COBIT is an IT governance framework that provides a set of controls and organizes information technology and related IT processes around a logical program. Other frameworks like ITIL and DevOps each have their unique advantages. COBIT offers a far higher advantage in its ability to be used by clients who also use other frameworks like ITIL. COBIT allows organizations to use a mixture of methodologies, tools, and best practices that suits their needs. This makes it a unique framework together with the fact that it incorporates some of the latest principles in enterprise governance. For this reason, COBIT is accepted globally and has been adopted widely thanks to its capacity to improve trust in and enhance the value of information systems.
For practitioners, the best place to begin a career in COBIT is by having the requisite skills. COBIT certification provides comprehensive learning from the basic COBIT foundation level to the highly demanded expert levels. The COBIT Foundation training introduces beginners to the context and components of COBIT, as well as why COBIT as an information and technology governance framework is important for enterprises.
After, COBIT professionals can pursue any of the two paths; the assessor or the implementer path. While the assessor path will equip you with skills required to evaluate the organization’s processes to establish what can be optimized, the implementer path provides the competency necessary to apply the COBIT framework to any specific problem in an organization’s IT system.
COBIT development
There have been many variations of COBIT in the past, with each version adding some useful elements to the information technology world. For over 25 years that it has undergone its development cycle, COBIT has proved to be very valuable in optimizing efficiency and aligning IT to business objectives, as it gets updated continuously to reflect the needs of both enterprises and IT professionals. As a result, COBIT has been designed to respond effectively to evolving IT demands like the need to incorporate security checks in all its processes. The latest version, COBIT 2019 takes into consideration the opportunities and threats inherent in modern IT. An organization employing COBIT is equipped to evolve and be ready for unforeseen future changes.
Components of COBIT
COBIT 5 consists of three key components.
● Process model. Models are core to implementing the COBIT framework in organizations as it allows users to fit in different IT activities within the organization structure. COBIT 5 assessment model includes 37 processes that apply to governance and management that practitioners can select from and customize to suit their IT environments and meet their goals. They can also employ COBIT Performance Management (CPM) to drive timely improvements to their frameworks. This model makes it easy for practitioners to identify areas in their framework that need improvement using a scoring system that scales functionality between 0 and 5 points, with 2 indicating a basic level performance.
● Best practice. In a simplified way, COBIT outlines how each process should be performed to provide a standard that helps businesses evaluate if a process is working as is required to deliver the expected output.
● Enabler tools. COBIT also provides the tools required by businesses to set clear IT goals and measure their progress using simple metrics. It also includes capability maturity techniques that define the criteria for assessing whether processes are working as expected at their maturity level.
The latest COBIT 19, for instance, has been designed to allow users to have a choice on the models, technology, and framework that they want to implement in their operations. Unlike COBIT 5, COBIT 2019 version features four domains with its guidelines taking a prescriptive direction. The four domains are:
● Introduction and methodology
● Governance and management objectives
● Designing an Information and Technology Governance Solution
● Implementing and Optimizing an Information and Technology Governance Solution
Benefits of implementing COBIT framework
As we have seen, COBIT provides a framework that businesses can implement to achieve their objectives in managing and governing their IT investments. Being a useful framework for all industries and businesses of all sizes, COBIT provides the basis by which businesses can govern and manage their IT operations bearing in mind the overall objectives and goals of the business.
● Aligns IT with organizational goals
COBIT is designed to ensure that the organization’s IT is aligned with business goals. As this is not a simple process, COBIT 5 enables organizations to integrate IT goals within the larger business goals. The role of COBIT practitioners is to ensure that IT investments support business goals through establishing controls and tools that can easily be used by IT managers. They also help businesses to fill gaps that exist in the application of information technology to achieve business goals. The latest COBIT training is designed to make professionals competent enough to meet enterprise performance goals by maximizing the value of information systems.
● Enhance the value and trust in organizations’ information systems
One vital function of COBIT is to help businesses derive the most value from their IT investments by managing and creating a balance between the use of resources and risk involved. By implementing COBIT principles, best practices, and models, a business enhances the efficiency and productivity of its IT systems while also maintaining compliance and information security which ultimately increases the value and trust in IT services and resources.
● Efficiency and productivity
COBIT is based on principles that are widely accepted for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of IT. As a result, the same tools and techniques can be applied across industries and organizations of all sizes for the improvement of systems and process deliveries.
This allows an organization to expand and diversify its operations knowing that the same COBIT tools and principles will apply to its operations through its growth and expansion.
● Provides governance and framework for IT organization
IT governance is differentiated from IT management as it focuses on ensuring that IT serves the organization’s goals. COBIT plays a key role in establishing proper governance across the entire organization. A specialist has to go beyond the list of goals provided by management to incorporate the incremental goals, clarify issues, and help the management in prioritizing goals.
Effective governance requires that the organization be aware of its environment and focus on IT features based on their goals. COBIT enables organizations to identify and minimize IT-related risks by establishing effective control measures and process monitoring. COBIT’s governance role is effective since it is based on implementing an evaluation metric for the entire business cycle. This gives the organization a clear picture of the implementation progress, the risks involved, and the improvements needed in its systems.
● Helps organizations to comply with industry standards
Compliance with standards has become the defining factor for responsible IT management. The IT systems of enterprises need to comply with laws like the General Data Protection Act (GDPR). By implementing COBIT, an organization is sure that it is not only abiding by the industry standards but also allowing both the internal and external stakeholders to improve their skills to match the industry qualifications. Benefits of compliance for enterprises include avoiding payment of fines, enhanced information security, and privacy, reduced maintenance costs, and ultimately, enhanced customer satisfaction and value in a company’s IT services.
● COBIT certification makes IT professional stand out
Depending on the COBIT learning path one has opted for, certification is proof to clients, recruiters, and industry players that he/she is committed to the profession and possesses the ability to handle critical roles like evaluating the current performance of the IT enterprise and applying COBIT principles and tools to the organization’s operations.
Conclusion
Technology is core to the operations of any business. The challenge, however, has been how businesses can optimize IT resources through proper governance and management and still fit into the heavily regulated IT environment. This is where COBIT comes in. COBIT has helped enterprises to improve IT service delivery while at the same time aligning IT to business needs in compliance with the laws, policies, and regulations that have been put in place.
