Achieving It Governance Of Social Media At Strategic And Operational Levels

Abstract

Social media offers great opportunities for businesses, and the use thereof will increase competitiveness. However, social media also introduces significant risks to those who adopt it. This study was undertaken to identify incremental risks resulting from the adoption of social media by businesses and to develop an integrated Information Technology (IT) governance control framework to address these risks. In order to overcome the IT gap, these risks are addressed both at strategic and operational levels. With the help of the processes in Control Objectives for Information Technology and Related Technology (COBIT) 5, this study provides safeguards or controls that can be implemented to address the IT risks that social media introduces to a business. A business can ensure that it successfully governs the IT-related risks at a strategic level through the implementation of the safeguards and controls identified from COBIT 5. This study also briefly discusses the steps that a business can follow to ensure IT-related risks at an operational level are addressed through the implementation of configuration controls.