IT governance to improve e-governance

Abstract

Both eGovernance and IT governance are growing research areas. Despite the broad benefits predicted for citizens and nations from introducing eGovernment, empirical investigations of its implementations suggest that many of them have stalled at an early phase of maturity. In recent research, diverse barriers to the achievement of the more sophisticated phases of eGovernment have been identified. Poor IT governance is accepted as the major explanation for failure to achieve the goals from IT-related projects. Yet little explicit consideration of IT governance appears in the eGovernance literature. Why eGovernment has not been as successful as predicted must be due at least in part to the challenges required in bringing about effective IT governance. COBIT is the best-known IT-governance framework. Mapping the barriers to achieving eGovernment to the COBIT framework is expected to indicate the degree to which eGovernment may be improved through effective use of an IT governance framework. This approach may also identify barriers to eGovernment that cannot be mapped to COBIT. This white paper seeks to prompt discussion on the role of IT governance in achieving effective eGovernment.