An Investigation of IT Governance Practices in Sri Lanka

Abstract

IT (Information Technology) has become more important today in almost every industry, compared to yesteryear. It gives advantages such as cost reduction, increased productivity, increased service completion and production speed, differentiation; gains competitive advantage, reduces bottlenecks, provides better customer service and much more. However, IT brings with it some risks as well. This is because IT has become more and more vulnerable. IT projects failures, information system crashes, cyber crimes and other such issues. Therefore, IT should be managed properly. The need of IT governance emerged because of that. The purpose of this research is to conduct a study in the field of IT governance practices in Sri Lanka, find the gaps between existing modules and existing practices and try to identify the issues of implementing IT governance. The goal of this study is to determine important factors of existing IT governance models and examine how they have been applied in selected industries. Another purpose of this research is to identify industry awareness of IT governance in Sri Lanka and identify the level of adaptation of IT governance. This study uses a multiple survey design in which the research phenomenon is examined in real life situations. The methodology consists of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. First, identifying existing models of IT governance, best practices and implementing issues are done with a thorough literature review. Experts’ opinion towards IT governance in Sri Lanka and developing a module is followed by a survey in IT intensive industries such as banks, and telecommunication industries. Finally, the survey results are measured quantitatively, and whether there is a gap between existing practices and existing models is identified. The research will show the industry awareness towards IT governance and its maturity level. With the identified gaps between existing practices and existing models a framework for the Sri Lankan context can be developed as further research.