Governance Update: More Standards, Less Compliance

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

  Governance   Requirements Management   Risk Management   Strategy  

Once again it is time to take a look at the state of IT Governance to see what the last year has brought. Before jumping into what is new in the world of IG, it is always good to set forth a few definitions to ensure we are all on the same page; there are actually a number of definitions to consider. For example, Wikipedia defines IG as follows:

“Governance relates to consistent management, cohesive policies, guidance, processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. For example, managing at a corporate level might involve evolving policies on privacy, on internal investment, and on the use of data.

Corporate governance consists of the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way people direct, administer or control a corporation.

Specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT.”

And then there is the IT Governance Institute’s new Val IT definition, which goes like this:

“Guiding principles and supporting processes related to the evaluation and selection of IT-enabled business investments, and benefit realization and delivery of value from those investments.”

Both of these are a bit long winded. For my money I define IG this way: The process of overseeing and guiding how IT protects and secures investments in IT …

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