IT Governance Series: 1-The History

Back in 1998, the IT Governance Institute was established. According to its fact sheet as you could find it on ISACA website, it is saying that ITGI is to advance international thinking and standards in directing and controlling an enterprise information technology. ITGI offers original research on global practices and perceptions relative to the governance and management of enterprise IT (GEIT).

Effective governance of IT helps ensure that IT supports organization goals, optimizes IT investment , and appropriately manages IT-related risks and while at the same time elaborate business opportunities through the efficient and effective use of IT resources.

I am not saying that the term of IT Governance did not exist until ITGI has established. Around 1993 it has become a sort of new jargon along with the Corporate Governance-its cousin. Everything seemed a bit different with the term Governance. Much cooler than the most trendy word before - the Management. Everything suddenly came up with Governance.

I remembered that at some conference, the speaker explained that how difficult to translate Governance into Bahasa Indonesia word. To most of people,  it might easily translate into 'tata kelola' but in fact Governance has more than that. It has some components include Supervision, Strategic Decision, Accountability, and many more. Management on the other hand still owns its traditional components like Planning, Organizing, Actuating and Controlling (POAC).

To date, it is obviously makes thing easier for me as a practitioner in governance and assurance service to use Governance instead of Management. I need to address all of three goals above by enabling the controls at every point of organizational functions. By doing that, stakeholder could be more confident that they have put everything in place, thus the result would be at its best they could be achieved.