Performance ● Governance ● Compliance (PGC)

The Governance Imperative

Why is governance such a hot topic? The reason is that, now, with such stringent compliance requirements worldwide, the word is out! Governance is the primary way to increase compliance practice understanding and work disciplines, reduce business risk, and save significant time and money in the adoption and deployment of recognized “best practices”. Thus, best practice frameworks provide a proven way to identify which business processes are of most importance based on deep industry experience, and this guidance enables us to avoid false starts.

Sadly, most businesses are being run in an ad hoc, seat-of-the-pants way. Management fights fires endlessly and has little time to get to the root of their business problems; process discipline. Frankly, management has failed their shareholders in driving additional business value. For instance the wide majority of companies do not use any recognized, and in some cases, world renown best practice frameworks, such as The Balanced Scorecard^®, COSO^®, COBIT^®, ITIL^®, EVA^®, Real Options^®, The Business Rule Approach, and others.

Most companies have not done a good job in building, on their own, an accountability framework and supporting Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) to encourage desirable business behavior. Nor do they have any policies in place to systematically protect or generate business value from the 6 most important enterprise assets:

• Human Assets: People, skills, career paths, training, reporting, mentoring, competencies, etc.
• Financial Assets: Cash, investments, liabilities, cash flow, receivables, etc.
• Physical Assets: Buildings, plant, equipment, maintenance, security, maintenance, utilization, etc.
• IP Assets: Intellectual Property (IP) including products, services, and process know-how that is formally patented, copyrighted, or embedded in the enterprise’s people and systems.
• Information and IT Assets: Digitized data, information, and knowledge about customers, process performance, finances, information systems, etc.
• Relationship Assets: Relationships within the enterprise as well as relationships, brand, and reputation with customers, suppliers, business units, regulators, competitors, channel partners, etc.

Best practice frameworks also provide a starting point for measuring process performance against a structured Capability Maturity Model. This scale enables cross-industry benchmarking so that any company can compare their own performance against “best-in-class” performance standards.

Best Practice Automation

Defining IT Governance

IT Governance Using COBIT

Business Drivers for Implementing the Standard

IT Governance Warning Signs

Best Practice Frameworks