NCC Members have free access to this Guideline on the Principia website.

Information Technology can have a dramatic effect on business performance and competitiveness, a failure to manage IT effectively can have a very serious impact on the business as a whole.

Corporate governance generally has taken on even greater significance. It is being recognised that IT has a pivotal role to play in improving corporate governance practices, because critical business processes are usually automated and directors rely on information provided by IT systems for their decision making.

The current climate of cost reduction and budget restriction has resulted in a new norm - there is an expectation that IT resources should always be used as efficiently as possible and that steps are taken to organise these IT resources ready for the next cycle of growth and new IT developments. A key aspect of these factors is the increasing use of third party service providers and the need to manage these suppliers properly to avoid costly and damaging service failures.

IT governance covers the culture, organisation, policies and practices that provide this kind of oversight and transparency of IT - IT governance is part of a wider Corporate Governance activity but with its own specific focus. The benefits of good IT risk management, oversight and clear communication not only reduce the cost and damage caused by IT failures - but also engenders greater trust, teamwork and confidence in the use of IT itself and the people trusted with IT services.