Everything You Should Know About IT Governance

Everything You Should Know About
IT Governance
IT Governance is a subset of Corporate Governance. Though it is sometimes mistaken as a field of study
on its own, it is actually a part of the overall Governance Strategy of an organization. In simple words, IT
Governance is structuring how organizations align IT strategy with its business strategy, ensuring that
the company stays on track with their strategy to achieve its goals, and implementing good ways of
measuring IT performance. It ensures that all stakeholders’ interests are taken into account and
processes provide measurable results.
A governance framework answers some of the critical questions, such as how the IT department is
functioning, what key metrics management requires and what return IT is giving to the business.
The primary goal of IT Governance is to ensure that the investments in IT generate business value and to
mitigate the risks associated with IT. This can be achieved by implementing an organizational structure
with well-defined roles & responsibility, business processes, applications, and infrastructure.

Organizations or business requires a structure or framework to ensure that the IT function is able to
sustain the organization’s strategies and goals. The necessary framework depends upon the size of the
industry or applicable laws and regulations. In general, the larger and more regulated an organization is,
the more detailed IT governance structure should be.
Principles of IT Governance
• Risk Principle: Measures and control need to be adjusted according to the levels of risk.
• Suitability Principle: The plan for the level and style of governance depends upon the needs
of an organization.
• Behavior Principle: A governance solution drives the organizational behavior
• Deployment Principle: The governance solution should be incrementally implemented
• Automation Principle: It is technology which makes the governance solution empowering and
unobtrusive.

The Differences between IT Governance and Management
Governance
Strategies for organizational success
Focuses on the organization’s priorities and policies
Provides guidance and steering
Usually driven by a governance committee consisting of business stakeholders and IT
representatives
Their duty is to assess and mitigate risk and compliance with controls and regulation
They are typically a mix of technical and non-technical individuals
Management
Involves routine actions, decisions, implementations, and processes
Works on upholding organizational and departmental objectives
Usually driven by technologists tasked with implementation and support of the IT
department.
Their priorities and mission are consistent and optimal with IT service delivery.
Their background is typically based on technology.