Industry Drivers of IT Governance Policies
Editor’s note: This post features a portion of a presentation on operational governance. The entirety of the presentation can be seen via FREE webinar on Feb. 21 at 11 a.m. EST.
IT governance has become a very popular topic in the tech industry and in various related circles. Why? Is it to mitigate data breaches? Other reasons? This post will address some industry drivers of IT governance and some of the benefits offered by having a robust governance strategy.
Frequent signs of deficient operational governance
- Cost and cumbersome bureaucratic processes
- Informal processes dominate formal ones
- Firefighting and crisis management
- Organizational silos
Disruption forces a re-examining of operational governance for…
Mature Organizations
- These organizations understand the value and need for governance
- They have likely already planned and implemented some type of solution (i.e. custom developed)
- Many of these in-house systems need to be upgraded or re-architected for Office 365 or new SharePoint versions
Other Organizations
- Even without established culture of governance for SharePoint, Office 365 is prompting a re-examining of this governance topic. This is due to…
- Cloud security concerns
- Regulatory concerns
- These organizations will likely focus on basics first, like security and data protection
For Both Types of Organizations
- When moving to Office 365, even basic processes like backup will change
- IT teams have to find a way to comply with internal and external policies with significantly less control over their operations and infrastructure.
Benefits of well-governed SharePoint/ Office 365 implementations
- Repeatable and consistent service delivery
- Administrative efficiency
- Accurate cataloging and monitoring of adoption, usage and governance attributes for collaboration workspaces
- Provable compliance with internal and external policies and regulatory requirements
IT governance is something for which every 21st century organization should have a strategy and understanding. It’s crucial to operating a trusted organization and it can save countless major headaches that disrupt business and impact reputation. Don’t wait until it’s too late!
