Globalization calls for new governance structures. “Headquarters”
must decentralize. Standards must
become architectural and procedural, not based on brands, models,
or vendors. Our data suggests enterprise CIOs and CTOs should focus
on infrastructure optimization, alternative technology-delivery models, and architecture—and not much
else. Business units should focus
on requirements, application development (within architectural standards), and deployment of fast/cheap
technologies like those in social media. If companies do not adjust their
governance around these activities,
the business-technology partnership
will collapse. There will be major
pushback from the business units
that want to move quickly, cheaply,
adaptively. If central IT organizations
provide roadblocks to these operating principles, the lines of business
will end run the IT organization.
Participatory
Technology Governance
Consider this essential finding of
our analysis: Where technology governance was essentially something
defined and implemented by technology and business professionals in their
own companies, the new participatory
governance reflects the distribution of
decision rights across multiple internal and external participants.
The concept of “participatory governance” emerged from informal discussions validated through formal
interviews and surveys with business-technology managers and business
executives across the globe (for the
surveys) and the U.S. locally/region-ally/nationally (for the interviews) on
the state of technology governance.
The data was collected from both
the technology and business sides of
multiple companies. Segmenting the
groups indicates technology professionals are somewhat less likely to
endorse participatory governance,
while business professionals are
much more likely to endorse it. There
is, however, general agreement that
cloud and supply-chain computing
are the major drivers of participatory
governance and that technology vendors and business suppliers should be
part of the governance process.
ment is a change from the past, but
the prominence of the Web as the
emerging dominant transaction platform has changed everything.
Globalization is another major driver
of new governance models. As more and
more companies expand their global
reach, they must adjust the author-
ity they exercise over the business units
they encourage to grow. Decentraliza-
tion and federation are necessary to
enable agile decision making; business
units expanding around the globe need
the authority to make local and regional
decisions. Extending corporate IT from
headquarters around the world makes
sense infrequently. Servicing an army
of technology ex-pats is expensive and
inhibiting. Local talent, providers, and
local/regional/country support makes
sense as companies build sustainable
footprints around the world.
Figure 2. Governance participants.
Internal Stakeholders External Stakeholders
The
Enterprise
Corporate
Functions
Business
Units
Hardware,
Software,
and Service
Providers
Partners
and Supplies The Crowd
The corporate
entity that
defines the
corporate
mission and
overarching
reporting
structure
of the
organization,
including
technology
leaders
Specific
activities
that define
corporate
organizations
(such as
marketing,
finance,
accounting,
human
resources, and
information
technology)
Specific lines
of business
that focus
on specific
customer sets
with products
and services
that generate
sales and
profits and
that require
information
technology
Vendors
that provide
hardware,
software,
networks,
and other
services to
the enterprise
and business
units,
increasingly
delivered
through
cloud service
providers
Business partners
and suppliers that
enable business
functions, as well
as product and
service definition,
manufacturing,
and delivery,
along with
other activities
All those
outside the
enterprise,
business
units,
providers,
partners, and
suppliers
that might
contribute in
any way to the
success of the
company
Figure 3. Findings from business (B) and technology (T) professionals.
Questions for Business (B) and Technology (T) Professionals
BT
Yes Yes
Do you have a governance policy? 71% 91%
Is your governance policy effective? 43% 61%
Are the lines of business active governance partners? 44% 15%
Is a central I T group in control of operational IT assets? 67% 82%
Is “Shadow IT” larger because of your governance policies? 89% 42%
Should central IT organizations own operational technology? 76% 86%
Should the lines of business own strategic technology? 89% 59%
Should the lines of business own emerging technology? 69% 44%
Is governance still about standardization and control? 54% 91%
Should the lines of business have more governance power? 88% 32%
Does the cloud represent a governance “game changer”? 92% 69%
Should vendors be part of the governance process? 87% 49%
Should consultants be part of the governance process? 89% 51%
Should suppliers be part of the governance process? 71% 47%
Should the crowd be part of the governance process? 86% 39%
Should the lines of business define governance processes? 87% 37%
Should corporate IT define governance processes? 41% 76%
Should technology governance be more “democratized”? 81% 58%
Is technology “governance” an obsolete concept? 43% 52%