Mon, Mar 23, 2009 21:41 EDT

Governance and Business/IT Alignment

Topic: Enterprise Management

Current Rating: Comments: 2

I’ve noticed that when the world ‘governance’ finds its way into a conversation, it causes either an avoidance or denial reaction. Perhaps it’s because we associate the word with ‘government’, which means ‘bureaucracy’ to most, although that isn’t necessarily so. It’s an unfortunate semantic legacy that links the two in listeners’ minds. Dealing with organizations, I try to redefine the word governance for them to disengage it from this ‘bureaucratic’ association: Governance is simply about making sure that the right roles are making the right decisions about the right things. It doesn’t have to be more complicated or more frightening than that.

Over my many years of experience dealing with IT and business environments, I find that governance issues are frequently at the core of problems being experienced at an operational or service delivery level. Yet these issues are seldom recognized by the organization involved, and when revealed, often dismissed as a priority for action. It seems that most organizations would prefer to continue to put time and effort into dealing with symptoms than resolve a governance issue. This is unfortunate since in most instances re-aligning governance requires minimal cost or effort and results in optimal, long-term benefits for the organization.

Business/IT Alignment is about making sure the right IT decisions are being made for the right business reasons. Governance helps provide structure to the processes and roles involved in those decisions. If having the right roles make the right decisions about the right things is important for your organization, then maybe governance isn't something you should be avoiding. What kind of reaction does 'governance' evoke in your organization?

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Tue, Mar 24, 2009 14:48 EDT

Governance & Business/IT Alignment

Posted by: Matthew O'Mara
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I agree. Governance is often a misunderstood competency for an organization. It is a critical investment for an organization truly looking to maximize their IT spend, and ensure alignment to Business Vision, Mission, and Objectives. Too often, firms are "penny-wise and pound-foolish" when it comes to Governance, leading to initiatives that miss the mark from the perspective of desired business outcomes.

More often than not, firms do not recognize the criticality of Governance until they have one (or more) large investments "miss the mark" from a business perspective. It is critical for those individuals with key Business and IT stake holder roles to demand that proper Governance be put in place. - Matthew O'Mara, BearingPoint

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Thu, Apr 16, 2009 10:47 EDT

Governance is important, but...

Posted by: Chris Curran
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Good post. I think IT governance is sometimes used as a band-aid to fix poor underlying processes - SDLC, architecture, project planning, etc. If I had a nickel for every ineffective governance committee...

More thoughts here: IT Governance: Does it Work?

Chris Curran

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