The Need for IT Oversight

IT Governance has been a major area of concern to Boards of Directors for many years. The problem stems from the fact that the members of the Board usually have limited understanding of IT, yet the Board has overall responsibility for firm governance and is accountable for financial stewardship and results. And IT is a major element of corporate activities.

Many Boards have approached this issue by appointing a member of IT management to the Board, which helps improve communications. Others have formed an IT Oversight Committee, that is closely tied into IT governance and reports regularly to the Board. Still others have formed a digital strategy think tank, which obviously offers insight into IT Strategy for the Board to consider.

There is a place for all of these groups in corporate governance. And several different ways to organize these IT groups, some better than others. The best approach is to make them high level committee, reporting directly and regularly to the Board. Members of the ITO Committee must be very knowledgable about IT and involved in it's management or governance. Functional management groups, such as AI Implementation, Data Management, etc. would need to channel into the ITO.

In this way, overall IT Governance is a network of top management and Board members where IT becomes an integral part of Firm Governance.

It is now all but impossible to avoid IT in firm governance. So, the issue is not to consider including it, but rather how to include the IT issues in a way that can optimize Board awareness and lead to decisions on IT strategy that are most likely to enable achievement of corporate objectives.