiently.
"In many cases, decisions relating to IT systems are still made by technical people, rather than including business management," says Pohl. "Communication between business and IT is not at the level it should be."
Pohl explains that this often leads to IT systems not fully supporting the strategic objectives of a business. "IT has come from supporting business to enabling business."
She says Analytix will play a role in conducting comprehensive IT governance assessments and making recommendations. "Taking an enterprise-wide view of IT governance, we address the strategic business/IT alignment and look at what extent IT delivers business value, thereby complementing the COBiT framework. The IT governance audit also addresses the synergy between the critical IT processes. We also assist companies with their IT balanced scorecards."
Leading South African companies are adopting the balanced scorecard methodology in the process of becoming more strategy-focused, reports Analytix. The IT balanced scorecard serves as a strategic management framework for IT governance.
Analytix says IT governance is critical to an organisation`s success; being fundamental for enterprise resource management and customer relationship management, key to recording and disseminating business information and ensuring that IT delivers quality solutions on time and within budget.
The company`s approach to IT governance audits is to optimise the cost and benefit of the IT governance process to companies by determining the level of IT governance in the company and ensuring that cost and investment is targeted at supporting the aligned business and IT objectives.
For more information, contact Pohl at (011) 771-5580 or marthi.pohl@analytix.co.za.
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