By Bob Violino

IT drives business. Still, in the midst of an economic crisis, organizations are placing even more scrutiny on technology investments. As a result, IT governance has taken on a greater sense of urgency. This means more effort on the CIO's part, but the extra effort is worth it, according to a recent survey. In fact, there's evidence that should cheer many a CIO and CFO: IT governance works.

Higher levels of IT governance maturity are strongly linked to higher levels of performance. Metrics that gauge the success of governance practices prove this, according to a survey sponsored by CA and conducted by the IT Process Institute (ITPI), an independent research organization that supports IT operations, security and audit professionals. The survey polled 389 IT executives in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Among the other key findings of the report, titled Performance-Based IT Governance Maturity Model: The most common goals of IT governance are related to cost containment and risk reduction; organizations at the highest level of governance maturity have a broader set of objectives that include customer and business needs; and not all IT governance practices have an equal impact on IT performance.

Overall, ITPI's analysis of the responses shows a strong correlation between the use of IT governance practices and IT governance performance. Adds Kurt Milne, Managing Director of Eugene, Oregon-based ITPI: "When people start talking about governance, they ask, 'Does IT governance work?' Now we can say, yes, it does."