The IT Governance Institute (ITGI), a non-profit organization, commissioned a
global survey of 749 CEO/CIO-level executives in 23 countries to determine
executives' IT governance priorities and the IT-related problems their
organizations have faced so far. According to the IT Governance Global Status
Report 2008, 58 percent of respondents noted an insufficient number of staff,
compared to 35 percent in 2005.
Also, 48 percent said that IT service delivery problems remain the second
most common problem, and 38 percent point to problems relating to staff with
inadequate skills.
As per the study, 93 percent of respondents said that IT is somewhat very
important in the overall corporate strategy and is always on the board agenda,
according to 32 percent of respondents-up from 25 percent in 2005.
Improvement needed
Areas for improvement include alignment-36 percent of respondents reported
that alignment between IT strategy and corporate strategy is somewhere between
average to very poor. Additionally, implemen-tation of IT governance-related
activities varies around the globe.
The percentage of organizations that are in the process of implementing or
have already implemented IT governance practices in different regions are South
America at 27 percent, Asia at 44 percent, Europe at 50 percent and North
America at 50 percent.
“The bottomline is that many organizations around the world are needlessly
sacrificing money, productivity and competitive advantage by not implementing
effective IT governance,” said Lynn Lawton, International President, ITGI.
“Well-governed enterprises have been shown to provide a better return to
stakeholders, and the same goes for governance over IT. Executives need to
direct their IT for optimal advantage, manage IT-related risks and measure the
value provided by IT.”
DQC News Bureau