The state of IT governance in South Africa

Abstract

The growth of Information technology is characterised by the chronic failure rate of IT enabled projects. IT governance is recognised as the mechanism for overcoming the challenges which hinder Information Technology’s ability to fulfil its potential. An understanding the state of IT governance provides insight into whether the current organisational IT environment is conducive toward allowing South African firms to sustain their operations and support their future strategies. The approach used for obtaining the required information for the research consisted of 2 concurrent data gathering methods, semi-structured interviews and an on-line survey. Both methods utilised a survey to assess IT governance in South Africa. A combined total of 48 surveys were completed consisting of 32 on-line surveys and 16 semi-structured interviews. The combined results of the completed surveys provided the basis for the research findings. The researched assessed the State of IT governance in South Africa as less than optimal based on specific issues relating to three key IT governance success criteria namely IT value measurement, executive management involvement in IT governance, and IT governance alignment with the business. Fortunately South African organisations have acknowledged the shortcomings and have taken active steps in adopting various international best practices, standards, frameworks, and tools towards addressing these challenges.