Does your board have IT expertise at the table?

“IT governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and executive management. It is an integral part of enterprise governance and consists of the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organization’s IT sustains and extends the organization’s strategies and objectives.”

 "Board Briefing on IT Governance" second edition 2003:

Board members need diverse skills and expertise in many areas - and that includes information technology and IT governance. 

Essentially, boards are as accountable for IT and the associated strategic risks as they are for finance and legal compliance issues. Governance starts at the top and the board should provide the leadership and oversight in setting strategy, managing risks, delivering value, and measuring performance.

Technology is ubiquitous in organizations, and because Information Technology affects every area of an organization, boards need to review how critical IT is for the delivery of their company's strategy.

One of my goals as an IT professional is to increase the awareness of IT governance at the executive and board level.  

IT Matters

Boards naturally expect management to optimize IT efficiency and deliver projects on time and on budget. But sometimes the CEO and the senior management team don’t have IT knowledge or experience. Their comfort level - and knowledge - is limited, so they will abdicate IT governance to the CIO, CFO or IT Director.

Why? Sometimes the CEO really doesn’t understand the technical aspects of IT, and secondly, many CEOs trust their staff completely in this area.

How IT decisions get made should not be about trust; it is more about teamwork, and executives and board members need to be part of the team.

So why aren’t they?
 

A lot of reasons. Executives and boards haven’t involved themselves in IT governance because they think IT requires more technical insight in order to understand how it can help the company. Or they see IT as too complex. Or IT has been set up within the organization as a department separate from the business itself. Whatever the reasons, organizations really should not let ‘technical literacy’ be a roadblock, good IT oversight requires governance skills, not technical skills.

Many CEOs tend to be in that boat where they’ve delegated the technology oversight to their CIO or CFO mainly because I don’t feel technically up to speed. After all, they’re the experts. The CEO thinks he/she doesn’t have to be, and many CEOs don’t plan to spend the time to get technical.

The reality is you don’t need to be technical to understand IT governance. It is a governance process, and Board members and CEOs certainly understand governance. CIOs still deal with all the technical aspects, but good governance focuses on the business, creating integration of business and IT and creating value. Boards and CEOs need to get involved because IT does matter.

Canada misses the top 10 in 2013 Global Innovation Index

It is no surprise to me that Canada didn't make the top 10 in the Global Innovation Index 2013 Report.  Years ago Canada was in sixth position. 

In so many organizations, I have witnessed a dearth of innovation utilizing IT.  Many businesses treat IT as a cost centre, with an attitude of cut, cut, cut. They don't look at IT as an innovator to propel the business forward. 

It all starts at the top.  Boards, more likely than not, pay no attention to IT.  If it does get on the board's agenda, it is likely once a year when the CapEx and OpEx budgets get approved.  But even then there is no discussion on getting value from IT.

Senior management often ignore IT as well.  They feel their CIO or senior IT manager has a handle on things.  Most senior executives cannot explain IT governance or IT strategy in their organizations.  They don't know if their investments in information technology are creating value or not.  Most organizations don't know how to utilize effective processes or governance to take advantage of IT.  To cap it off, many organizations don't even have IT at the Executive Committee table.

Although placing only 11th on the overall Global Innovation Index, Canada only managed 22nd place on Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) use.  The U.S. was no better, coming in at 23rd in ICT - it's a North American weakness.

With the lack of attention to IT at the top, it is no wonder that Canada is out of the the top 10 in innovation.