Monthly Archives: November 2016

Governance of Enterprise IT – from the Pain Points to the Business Case

“The practice of good governance provides the direction required to achieve desired outcomes”

From the pain points and triggers identified and their possible damage to or impact upon the organisation, a business case can be built for the implementation of Governance of Enterprise IT.

by Charles Chirchir, 16^th November 2016

In today’s highly interconnected and technology-enabled world, organisations are rapidly realizing that their digital presence and ability to protect critical functions and information are as important to their ability to remain competitive as the product and service they produce.

Further, there are multiple frame works -security, privacy, compliance, risk etc.- seeking to address and help direct and monitor optimization in support of these bleeding edge business drivers.

Question is, how do organisations determine the following:

– The extent to which their business goals are dependent on technology?

– That the enterprise’s technology resources are effectively utilised to realise business goals?

– Alternatives that the enterprise could use to make them nimbler, more agile or better equipped to respond to market pressures or customer demand?

– That the technology they have in place is providing value and realising the expected return on investment?

Systematically answering these and other related questions will bring many benefits among them more effective and efficient use of resources, greater control and overall better strategic alignment and risk management.

Governance of Enterprise IT (GEIT) is an industry practice that is rapidly gaining adoption to systematically address the above questions. The need for GEIT is usually recognised because of pain points such as:

– Failed initiatives, rising costs of IT and perception of low business value

– Significant incidences related to IT risk and security e.g. data loss or project failure

– Service delivery problems by outsourced providers

– Failure to meet regulators or contractual requirements

– Audit findings for poor IT performance or low service levels

– Hidden and/or rogue IT spending

– Resources waste through duplication and overlap in IT initiatives

– Insufficient IT resources, and inadequate skills or staff burn out or dissatisfaction

– Multiple and complex IT assurance efforts

– Reluctance of board members or senior managers to engage with IT

Trigger events are a second set of factors that signify an improvement opportunity, some examples of trigger events are:

– Merger, acquisition or divesture

– Shift in the market, economy or competitive position

– Change in the business operating model or sourcing arrangement

– New regulatory or compliance requirement or a new business strategy

– Significant technology change or paradigm shift

– External Audit or consultant assessment

From the pain points and or triggers identified and their possible damage to or impact upon the organisation, a business case can be built for the implementation of Governance of Enterprise IT and a business case developed on this basis sets a foundation such that the desired end state can be achieved.

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To find out more about how Accelerate Evolution can help your organization to design and implement a successful Enterprise Information Technology Governance structure click here to contact us.

Partially re-published from “A primer for Implementing Governance of Enterprise IT” by ISACA 2016

Umang Khan | Associate (Alum)

Umang is a passionate supply chain professional who excels at analytics and project delivery.

With over 15 years of experience in pharmaceuticals, fast moving consumer goods and food & beverage retail, she has worked in different areas of supply chain management ranging from supply & demand planning to logistics, distribution center & customer service management.

Umang has successfully led a number of supply chain projects in her career. Most recently as a Program Manager for Procter & Gamble in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region, she was responsible for overseeing and delivering all new launches in the Hair Care category.

Prior to her role as Product Launch Program Manager, she served in various supply chain project management roles in the region. Her key achievements include the delivery of a robust S&OP process, the successful implementation of a complex warehousing consolidation project transitioning from an in-house owned, dispersed warehousing network to a 3PL managed large scale, centrally located regional Distribution Center.

She was also actively involved with the training and onboarding of major retail cash & carry customers into the P&G supply chain and she was the supply chain lead for one of the biggest distributor transition projects P&G has undertaken in the MENAP region.

Prior to moving to the region she was with P&G in Pakistan where, in addition to her operational role as the supply chain lead, she led a large scale SAP implementation project. Before joining P&G she worked for GSK in the Consumer Health division.

Umang is passionate about Supply Chain Leadership and Development and during her career she has designed and delivered several training programs for both entry-level staff as well as middle and senior management. Umang herself holds an MBA in Management Information Systems and Finance.

She has a proven ability to move quickly from a high level assessment of a complex and challenging situation to the development and rapid implementation of solutions. This, coupled with her organizational agility as well as cultural awareness and adaptability makes Umang a valuable and sought-after supply chain management consultant.

When she is not out there helping organizations to develop supply chain capabilities she is either spending quality time with her 4-year old, travelling the world, reading, or cooking – Umang is also an emerging entrepreneur; together with her husband she owns a successful restaurant business in Dubai.

In 2018, after successfully participating in a number of projects at Accelerate Evolution Umang left Accelerate Evolution and joined a Dubai based consumer goods manufacturing company as their S&OP lead – she remains an active member of the Accelerate Evolution Alumni group.