Key Takeaways from the Survey Report

IT Governance is less effective than overall Board governance in Sri Lankan corporates.

Not having adequate knowledge of IT at the Board-level increases business IT risks.

30% of organisations who participated in the survey fell within the ‘best-in-class’ category, having the most developed and extensive IT Governance practices indicating very high operational excellence and financial performance.

As the Board’s IT expertise increases, it facilitates better IT Governance and increases ROI.
In the best-in-class category, 91% state their Board is aware of how the Board currently governs IT and 70% say that their board is effective in IT Governance.

In Sri Lanka, based on survey participants, the Banking and Financial Services, Technology and Engineering, and FMCG industries lead the way in IT Governance, in the given order.

36% of private sector companies surveyed were part of the ‘best-in-class’ category, while only 16% of public sector companies are included within this category.

Companies that did not make the ‘best-in-class’ category were challenged by IT decisions, were not aware of issues, did not see any gaps, and found performance to be not in line with expectations but were unable to deduce reasons for this. However, the best-in-class category companies even with adequate experience and know-how do experience challenges with IT decisions at the highest decision-making levels and handle them with further expert advice.  

Characteristics of organisations having effective IT Governance:
Higher levels of CIO/CTO competency, 
Higher levels of Director and Board-level IT experience, 
Better IT management practices, and 
Greater ROI and other financial indicators.

Many companies rely on senior IT management personnel such as CIO/CTO to have the experience and the expertise to support board-level IT governance.

The survey captures five phases that appear in the IT Governance (ITG) maturity curve: i) Minimal ITG, ii) ITG Recognition, iii) Active ITG, iv) Engaged ITG, and v) Innovative ITG. 

The best-in-class group fell within the Engaged or Innovative stages of the IT Governance maturity curve.