Process Maturity Matters
One of the key findings or our most recent research study is that process maturity matters! That is, organizations with higher levels of process maturity for key IT controls got more measurable performance gain than those that implemented the same controls at a lower level of maturity. Download our most recent executive summary “Process Maturity Matters”.
This is not a surprising finding for six-sigma black belts and other IT folks who have a process improvement approach to achieving performance goals. But for others IT managers working to implement key controls to meet regulatory requirements, knowing that performance improvement comes when controls are implemented at a level where processes are consistent, exceptions are monitored, and exceptions have consequences – the findings can be the key to achieving operational gains from significant control and audit investments.
Our current Visible Ops quick poll confirms what we found in the study. That is, many organizations don’t have defined consequences for not following key IT control processes such as change management. Many that do have defined consequences don’t enforce them.
The current reality is that many organizations don’t have a process culture in IT (an early finding from our next study). So dropping controls into an environment where IT professionals are not accustomed to strictly following documented process and procedures – is bound to achieve mixed results.
Bottom line – enforcing use of documented process and procedures means that everyone needs to know what happens when they decide not to play along.