This section provides an overview of the uses and benefits of system governance. Review this section when considering the business case for system governance, and when preparing briefing sessions on system governance.
System governance contributes to many aspects of IT management.
- Halt and reverse the decline of systems into unsupportable “legacy”, systems that no longer meet business or technical requirements or are difficult to support.
- Extend the useful life of systems, lengthen the time between system replacements, and reduce average system replacement costs.
- Comply with internal standards or external regulation, and demonstrate that compliance has been achieved.
- Reduce support costs by identifying which parts of which systems would benefit from proactive maintenance.
- Identify which internal IT investments (investments in IT infrastructure, not in new IT functionality) will provide the best return, and monitor changes to ensure that the return is achieved.
- Measure and monitor the overall quality of IT systems, for example to manage an outsourcing contract.
- Reduce risks associated with change by reviewing project proposals and technology selections.
These are not alternatives. System governance can contribute to all these areas simultaneously.
System governance takes a long-term view of IT. By improving systems, it also eases short-term management pressures such as project delivery, staffing and support.
As well as providing strategic benefits, system governance provides some tangible cost savings.
Organisations run many types of IT reviews: project reviews, product evaluations, compliance reviews, system quality reviews, operational reviews, technology reviews, and reviews to support major change exercises. System governance provides an efficient framework for this review and monitoring activity and can directly reduce costs.
The benefits of this tactical use of system governance are not as great as strategic use, but they are tangible because they translate into direct cost savings and they are directly attributable to system governance because they do not depend on subsequent management decisions and system changes.
These tactical benefits help establish the business case for system governance. In many cases, the tactical benefits pay the costs of system governance, which means the larger but less tangible strategic benefits are “free”.