It governance structure

IT governance structure Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date: IT governance structure IT governance is a system in which information technology is used to monitor the performance of a business and risk management. Using this structure, a business can safeguard their investments and increase business value through putting structures that are properly defined in terms of infrastructure, information, applications and business processes. Decision making process is whereby a problem is identified, and management finds a way in which they can get a solution.

Decision making at times is a long process, and it can be shortened through employing other structures. IT governance has been adopted, in hospitals, to help in the process of making decisions. It has helped to portray how Information Technology governance process can raise the number of IT projects that assist the hospital’s strategy to complete on time and budget on the projects it has undertaken. The New York Presbyterian hospital adopted the use of IT governance to assist in the process of decision-making. The process has helped improve the way in which they have reached a solution and hastened the process of risk-management. This has however also come up with a few hiccups attached (Kropf & Scalzi, 2007). Through the introduction of IT governance, hospitals hoped to create a culture in the organization that follows policies and practices that provide for IT management to gain control of different areas in the hospital. It hopes to provide for a strategic track in which IT can align the business with respect to services and projects.

It also hopes to improve on the value delivery and ensure that the business achieves its goals. Through it, risk management processes are implemented to ensure that risks will be adequately managed. Resources, which play a vital role in an organization, can also be adequately managed so that there is a high-level of direction in which IT materials can be found and put into proper use. Through all these, performance management can be monitored to find out whether it was strategic to employ IT governance in decision-making, in New York Presbyterian Hospital. The benefits of using this system improved how the public viewed the hospital’s management.

They portrayed an image of transparency and accountability. The decision-making process was clarified as the hospital had accountabilities and definition of user and provider relationships. This is because all the decisions they made could be backed up with evidence as to how they reached that conclusion. As stakeholders were allowed to see the IT risks and returns, they increased their dividends meaning the hospital could afford to purchase the additional resources they might need.

It is because of all these changes that the overall reputation of the hospital was enhanced and could now be protected. The public could see from its improvements the positives steps that New York Presbyterian Hospital had taken to improve its self worth. Their centering of their services on performance improvement will lead to attainment of best practices. The hospital ended up raising their bar of performance and have maintained it and raised it higher from time to time (National Computing Centre Limited, 2005). Since IT governance calls for not only management to embrace the culture but also employees, it is necessary to educate the staff. Thus, in the hospital, where it is not in the employees’ culture to embrace change, it became an obstacle in implementing this policy. The employees were not as keen as management to adopt this strategy. This is because it led to additional training, which not many people were open to doing.

In addition to that, adopting this method means that the hospital would need to acquire additional resources. Thus, the cost benefit analysis was put into question. There was also a problem of the approval process once the strategy had been implemented. It took a long time for the staff to accept the changes that the management is hoping to implement. This resulted into funds that could have been used elsewhere, being used. Implementation of IT governance is the biggest obstacle that the management faces. It should therefore be the first issue that management should address.

They should help their staff understand that IT governance is a process and not something, that can be achieved overnight. It requires dedication and commitment from everyone in an organization to make it a success. Everyone from the top of the organization should inspire a better way of dealing with how IT is managed and controlled. They should study the trends that accompany IT governance so that they can keep abreast with what is happening.

Thus, continuous improvement mentality and responsiveness to the fast changing IT environment is crucial in every organization and not just in hospitals. If people learn to accept and embrace change in the work place, it will mean that implementation of such projects will be fast and easier as everyone is on board with the program. IT governance has its strengths and drawbacks, but at the end of the day, the strengths outweigh the drawbacks. It is therefore best for people to embrace this change as it will result in a boost in profit margins as it highlights better ways of addressing the problems that a company, industry or hospital faces in its day to day running. After all, every business strives to look for ways to better themselves in every aspect. Therefore, IT governance in decision-making is the way to show transparency, independence and accountability.

Reference: Kropf, R., & Scalzi, G. (2007). Making information technology work: Maximizing the benefits for health care organizations. Chicago: Health Forum, AHA Press. National Computing Centre Limited.

(2005). IT governance: Developing a successful governance strategy: a best practice guide for decision makers in IT. Manchester: National Computing Centre.