Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has continued to implement new procedures to our centralized IT Governance process to promote compliance with state and federal regulations, mitigate risk, and align technology investments with institutional strategy. Decentralized IT Governance structures result in decreased regulation and localized investments at the departmental level that may or may not be aligned with the overall institutional strategy. On the other hand, a formal centralized IT Governance structure promotes better value investments at the institutional level by decreasing duplicative investments, ensuring regulatory compliance and mitigating risk related to data protection. As with most organizational changes, centralizing the IT Governance process is daunting and is not accomplished overnight. Ultimately, the keys to implementing a successful centralized IT Governance structure is procedural design, support, acceptance, and adherence.
This presentation discusses a strategic university-wide approach to pivot from a decentralized structure to a formal centralized IT Governance process, why it matters, and the challenges faced when traversing the technology acquisition landscape at the institutional level.
