IT Strategy, Governance, and Risk Management

3 units

Firms with superior IT governance designed to support the organization's strategy achieve better performance and higher profits than firms with poor (or no) governance. Just as corporate governance aims to ensure quality decisions about all corporate assets, IT governance links IT decisions with company objectives and monitors performance and accountability. We will start with developing an understanding of IT governance and go over the decision-rights and decision-making processes associated with it. We will study various enterprise operating models and strategies and see how they in turn determine the IT strategy and operating model. We will also review practices to provide business oversight and transparency into IT investments and go over how IT leaders can proactively partner with other business leaders to drive top-line growth and/or operational cost savings. We will also review how to classify initiatives into projects and programs and group them into portfolios. Furthermore, we will discuss different project implementation approaches, ranging from waterfall to agile methodologies. We will also cover how many IT departments are transitioning towards a more productized delivery model. Finally, we will also review technology selection processes, architectural governance, procurement of products and services, as well as service and vendor management. Throughout this process, we will be reviewing decision-making from the perspective of both leveraging business opportunities and managing risk. Risk management is an essential component of an IT leader's role. We will cover the risk management process and use it to identify and manage & control some of the common risks that contemporary IT organizations face. This includes guarding against cyber threats, protecting data, and managing vendor, business continuity, regulatory, project, and operational risks etc.