5 IT Governance Mistakes That You Can Avoid

As organizations grow, they develop a risk of losing control over what they have built so far. As a nimble growing organization with fewer employees, it is easier to set control guidelines that employees follow. However, as you grow and IT becomes more decentralized it is difficult to achieve the right level of control unless you enforce governance policies on employees. 

Setting up governance practices is an always-evolving process. It needs to be forward-looking yet help you manage your current environment. There are certain low-hanging mistakes that you can avoid easily as you plan for better governance. Let’s dive into those.

Shadow IT only happens to the company next door

It is a very common pitfall to assume this: “Shadow IT will never happen to us. It is a myth and my organization is safe and under control.” 

However, you should know that shadow IT does not happen only with public cloud resources. It can be a result of using SaaS offerings or any software that IT does not have a handle on. Research from McAfee highlights that shadow IT cloud usage is 10X the known cloud usage.

There is a practical way you can address this problem. With proper governance, you can provide agility without losing control of the environment. It is important that the IT teams coach their internal customers on how to stay vigilant and avoid shadow IT. This might sound easier said than done. However, with proper rigor in place, you can curb shadow IT easily over a period of time. 

Security is someone else’s headache

This is a common misconception that only IT is responsible for security. When business consumes any service they are an equal partner in security. IT will enforce security norms wherever it is possible. However, users need to be careful about the services that they are using. Phishing attacks, malware, and viruses can create easy entry gateways hackers can exploit as well. 

When in doubt, first reach out to your IT to confirm if you can use a particular service. Do not download any third-party software that is not approved by your IT team. Phishing attacks are getting more difficult to track. Train yourself and your teams to identify phishing attacks before they happen. Plus, make sure you use two-factor authentication where possible. This adds a second security layer on top of just using a password. Use phrases that are difficult to guess, alpha-numeric keys, and capitalized letters when creating passwords. These are simple yet powerful tips that can save a disaster. You do not want to land up on the front page of a magazine for wrong reasons. So, help your IT organization by embracing security best practices. 

Cost is not important for governance

Another key thing people forget is to include cost under the governance umbrella. However, governance is a process for safeguarding yourself. If you overlook cost, it can prove disastrous and might result in wasting your budget on unnecessary services. Also, not having an understanding of who is spending your money, and on what, can lead to an accountability issue. 

Having a good solution that gives you insight into your expenses is always a better idea. As your team’s IT usage grows it becomes difficult to track costs through a spreadsheet. Therefore implementing a proven cost solution is key. You need a solution that can help you with the cost of not just your data center but also your public cloud, SaaS, and other resources. Also, do not pay a premium for a cost-only solution. Leverage a solution that gives you additional features that your growing IT organization needs to drive agility and governance. 

Avoid sticker shock in the cloud era. Download our eBook to learn how.

Only IT is responsible for governance

Another misconception is that since IT is deploying governance practices, only IT is responsible for it. Governance is a collaborative effort and no one party is solely accountable for its success or failure. IT owns the implementation part, and is responsible for making it more seamless across services you are using. It is an enabler for you and your organization. However, it is still a joint initiative and remains everyone’s responsibility. 

Only new innovations are part of governance

This is another common mistake that occurs in organizations. They only include new services that they are consuming under governance. For some reason, it is assumed that old services are already well-governed or that they do not need any additional governance. This mistake can be detrimental for organization of any size. 

You need to use governance as an all-encompassing umbrella. One simple way to get this ingrained in your teams is to form a team responsible only for security and governance. This makes it easy for the team to account for everything and work with everyone towards a common goal. As you plan to become a software-driven organization, ensure you recognize the need for security and governance. It is not something that you can take lightly. 

In summary, governance is very important for every organization. It can help you avoid mishaps that are easy to spot and also address any future grave mistakes that you were not aware of. Plus, it needs to evolve with your organization and it only helps when it is a joint effort across teams. 
CloudBolt, a leading cloud management platform, has all these features and it can help you on the governance journey.

CloudBolt has helped hundreds of organizations to embrace governance while staying agile and focused.