The value and the significance of IT governance are examined in this lesson. For IT governance to be effective it must have collaboration in the organization between executives on the board and senior level management. The board must be involved with making IT decisions and assist in aligning IT investments with corporate strategies. Placing the accountability on IT alone does not provide the full value that IT can bring to an enterprise, when accountability is dispersed among the enterprise the value is more prominent.

The hesitations to participate and take accountability from the directors of an organization are because of their lack of knowledge when it comes to IT. The fear of looking stupid in front of colleges discourages them from getting involved. Having a knowledgeable person in respects to IT can effectively communicate the reasons for IT investment and development would be beneficial in helping directors understanding the importance of IT.

Establishing an IT governance allows for individuals to take accountability. IT governance provides structure for enterprises in the decision-making processes by designating people into groups from the whole enterprise to make certain decisions. Management determines what is needed from the decision (i.e. how much money?) and implements it. In doing this it provides a more efficient and effective technique, as there is more people involved the accountability does not fall on just IT department. Having different groups of governance different steps in evaluating the investments in projects that would be beneficial to the enterprise as whole. In the article by Weill & Ross (2004) they state that top-performing enterprises are superior because they have implemented effective IT governance.  

When implementing IT governance the board of directors must decide what is the strategic method that the enterprise is trying to implement. Once the strategy has been determined, next would be to place people into roles that would setup the structure for IT governance. Assigning individuals to groups and giving the responsibilities for making certain decisions helps with the implementation of IT governance.

Having IT governance in place and following it will in my mind provide better results for companies looking to get value from there IT. In the readings its also mentions that enterprises that focused on IT governance perform better than those that don’t. I agree with this statement because with IT governance the responsibility and accountability is distributed among several groups of people and does not just solely fall on the shoulders of the IT department. I believe when this done the attitude and the behaviour of the whole enterprise changes for the better and helps with implementing the organizations strategies and attaining the goals that the board of directors had set out to achieve. As IT becomes more used in business processes it will be come very important to establish IT governance to provide way of knowing the value IT is bringing and to help with future growth.