Examination of ITIL & COBIT Alignment Reveals Opportunity for Companies to Improve Efficiencies and Processes
Hello to All!
It’s no surprise that we believe there is a terrific opportunity for BIG gains in efficiency and BIG reductions in risk through enterprise IT process alignment, enablement, and ultimately automation. What makes this time uniquely suited to this opportunity is the availability of widely accepted process & best practice standards–
Specifically, adoption and rationalization of the ITIL and COBIT frameworks is a smart way to increase enterprise efficiency, reduce departmental redundancies, and streamline compliance activities. Most companies suffer from a lack of process within their IT departments, or a silo only focus.
We’re starting to see companies leverage a process framework that combines ITIL and COBIT in initial planning rather than trying to reconcile the two frameworks at a later date. While both frameworks apply to IT, there is little overlap between the two as ITIL is focused on quality of service in IT, while COBIT focuses primarily on control / compliance.
One of the top challenges for organizations is aligning their compartmentalized IT activities with broader business objectives. Many executives have no visibility into their IT departments, and are not able to determine which, if any, operational redundancies can be eliminated or best practices adopted. Eighty percent of IT work is repetitive and can be made more efficient with adoption of enterprise process frameworks for IT Governance across the entire organization.
Integrating ITIL and COBIT brings many benefits to an organization and it doesn’t have to happen across the entire company all at once for it to be successful. To begin, identify a specific business challenge that needs structure and where IT efficiency gains can be measured. For many companies, Sarbanes 404 related initiatives are a first step. Once the first challenge is identified, streamlined, and automated; the approach and process can be repeated around a broader business challenge in an organized fashion, with internal converts from the first project championing the progression. At each stage, it’s critical to measure financial, efficiency, and strategic outcomes; and for employees to understand that changing their work habits will benefit the company and themselves.
To integrate ITIL and COBIT we’d counsel an approach that includes the following:
Identify a specific business challenge: Start small with the initial ITIL/COBIT integration to ensure minimal enterprise disruption, while gaining converts and experience.
Reengineer processes in an iterative fashion: To take advantage of the experience gained through the first integration, continue to make incremental steps in the application of combined framework policies.
Apply policies to processes that can be measured: The value in implementing processes is realized when an organization is able to measure and track the changes the processes bring to the organization. Without the ability to measure savings in cost, time or effort a framework brings to the organization, the long-term success and adoption of the framework decreases considerably.
Tie successes to employee compensation: Employees are more likely to change their work habits and practices if changes in behavior are reinforced by recognition / compensation.
Today, many companies are adopting COBIT, and are adopting ITIL. Some are now starting to see a larger process framework approach to improving IT at the enterprise level.
Is this happening in your organization today? If not–is there a good reason for it? Please let me know!
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