Enterprise Governance of IT

Abstract

The previous chapter provided a high-level description of the “Enterprise Governance of IT (EGIT)” concept. This second chapter starts with discussing the genesis and evolution of EGIT, both in academic research and practice. Then, this chapter introduces mechanisms that can be used to implement EGIT in practice. Indeed, developing a high-level model for EGIT is the first step, deploying it throughout all levels of the organization is the next challenging step. To effectuate this, EGIT can be deployed using a mixture of various structures, processes, and relational mechanisms. These EGIT mechanisms will be discussed in this chapter, including a demonstration of how such mechanisms were leveraged in the context of KLM, a large international airline company. Finally, specific EGIT-related topics will be discussed such as the role of the board in EGIT, IT governance transparency, the inter-organizational governance of IT, ambidextrous EGIT, and a more theoretical view on EGIT by drawing on the lens of the Viable System Model (VSM).