Full alignment with business strategies and business direction is critical if organisational investment in IT is to deliver real value, whilst key risks have to be identified and controlled, and legislative and regulatory compliance must be demonstrated.

All analysts - and most CIOs - currently agree that probably the biggest risk and concern to executives is failing to align IT to real business needs, and a failure to deliver, or be seen to be delivering, value to the business. Since IT can have such a dramatic effect on business performance and competitiveness, a failure to manage IT effectively can have a serious impact on the business as a whole. IT governance covers this and more, and in light of recent corporate failures and the economic downturn, enjoys a far higher profile today than ever before.

IT governance covers the culture, organisation, policies and practices that provide this kind of oversight and transparency of IT. The benefits are far reaching - good IT governance not only reduces the cost and damage caused by IT failures, but also engenders greater trust, teamwork and confidence in the use of IT itself and the people trusted with IT services.

In this issue of ITadviser we provide a perspective on developing a strategic approach to IT governance that explores many of the frameworks that exist to support your efforts - and we also take an early look at the new ISO IT governance standard.

(ITadviser, Issue 56, Winter 2008)