Includes bibliographical references and index.

It governance simultaneously empowers and controls -- Five key it decisions: making it a strategic asset -- It governance archetypes for allocating decision rights -- Mechanisms for implementing it governance -- What it governance works best -- Linking strategy, it governance and performance -- Government and not for profit organizations -- Leadership principles for it governance. Seventy percent of all IT projects fail-and scores of books have attempted to help firms measure and manage IT systems and processes better in order to turn this figure aroundIn this book, IT experts Peter D. Weill and Jeanne W. Ross argue that the real reason IT fails to deliver value is that companies have no formal system in place for guiding and monitoring IT decisions. Their research shows that firms with explicit IT governance systems have twice the profit of firms with poor governance, given the same strategic objectives. Just as corporate governance systems aim to ensure quality decisions about corporate assets, the authors show, companies need IT governance systems to ensure that IT investments are made wisely and effectively.