COBIT, IT management framework which is developed to help businesses develop, organize and implement various strategies around information management and governance. COBIT stands for Control Objectives for Information and Related technologies that help the financial audit community better navigate the growth of IT environments. COBIT was introduced for building governance strategies that are more flexible, collaborative and address new and advanced technology. COBIT is used by IT professionals to help them with a model to deliver value to the organization and also practice better risk management practices associated with the IT process. The COBIT model ensures the integrity of the information system.
In this article, let us get in-depth about COBIT and its framework. This article provides all the information about COBIT. So, let’s get started.
COBIT is a framework which is created by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association for IT governance and management. This is designed to be a supportive tool for managers that allows bridging the crucial gap between technical glitches, business risks, and control requirements. COBIT is a recognized guideline that is applied to any company in the industry. COBIT ensures quality, control, and reliability of information systems in the company which is one of the most important aspects of every modern business.
COBIT Framework:
COBIT business orientation mainly includes linking business goals with IT structure by providing different maturity models and metrics that measure the achievement for identifying associated business responsibilities of IT processes. One of the main focus of COBIT was illustrated with a process-based model subdivided into four domains that include:
- Planning & Organization
- Delivering & Support
- Acquiring and Implementation
- Monitoring and Evaluating
What are the components of COBIT components?
Individuals who are interested in knowing about the components of COBIT components must have a look at the below-mentioned details:
- Framework: IT helps in managing the objective of IT governance and bringing the best practices in the use of IT processes and domains while linking business requirements.
- Process Description: this acts as a reference model and acts as a common language for an individual in the organization. This process description comprises planning, building, running, and observing the IT processes.
- Control objectives: This offers a complete list of requirements that are considered by management for effective IT business control.
- Maturity models: Here, access the maturity and capability of the process while addressing the gaps.
- Management Guidelines: Helps in better-assigning responsibilities by measuring performance and agreeing on common objectives and illustrating good relationships with every process.
COBIT is used by organizations whose primary responsibilities happen to be business processes and associated technologies that depend on technology for reliable and relevant information. COBIT is mainly taken into use by both government and private sector organizations as it helps in increasing the sensibility of IT processes.
Which is COBIT’s most celebrated version?
COBIT 5.0 is considered one of the most celebrated versions as all the previous versions faced a lot of criticism because it was thought to facilitate limited opportunities and sometimes even show adverse results. COBIT practices can even lead to a hot potato situation wherein all the stakeholders have passed the task down the line. COBIT 5.0 encouraged paperwork and rote rules rather than merely promoting IT governance engagements and improving accountability.
COBIT 5.0 addressed all criticisms in a very sustainable manner. This encourages the companies to govern and manage information in a holistic and integrated manner. Let us have a look at the guiding principles:
- Meeting up the requirement of stakeholders
- Covering complete enterprise from end to end
- Application of the single framework
- Ensures holistic approach to decision making
- Separating the governance from the management
COBIT 5.0 has ensured the ability to reduce the IT implementation risks. IT initiatives require quick, agile adaptations that simultaneously need regular buy-ins from stakeholders and other uses. COBIT 5.0 framework has been able to bring a collaborative culture within the organization and this has met the needs, risks, and benefits.
What are the advantages of COBIT 5.0?
COBIT 5.0 not only prepares professionals for the challenges to business IT processes but also delivers a substantial amount of expertise information. Let us have a look at the advantages:
- IT management issues and how they affect the companies.
- Principles of IT governance and enterprise IT while showcasing the difference between management and governance.
- Choosing the way in which COBIT processes can help the establishment of the basic principles.
What are the principles of the COBIT framework?
Normally, there are five main principles of the COBIT framework. This is crucial in developing an environment focused on IT management and governance. The principles are shown in the space below:
- Meeting stakeholder requirements: One of the main priorities of every company is to fulfill stakeholders’ requirements while maintaining optimal security for the data. COBIT thus enables this transformation and helps the organization create strategies that will help them meet the goals. Companies need to manage their resources and need to reap benefits from the resources.
- Opting a holistic approach to governance: IT governance is way more for the IT Team. This needs to cover the entire organization and COBIT helps in doing all this. One of the main principles of COBIT is to take a holistic approach to governance and work with it, auditing, managing to create effective and wide governance.
- Covering the entire project: COBIT is focused on covering the project as a whole when it comes to governance. This integrates IT and enterprise governance into one platform by combining the services and processes along with the same. COBIT has four main objectives which create value.
- Single Integrated framework: COBIT is a single integrated framework for tackling all the changes in the technologies by managing risk and governing information. This covers the entire company and is even customized to suit the needs of every company.
- Creates differences between Governance and management: COBIT integrates the objectives, responsibilities, and different activities and even separates the two by using the various frameworks.
Structure of COBIT
There are three different levels that mainly form the structure of COBIT. These three-level include IT resources, IT processes, and business requirements.
Conclusion:
COBIT and its framework have helped many companies over the years to achieve optimal IT governance and management of risks. This has helped many enterprise teams in popular COBIT certifications to completely realize the business benefits.
