One great task for CIOs is aligning their IT Strategy to Business Strategy. Some of the IT projects that CIOs propose are usually turned down since Executives do not see the value of the project from a business perspective. Moreover, since most firms treat IT as an enabler of business rather than the core business, IT is sometimes not given priority. CIOs therefore end up having to operate on a squeezed budget and do more with less; what I'd call 'killing two birds with half a stone'. Here is where Governance of Enterprise IT (GEIT) becomes a crucial skill for CIOs. It is no longer about pursuing or implementing great IT projects but doing so only for projects that accrue to business value. Proper governance requires moving the IT department from a mere 'cost center' to a 'competitive differentiator', from a 'value drainer' to a ‘business contributor'. The ISACA 2012 GEIT Survey shows that 42% of organizations were planning to increase their selectively of IT projects based on expected contribution to business. One common trend I have …show more content…
Whereas OPEX arrangements present incredible benefits, pitfalls do abound. Firstly, we have privacy implications that come with outsourcing. In my experience auditing, I have also noted that not everything vendors say is true and they can renege on the contract. So what's best? It depends is the answer! The choice of whether CAPEX or OPEX is highly contextual and many factors come into play like criticality and sensitivity of the business data, privacy requirements, cost-benefit analysis and return on investments. For example outsourcing business critical apps is a slippery terrain to tread on while outsourcing a test or development environment to the cloud is a lower risk. Therefore, the decision should only follow careful consideration and much thought. If need be, firms could involve Experts to ensure that an informed decision is