Infonomics
Plain language about Digital Leadership and  Governance of Information Technology for Executives and Directors  
Why are so many organizations vulnerable to failure of their operational IT and their IT investments? This research makes it clear...
Only 37% of boards were regarded as having effective oversight of their organizations’ current and future use of IT, and less than 30% of boards were regarded as having the necessary skills and knowledge to provide that oversight. 

The lack of board oversight might be defensible if the board could rely on executive management to keep adequate control over IT. But the survey suggests that executive management has the requisite skills and knowledge in less than 40% of organizations.

Only 45% of organizations have clearly articulated rules setting out responsibility and accountability for decisions relating to the use of IT.   

Governance and Management of IT Report Cover

Click above for a free  preview.

This report presents data collected in the main module of the survey.  It is available for purchase from 1 May 2010, and is priced at $50, plus GST where applicable, for a single e-book in PDF format.

Buy it at The Infonomics Shop

Further reports will be compiled in coming weeks, detailing the other three modules in the survey.

A major report presenting the additional in-depth demographic analysis will be priced at $500.  Advance orders for this report will attract a 20% discount if received before 31 May 2010. To enquire about advance orders, please contact Infonomics.

Purchasers of the individual reports will also enjoy a $30 rebate per report purchased, when ordering the comprehensive report.

Governance and Management of Information Technology - An International Perspective

How well do organizations govern their use of information technology?  What resources are needed to help improve the effectiveness of that governance?

These questions were at the core of the international survey on governance and management of information technology, conducted by Infonomics during February and March 2010.  The first report from the survey paints a grim picture and provides significant insight to the reason that so many so-called “IT projects” fail, and why organizations seem so vulnerable to operational disruption due to problems with information technology.

One director who commented on the report noted that the survey results, while grim, probably paint a more optimistic picture than reality, because:

1.  Companies with self awareness of poor performance often do not participate; and

2.  Those that do respond are usually reluctant to be completely frank if things are not as they know they should be.

The survey results point to considerable gaps in the ability of boards to provide appropriate oversight of IT, compounded by corresponding weakness in executive management’s capability to set appropriate direction, control and monitor the IT agenda.

Thus, organizations seem to have delegated important decisions and tasks too deeply into the organization, where they can be influenced by factors other than strategic intent and a rational approach to risk management.  This failure to appropriately assign responsibility is compounded by an apparent reluctance to formally document and communicate responsibility for IT-related decisions in a substantial percentage of organizations.

Data from the survey will be considered by the ISO Working Group on Governance of IT at its forthcoming meeting in Helsinki from May 2 to 5.

With the survey having pointed to poor allocation of responsibility as one significant factor in poor governance of information technology, this Infonomics Letter concludes with a brief extract from Waltzing with the Elephant, overviewing the application of the Responsibility Principle defined in ISO/IEC 38500