Leadership Magazine: Governance in IT

Here's my latest Leadership Magazine article, it's all about the importance of IT Governance, thanks to Carolynn Chalmers for all her insights. You'll find it on page 78 and 79 of the November 2019 issue.

“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other,” Bill Gates. 

Mention Information Technology (IT) governance, and you probably think that it is some or other computer security protocol or compliance issue best left to techies.

Far from it! As Carolynn Chalmers, executive director of Candor Governance, explained it to me, IT governance has evolved from referring to the organisation’s mainframe and what makes it work, to including all communications aspects. It includes networking, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and machine learning.

“IT governance is best left in the hands of competent legacy builders, experienced governing body members, and considered innovators. It is a mindful and purposeful task which requires foresight and deep insight,” she said. IT governance should therefore fall within the ambit of the very top levels of management as a strategic function.

Carolynn has been interested in what computers can do since she first put her fingers on a keyboard in 1979. She was never really attracted to the gaming side of things, but rather how well and creatively computers could solve problems and present results.  Around 2003 when working as a Group CIO, the company’s Chairman took Carolynn under his wing and provided her with her first insight into “impact investing” and “social responsibility”. It was a light bulb moment for her where she realised that leadership and oversight is not only about what one “must do” but, more importantly, it is all about what one “should do”.

Carolynn is certified in IT governance and has conducted certification training across the world. Her insights and knowledge on the topic are invaluable, especially as non-compliance carries massive reputational risks for organisations. I had a great conversation with Carolynn to get to grips with IT governance. Here are more of her insights, in her own words:

“IT governance is more than just compliance. It is about doing its best and adding the most value to the organisation. IT governance is not management: it is about guiding the organization in the right things to do, not telling the IT department the right way of doing things.

I am a passionate advocate of the King IV definition of corporate governance and apply this to IT governance, so, to paraphrase…

IT governance is the ethical and effective leadership of information, technology and transition by the governing body for the achievement of governance outcomes.

IT governance is not about red tape. Poor IT governance looks and feels like compliance and red tape.  It is stifling and can be very detrimental for the organisation. Effective or “good” IT governance brings certainty to the environment, confidence to investors, and opportunities for the organisation.

Effective IT governance brings role and responsibility clarity and clearly articulates delegated authorities, helping to speed up decision making. It encompasses performance management as well as consequence management and entrenches principles of learning organisations, thereby ensuring that the environment is continually improving. It provides parameters within which the organization’s personnel and leadership team can operate, guiding them on the right things to do so that they can focus on doing these things in the right way. These aspects collectively support organisational entrepreneurship and innovation, two extremely important characteristics in today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

IT governance promotes ethical behaviour in the use of technology and information and in the treatment of threats technology is posing to human rights. This will become increasingly critical as we move deeper into the 4IR. Cybersecurity, information security, and privacy impacts are just a taste of what we will face in future. We need to be ready; ethical and effective IT governance equips organizations for this.

Three non-negotiables for IT governance:

1. Ethical and effective leadership, by
2. Legacy builders and appropriate risk-takers, who are
3. Passionate about, and invested in, guiding their organizations to do the right things, minimize value leakage, and steward the world’s limited resources responsibly.

 IT governance carries enormous reputation risk, and opportunity. Technology provides organisations with the ability to access vast arrays of data, but its ability to rapidly and widely distribute data also has the potential to destroy organisations. While we have seen several newsworthy reputational disasters relating to the unintentional exposure, or nefarious use, of data, some South African companies have successfully leveraged the benefits of data effectively responding to the threats. They are using data optimally to reduce costs and outrun competitors.

It’s not only about the technology or the information; it’s mostly about the people. Today my efforts are directed to Business Relationship Management and minimizing value leakage that occur as a consequence of poor human behaviour and dysfunctional organisational relationships.

Active listening, negotiation, convincing and motivation are hard knocks for traditional IT people like me who are most comfortable sitting behind a device. In tomorrow’s world I believe these skills are going to be core differentiators as technology increasingly automates the repetitive tasks. It is a problem we must tackle head-on as these relationship skills are precisely those we are losing touch with as we increasingly interact and communicate through our devices.”

In today’s world, IT has infiltrated every aspect of business. It is not just ‘the computer guy’s’ responsibility anymore. Organisations that struggle with IT governance may see real business impact in the form of missed market opportunities and lost competitive advantage, and even extinction. The good news is that, for those with sound IT governance, ready to take Industry 4.0 by the horns and evolve with the digital age, a whole new world awaits.

###