IT Governance For SME

The usage of information technology (IT) has drastically emerged during the last decade. Often, IT is considered to be the backbone of all business processes and the demand regarding stable and flexible IT services is continuously increasing. Users want to have access to their information from everywhere and all the time. Small and medium-sized enterprises are facing the challenge to satisfy these demands. Due to restricted financial and personal resources that are disposable for IT, small and medium-sized enterprises are depending on solid and efficient IT processes in order to remain competitive.This is where IT governance comes into play. Simply put, the main objective of IT governance is to ensure that IT processes are optimally aligned to the business processes whilst running at the highest possible efficiency level. Currently, IT governance is not yet widespread in small and medium-sized enterprises. The reason for this is, on the one hand, missing guidance for the implementation and management of IT governance processes. There are numerous frameworks and standards that are primarily appropriate for larger companies but none of them can be deployed in small and medium-sized enterprises due to their vast implementation effort that has to be taken. On the other hand, IT governance is considered to be a luxury topic from the perspective of many smaller companies and therefore does not get the necessary attention. The rethinking process that IT is a major enabler of business services has not yet advanced to the majority of small and medium sized enterprises....