IT-governance practices: COBIT

With the increasing dependence of enterprises on IT, and with the widely spreading use of e-business, IT governance is attracting increasing worldwide attention. A proper IT governance would promote enterprise performance through intelligent and efficient utilization of IT. In addition, standard IT governance practices would provide a suitable open environment for e-business that provides compatibility for inter-enterprise interaction. This review is concerned with introducing the current state of IT governance, in four main steps. First, the review identifies what is meant by IT governance, and presents the main organizations concerned with its development, namely: ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and ITGI (Information Technology Governance Institute). Secondly, the review highlights COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies) the widely acknowledged IT governance framework, produced by ITGI. Thirdly, the current state of COBIT use is addressed using a recent global survey. Finally, comments and recommendations on the future development of IT governance are concluded. Understanding IT governance The word governance brings attention to the more familiar word government. To Webster's dictionary [1], both are of the same meaning. The dictionary defines the word government as "the individual or body that exercises administrative power". The word is known to be of Greek origin, and means "to steer" [2]. Currently, the two words are usually used to mean two related, but different, meanings. While the word government is defined as