Indians deem IT more important: Study

NEW DELHI: More than 84 per cent of respondents in India deemed IT very important for overall strategy delivery -compared with the global average of 57 per cent, according to an IT Governance Institute (ITGI) study.

The study assessed the C-suite's IT governance priorities and actions executives have taken related to IT governance. It consisted of 695 interviews with CEO/CIO-level executives in 22 countries, with 38 per cent of respondents from the Asia-Pacific region.

India reported better results than the rest of the world in other categories as well. More than 90 per cent of respondents from India said that communication between IT and the board about IT matters is a very formalized, regular process, compared with the worldwide average of 54 per cent.

Additionally, only 11 per cent of respondents in India reported a disconnect between IT and the business strategy, compared to a global average of 29 per cent.

Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region reported very different results. For example, only 26 per cent of respondents from Japan reported that IT is discussed regularly (or more often) by the board, compared to 63 per cent of respondents worldwide.

Globally, the study found several improvements since 2003. IT is on boards' agendas more frequently, and more respondents believe that IT is very important to the delivery of the corporate strategy (both statistics saw a 5 per cent increase).

However, the study also found that CEOs are responsible for governance over IT in only 24 per cent of the responding organizations.

“As in 2003, CEOs and business executives are still hesitant to discuss IT governance,” said Everett Johnson, CPA, international president of ITGI. “This finding is troubling because boards and CEOs are ultimately responsible for oversight over all major assets-including IT.”

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