IT GOVERNANCE WITH RISK MANAGEMENT IMPACT ON THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR Essay

IT GOVERNANCE WITH RISK MANAGEMENT IMPACT ON THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR BUSINESS STRATEGY - Essay Example It has the capability of influencing how the company objectives are set and achieved, how risks are being monitored and assessed and how the performances are being optimized. Applying the concept of governance to IT, Rego and Wilson (2012) define IT governance as the setting up of structures, processes and relational mechanisms around the way an organization aligns its IT strategy with its business strategy. IT is a critical element of governance and usually entails the study and use of systems such as computers and telecommunication equipments for storing, sending and retrieving information (Rego & Wilson, 2012). Erkens, Hung and Matos, (2012) place the responsibility of IT governance on the board of directors and the executive management. From this perspective, IT governance is seen to be a crucial part of the enterprise management and entails leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the company IT sustains and extends to the organization strategy and objectives. From this definition, IT management remains a main actor within the IT governance process. However, although IT management and IT governance are closely related, the two concepts are different since IT management is in charge of providing effective IT services, with supplying and management of IT services and products. On the other hand, IT governance focuses on the performance and service deliv ery aimed at achieving the demands of customers and shareholders. IT governance is surrounded with risks, which means that risk management is inevitably a component of IT governance as well as corporate governance. It follows, therefore, that the teams responsible for the governance of a governmental entity must consider IT and understand how critical the risks are to the organization and manage them according to their priority level. This becomes more important when it is considered that the government sector often struggles to deal with inadequate or