Several IT services governance aspects exist.
These aspects imply – first and foremost – the alignment of the systems and processes’ objectives with the company’s at the strategic level. This, generally, amounts to the creation of value for both internal and external stakeholders.
In this respect, this value creation results in the improvement of desired results and reduction of allocated budget. Therefore, a good governance allows the Senior Management to consider the IT as an investment (and not as an unfortunately necessary expense), thus contributing to the improvement of the company’s performance.
Governance operates on three levels, as follows:
- Strategic: Investments and resources effectively support the company’s priorities;
- Tactical: Resource planning and use are optimized;
- Operational: Compliance with customer expectations is measured and demonstrated.
Successful governance results in:
- Results accountability;
- Owners’ awareness of their roles and possession of required means to take necessary actions;
- Objectives consistency with the company’s (cannot emphasize this enough);
- Clearly established guidelines that would be communicated to all relevant stakeholders;
- A dashboard that would facilitate follow-ups to correct potential deviations;
- A decision-monitoring register to strive for continuous improvement;
- A framework that would include the full services cycle (i.e., from strategy to operations) – along with all relevant processes.
Among the governance frameworks that are recognized for their effectiveness are ITIL, COBIT or DevOps. To some extent, it is deemed possible to add quality assurance initiatives thereto as well.