IT Governance to Drive High Performance: Lessons from Accenture

This book will show you the state-of-the-art IT governance model that was developed by the largest consulting firm in the world!

This pocket guide provides you with an insider’s detailed description of Accenture’s IT governance policy and details its governance structure. It will show how effective IT governance links IT strategy and IT decisions to Accenture’s business strategy and business priorities.

Following the best practices approach set out in this pocket guide will serve as an excellent starting point for any organisation with ambitions to achieve high performance.

Benefits to business include:

• Boost productivity - How hard do you work in other areas of your business to cut costs and improve efficiency? In testing economic times, is the absence of a clear strategy for your business’s IT governance still a realistic option? Learning from Accenture’s proven approach will enable you to increase your organisation’s competitiveness over the longer term.
• Coordinate your operations - To ensure effective decision-making and align your IT function with your broader business goals, you need to make the structure of your IT governance fit your overall corporate governance structure. That way, you can make your IT work for your business.
• Manage change effectively - IT is crucial for realising the changes you want your business to make. For this reason, you cannot afford to have these changes treated merely as IT projects that have been foisted on the company by the IT department. By bringing top management on board, and giving business leaders a formal role in the IT governance of your organisation, you will make the success of any project with an IT component much more likely.
• Keep a grip on budgets - The costs of IT projects are notoriously prone to overrun, while some IT development programmes have promised more than they ever delivered. The Accenture way of doing business is different. Following the Accenture approach means ensuring that your IT investment is backed by a solid business case, and measuring the return on investment following project completion.

About the Author

Robert E. Kress is the Executive Director of Business Operations for Accenture's high performance IT organization, which directly supports the business goals of a $22 billion company with more than 175,000 employees in 52 countries. Reporting to Accenture's Chief Information Officer, Bob has overall responsibility for running IT like a business. He provides management for the organization's $700 million global IT operation, including direct management of IT governance, IT strategy, IT planning, IT risk office, supplier and contract management, audit and IT policy, communications, business performance, finance, human resources, deployable resources and organizational development. Bob has extensive experience in IT planning, technology operations, application development, product management, service planning and program management. Before joining the IT operation, Bob was an Accenture consultant. In that role, he developed and delivered large, complex IT transformation projects and business solutions that maximized return on investment for clients in the healthcare, government, and consumer products sectors. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa.