Developing the Adaptive Digital IT Governance Framework for Next-Generation IT Governance

Over years, research in Management Information Systems (MIS) has resulted in significant implications for organizations in a wide variety of areas by using socio-technical perspective, which has helped to deliver more business focused solutions. This study reports the results of an empirical examination of the effect of IT governance framework based on COBIT and Organizational Knowledge Pillars in enhancing the IT Governance framework (Business / IT Strategic alignment, Business value delivery, risk management, Resource management, performance measurement) to enhance the business intelligence application and usability within the organization. Quantitative method is adopted for answering the research questions. A questionnaire was used for data collection after contacting several companies, in addition confirmatory factor model and structural equation model were developed and tested and the overall results of the empirical investigation supported the general framework. Using confirmatory factor analysis techniques, the effects of the combination between IT governance factors seen by ITGI and organizational knowledge pillars of the firm on BI Systems application in it were tested and confirmed and the models were also verified. Several statistical methods were used for data analysis; moreover different statistical tools as software packages were employed such as SPSS 17 and EQS 6.1. The study proposes that knowledge management (KM) and IT Governance framework are vital organizational abilities that support business intelligence application; it also observes that combination of IT governance framework with organizational knowledge within the firm can enhance the organization’s BI system application and usability, and its goal is to advance the understanding of the relationships among these factors. The study develops and tested two main hypothesizes: (1) IT Governance framework supports business intelligence application. (2) Organizational knowledge, in turn, leads to support business intelligence application.

The lack of effective IT governance is widely recognized as a key inhibitor to successful global IT outsourcing relationships. In this study we present the development and application of a governance framework to improve outsourcing relationships. The approach used to developing an IT governance framework includes a meta model and a customization process to fit the framework to the target organization. The IT governance framework consists of four different elements (1) organisational structures, (2) joint processes between in- and outsourcer, (3) responsibilities that link roles to processes and (4) a diverse set of control indicators to measure the success of the relationship. The IT governance framework is put in practice in Shell GFIT BAM, a part of Shell that concluded to have a lack of management control over at least one of their outsourcing relationships. In a workshop the governance framework was used to perform a gap analysis between the current and desired governance. Several gaps were identified in the way roles and responsibilities are assigned and joint processes are set-up. Moreover, this workshop also showed the usefulness and usability of the IT governance framework in structuring, providing input and managing stakeholders in the discussions around IT governance.KeywordsAccount ManagerPortfolio ManagementMeta ModelJoint ProcessGovernance FrameworkThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

IT Governance frameworks such as COBIT, ITIL, and ISO have become the most important guidelines for IT Governance (ITG). These frameworks are used by organizations as a tool to evaluate their own ITG systems and to help the IT managers to bridge any gaps between the technical issues, business risks, and control requirements. The main objective of the research is to study the various IT governance frameworks used by the organizations and the challenges they face in compliance with the IT Governance framework, and the steps taken to overcome these challenges in the UAE. This objective was achieved by using a quantitative approach through a questionnaire felt by a sample of IT executives or IT professionals working at different private and public organizations in the UAE. The results of the study discovered that most of the organizations use ITIL and ISO as their preferred choice of the ITG framework, and the major challenge faced by the organizations in compliance with the ITG frameworks is the lack of people’s acceptance which overcomes by training people using tools and systems with the frameworks used in the organizations. This study provides useful information for future researchers to understand the challenges in implementing the ITG frameworks and how to overcome them in the context of the private and public sectors in the UAE.

This research proposes an IT Government model for Public Institutions with a focus on Higher Education, for which the best IT governance practices were used, such as COBIT 5 and the ISO 38500 standard, with the purpose of generating value (obtaining of benefits, optimization of risks and resources) to the Institution to position the IT department as a strategic area in the fulfillment of institutional objectives. The main motivation to carry out this proposal was to support the current and future strategic decisions of the Higher Education Institution. Subsequently, the validation of the model proposed in the SENESCYT is carried out; that allows to progressively reach the levels of capacity in the processes of Information Technology for the achievement of a good IT Government. Finally, as a result of the research and in order to maintain the perception of value in the adoption of the IT Governance Framework, it is recommended to carry out a continuous measurement of the results obtained in the action plan to improve the catalysts, according to the Results of the proposed management indicator, in order to progressively achieve improvements in the level of capacity, this will facilitate the identification of initiatives to improve the IT Corporate Governance Framework.

This study aims to explore a multi-mechanism approach to IT governance in Indonesian higher education institutions. It examines the various factors and strategies involved in effective IT governance within the context of Indonesian academia. The objective of this article is to collect and analyze the different factors that influence the implementation of an IT Governance model in Indonesian higher education institutions. Through a literature review methodology, the study identifies 5 factor core mechanism and 4 factor additional mechanism that influence the implementation of IT governance in Higher Education Institution. These factors must be taken into account and given special attention for the successful implementation of an IT governance framework.

Business/IT alignment can be considered a key challenge in IT governance and becomes especially important in IT-heavy and internet based business models. Recent discussions express the need for a bi-directional paradigm for internet based business models. IT governance frameworks support business/IT alignment but mostly follow a business-driven alignment paradigm. We identify characteristics of internet based business models and examine how the IT governance framework COBIT 5 can integrate these characteristics under consideration of a bi-directional business/IT alignment process. We reveal that requirements for internet based business models are not fully covered by the framework. Based on a structural description of internet based business models and the COBIT 5 Goal Cascade, we explain these specific requirements and propose a possible integration of a bottom-up alignment. With this work we provide guidance in the challenge of business/IT alignment for internet based business models and show pathways for IT governance frameworks to better support a bi-directional alignment.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of Information Technology (IT) Governance models for public organizations and presenting an IT Governance model that can be adopted by both practitioners and researchers. A review of the literature in IT Governance has been initiated to shape the intended theoretical background of this study. The systematic literature review formalizes a richer context for the IT Governance concept. An empirical survey, using a questionnaire based on COBIT 4.1 maturity model used to investigate IT Governance practice in multiple case studies from Kingdom of Bahrain. This method enabled the researcher to gain insights to evaluate IT Governance practices. The results of this research will enable public sector organizations to adopt an IT Governance model in a simple and dynamic manner. The model provides a basic structure of a concept; for instance, this allows organizations to gain a better perspective on IT Governance processes and provides a clear focus for decision-making attention. IT Governance model also forms as a basis for further research in IT Governance adoption models and bridges the gap between conceptual frameworks, real life and functioning governance.

Robotic Process Automation opens up new possibilities for organizations to automate processes that were previously not worth automating for technical or financial reasons. Furthermore, the fact that RPA does not require deep IT skills allows for the development within business departments. However, RPA, and lightweight IT in general, not only creates new opportunities, but also poses new challenges for organizations, especially for IT Governance. Based on existing IT Governance frameworks, we investigate the design of RPA-specific Governance models in practice and elaborate respective advantages and disadvantages. Based on this, we identify organizational internal context factors that influence the implementation mechanisms of a lightweight-specific IT Governance. We build our research on a qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with practitioners, consultants, and a vendor representative.KeywordsLightweight ITRobotic Process AutomationRPAIT Governance

Higher Education Institution are complex organizations that require an adequate IT infrastructure and information systems to fulfill their mission. IT governance as ‘an important part of enterprise (corporate) governance that articulates the processes, structures and relational mechanisms in the organization that enable both business and IT people to execute their responsibilities in support of business/IT alignment and the creation of business value’. It is evident that there is a lack of studies on IT governance for higher education and no studies conducted yet on this paradigm. Due to the considerable difficulty in implementing IT governance frameworks for different organizations, thus may require different solutions for IT governance. The propose model illustrates how IT governance align with enterprise governance and corporate governance of Philippines’s Higher Education Institution. A Design Science Research (DSR) methodology was adopted which is extensively used in information systems research to solve complex problems. The researchers thus recommends that a combination of COBIT and ISO/IEC 3800 guidelines be adopted and used with a balanced scorecard for enterprise governance as IT Governance Framework for higher education institutions in the Philippines. This will ensure effectiveness and efficiency of IT processes as well as accountability to all stakeholder in the higher educational institutions.

E-business process management (e-BPM) entails management of e-business processes with the customer initiating the process and involves non-linear processes with strong focus on value networks leveraging collaboration and alliances, rather than just business processes within the confines of the organization (Kim & Ramkaran, 2004). E-BPM requires organizations to take a process approach to managing their e-business processes (Smith & Fingar, 2003). The advent of business process reengineering (BPR) (Davenport, 1993; Hammer & Champy, 1993) resulted in numerous organizations initiating BPR programs. While BPR aims to enhance an organization’s process capability by adopting engineering discipline, e-BPM goes a step further and targets to improve the organizational process management capability (Smith & Fingar, 2004). Organizations target end-to-end business processes that deliver maximum customer value through e-BPM (Smith & Fingar, 2003). However, by their very nature, end-to-end business processes more often than not span multiple enterprises incorporating their individual value chains (Porter, 1985; Smith & Fingar, 2003; Smith, Neal, Ferrara, & Hayden, 2002) and involve e-business processes (Kim & Ramkaran, 2004). Integrating fragments of processes across multiple functions and organizations not only involves shared activities and tasks among business and trading partners, but also the capability to integrate disparate IT systems (Kalakota & Robinson, 2003). Effective management of e-business processes depends to a great extent on the enabling information technologies. In fact, Smith and Fingar in 2003 have stated that BPM is about technology. Porter’s value chain is about end-to-end business processes needed to get from a customer order to the delivery of the final product or service (Porter, 1985). The pervasive use of technology has created a critical dependency on IT that demands for a specific focus on governance of IT (Grembergen, 2004). Explicitly or implicitly, organizations specify business activities as business processes, and without realizing these tend to be e-business processes. However, given the current business conditions and a clear understanding by organizations about the complexities of their e-business processes, management of e-business processes is taking center stage (Smith et al., 2002). In the current business scenario where e-business processes, along with information are considered key organizational assets and management of business processes a strategic capability (Kalakota & Robinson, 2003), it is imperative that organizations clearly delineate the need for relevant and pertinent information as it provides visibility and transparency. Additionally, IT being the single most important predictor of the business value of IT (Weill & Ross, 2004) drives the need to analyze and understand the implications of e-BPM on IT governance. The key objective of this article is to investigate the implications of e-BPM on IT governance through the analysis of available literature. In particular, the article argues that a direct influence of e-BPM on IT governance performance is inevitable. While the importance of both effective e-BPM and IT governance is intuitively clear, there is currently little research on elements of IT governance that get enabled by e-BPM. More importantly, there is the lack of a theoretical framework that could be used to analyze. To address this shortcoming, the article also presents an analysis framework. The analysis framework is particularly useful as it incorporates elements from prevalent IT governance frameworks. Using the analysis framework, the article then examines the implications of e-BPM on IT governance and develops research propositions. The aim of developing the propositions is to enable further investigation and research thereby contributing to IT management theory.

This research aims to explore the research domain of IT governance in the SME context. To meet this objective, a small systematic literature review procedure is used. Results indicate that IT governance in the SME context has been researched previously, albeit not extensively. There seems to be consensus among authors that IT governance is important for SMEs as well as larger organizations. Additionally, many authors indicate that SME specificities will likely influence the nature and implementation of IT governance in the SME context. There also appears to be no great variety in research strategies used in this niche research domain. Regarding the contemporary state of IT governance in SMEs, authors seem to indicate that there is room for improvement. Finally, there is no published framework for IT governance that is tailored for SMEs, although the need for this is directly reported in the literature. This paper concludes by discussing some potential directions for future research, starting from the state-of-the-art of the research domain.

Purpose This paper aims to reveal the potential challenges and opportunities for information technology (IT) governance in higher education institutions (HEIs). Furthermore, the authors extend what the identified determinants mean for Saudi universities. Design/methodology/approach This study pursued a systematic literature review applying the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses strategy protocol. Findings IT governance is both beneficial and challenging to integrate into the higher education setting. This is because most IT Governance frameworks are created and implemented in a traditional organizational setting, which differs from the overall culture of HEIs. As for the context of Saudi Arabia, findings depict a hopeful picture for the future of IT Governance, as HEI stakeholders are primarily aware of IT Governance policies, but Saudi HEIs are yet to work toward this goal systematically. Research limitations/implications Apart from extending the current literature on IT governance, this paper adds the educational perspective and the Saudi context, which is found to be limited in the existing literature. The findings could be used to benchmark the IT Governance scenario in other countries, wherein this study could support the roadmap of effective IT governance adoption in HEIs in various nations. Originality/value This study could support improving the institutional operational performance of HEIs in Saudi Arabia, particularly in terms of electronic monitoring systems, effective monitoring of processing systems, prevention of fraud and reducing the manipulation and wasting of funds. The insights from this study could be beneficial to government policymakers, higher education managers, researchers and academics.

Educational institutions are facing increasingly complex cyber threats, particularly as they continue to rely on on-premises servers with limited cybersecurity resources. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) offers a security model that rejects implicit trust and requires strict verification of each access request. This study aims to examine the applicability of ZTA in managing local servers within educational institutions through a qualitative literature review approach. Relevant literature from 2014 to 2025 was analyzed using thematic synthesis to identify recurring concepts, strategies, and gaps. The results show that ZTA, when integrated with Identity and Access Management (IAM), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), and real-time monitoring tools like Zabbix, Prometheus, and Grafana, significantly enhances network security by implementing granular access controls and continuous monitoring. However, the implementation is constrained by limited infrastructure and IT governance maturity in many institutions. This research is considered significant because it addresses a pressing gap in the cybersecurity practices of educational institutions, which often lack the robust frameworks and resources found in the corporate sector. By offering an adaptable and scalable ZTA-based security framework, the study contributes to advancing secure digital infrastructure and data protection in the education domain. Therefore, a strategic and phased adoption is recommended, supported by IT governance frameworks such as COBIT. This study contributes a conceptual framework that links ZTA, server monitoring, and institutional readiness, and offers recommendations for building sustainable cybersecurity strategies in the educational sector.

This study aims to develop and evaluate an integrated framework combining COBIT 2019 and ISO/IEC 27001 to enhance IT governance and information security management. Using a qualitative-descriptive approach, the research involved document analysis, expert interviews, and a case-based validation within a government institution. The integration process consisted of three phases: mapping, harmonization, and synthesis, which resulted in the development of the Integrated IT Governance and Security Framework (IGSF). The findings reveal a high degree of alignment between COBIT 2019’s governance domains and ISO/IEC 27001’s security control structures, forming a unified model that strengthens strategic alignment, risk management, and compliance. Expert validation confirmed that the IGSF facilitates better communication between governance and security teams, reduces redundancy, and enhances operational efficiency. The practical case study demonstrated improved coordination, documentation, and audit readiness following implementation. This study contributes to IT governance and information security literature by presenting a structured, adaptable framework that organizations can adopt to achieve both governance excellence and security resilience. The results also suggest potential for future quantitative evaluation to measure the impact of this integration on organizational performance and compliance outcomes.

This research examines the effect of Information Technology (IT) governance through audit clients on external auditing efficiency. To analyze the auditing efficiency of these contracts and to test the hypotheses that the Authors have set for this study, The study seeks to cover the research gap that the current literature has not adequately addressed regarding the impact of IT governance on the efficiency of external audits, concerning audit clients and giving priority to companies that can conduct audits quickly and cost-effectively, the Authors conducted a study of 30 audit contracts that were carried out by two auditing firms operating in Syria as an experiment and considered Syria adopts the IT governance framework in the Mediterranean basin and used data envelopment analysis to measure the auditing efficiency of these contracts. Furthermore, survey questionnaires were given to the audited companies to determine the extent of their compliance with IT governance, based on some of the principles of the Qubit 5 model. The data was analyzed, and the hypotheses were tested using regression analysis by employing SPSS software. The study establishes a positive correlation between the use of IT governance by audit clients and external audit efficiency based on two efficiency measures, CRS and VRS.