IT Should Not Own IT Governance

Today in many organizations, IT owns IT governance — a task that many would argue it is neither qualified nor positioned to handle. The main reason for this is that IT governance is not an isolated discipline but an integral component of enterprise governance — which includes issues like corporate risk, strategic direction, and company objectives. Given these overarching issues, responsibility for enterprise governance ultimately rests with the board of directors. However, most of today's boards do not acknowledge IT governance, nor are they prepared to accept responsibility for it. CIOs in these organizations must proactively shepherd the transfer of responsibility from IT to the board and be actively engaged in the formulation of IT strategy and business strategy.