Despite prevalence, IT lacks governance maturity

One of the biggest paradoxes in business today is that IT, despite being so prevalent and often so mission-critical, lacks maturity as far as governance is concerned.

A major challenge facing all organisations is to obtain the best possible value from IT, at the lowest cost, while mitigating risk.

This lack of maturity has probably arisen because IT is a relatively new discipline that evolved rapidly. In addition, everyone has huge expectations of IT. Companies are recognising that the current lack of maturity must be rectified quickly.

IT has to get its house in order with respect to governance issues. The challenge, however, is enormous - and many organisations simply do not know where to start.

My recommendation to companies would be to focus initially only on those areas that have been identified as having a direct impact on the business.

Start by addressing only the burning issues then once you are generating value in those areas should you focus on other, less urgent issues.

The burning issues differ widely for different companies. For one, the major issue may be lack of knowledge about resource utilisation, because of the absence of visibility. In a mature IT organisation, it may be about managing the gap between IT and business operations, while for yet another the most burdensome issue may be around legal compliance.

Without the right processes and systems in place, it`s tough to assess the value, cost, risk and performance of IT services. Organisations looking to govern IT and maximise the business value delivered should take a comprehensive view that considers the entire scope of IT processes, as well as all IT investments and resources.

Compuware Changepoint provides an integrated view of IT that enables companies to effectively manage projects, applications, people and client relationships. The solution enables CIOs to align and manage IT portfolios, improve organisational effectiveness and enhance the quality of IT service delivery.

With greater control over IT processes, visibility into key portfolios and a focus on quality throughout service delivery, organisations can deliver direct results to the bottom line - and greater value to the business.