I remember thinking early on that the connection between business and IT was so essential and was at the root of many of the problems we were experiencing. When one examines the fundamentals of IT governance, the solutions to align it with plan simple. Conceptually, clear IT governance is easy to conceptualize but can be difficult to implement. However, it is important to remember that IT governance primarily deals with connections between business focus and IT management.
The goal of clear governance is to assure the investment in IT general business value and mitigate the risks that are associated with IT projects. This can be achieved by a formal organization structure of people, process and technology with well defined roles and responsibilities. In the last 1980's, I created a simple diagram that illustrated clear defining roles and responsibility of Business and IT and where the roles overlapped. It was a catalyst to begin conversations with the business and create the framework of the surrounding foundational processes to support these roles. And this simple model worked.
This is an excerpt from a feature article in Tech Decision CIO Insights March Issues 2009, authored by Deb Smallwood, Founder of SMA Inc.
