COBIT 2019 is the latest iteration of COBIT, a leading IT governance and management framework used by successful organizations around the world. Over almost 25 years of development, COBIT has proven demonstrably effective in optimizing the efficiency, value, and business alignment of IT while constantly evolving to reflect the needs of practitioners. This has proved particularly valuable in the current Digital Age, which sees businesses not only having to incorporate checks and security into virtually every aspect of IT, but also having to adopt new technology and practices in order to meet customer expectations.
In short, COBIT talks a big game – and why not? The benefits of COBIT 5 are well established, and COBIT 2019 takes them to the next level. Still, in the years since COBIT 5’s release, the landscape of IT has changed dramatically. Most importantly, IT has become an undeniably essential element of business for organizations old and new, large and small.
And so, the thinking behind COBIT has also had to evolve. The recently-released COBIT 2019 reflects the requirements, considerations, and opportunities inherent in modern IT. It equips organizations to not only thrive, but also evolve, and even take unforeseen future opportunities into account.
Is COBIT 2019 right for you? Let’s take a look at the biggest benefits offered by the framework!
Optimize IT to help achieve your goals
‘IT governance’ is separate from IT management. It focuses on aligning IT with business goals in such a way that the direction and output of IT fully support them. However, this is not as simple as simply asking business managers to provide a list of requirements. Business strategies and incremental goals still need to be established for the sake of clarity, prioritization, and decision making.
COBIT 2019 helps organizations to establish tangible IT goals within grander business strategies. At the same time, COBIT practitioners can also establish the necessary controls and tools to help IT managers pursue objectives with the full power of their operations behind them. The methodology offers a number of tools to help with this, including:
- COBIT maturity model – This can be used to identify the level of performance IT elements must reach in order to meet targets
- Enhancing activities – These are recommendations from ISACA on how to identify and remove issues and limiting factors in organizations implementing COBIT. One recommendation is investing in additional COBIT training
A framework built around your priorities
Modern IT is a diverse organism. There are so many elements to take into account, and the requirements and goals of one organization can often vary considerably from another. In order to optimize IT management and governance operations, a business must first be aware of its own environment and priorities.
The COBIT core model offers a combined total of 40 Management Objectives and Governance Objectives. Practitioners examine this comprehensive collection to choose focus areas based on their own goals, requirements, environment, and so on. They can then construct unique frameworks that are perfectly suited to their image of optimized IT.
Practitioners can also utilize COBIT Performance Management (CPM) to keep improving on their frameworks. This systematic approach is used to score different aspects of a framework on a scale of 0 to 5, with 2 indicating a basic level of functionality. This makes it simple for COBIT practitioners to identify areas for improvement.
COBIT plays well with other frameworks
There is undoubtedly a high degree of competition in the world of IT management. If you are thinking of investing in COBIT, then chances are that you have also heard of other options like ITIL and DevOps. Each choice has its respective benefits, as well as unique points of focus, and none are all-reaching in terms of what they can accomplish. As such, many organizations will use a mixture of methodologies, picking and choosing tools and best practices as necessary.
COBIT 2019 is perfect for businesses that already utilize IT methodologies. The ‘Tactical Design Factors’ of COBIT are designed to suit a user’s choices of what technology, models, and frameworks to implement in their operations. Practitioners can use these factors to design systems that accommodate such elements while also helping to optimize them in terms of coherence and synergy.
Guarantee your compliance
In the last few years, compliance has become an even more crucial aspect of responsible IT management. With developments like the General Data Protection Act (GDPR), considerations regarding technology, security, privacy are now mandatory, and failing to meet requirements can lead to horrific fines, to say nothing of PR disasters.
Luckily, compliance legislation is another element that can be factored into COBIT 2019 frameworks. Considerations can be applied at all levels of IT management and governance, with strict control and monitoring elements in place to ensure that all requirements are being met. This enables a high level of consistency, allowing practitioners to demonstrate what steps they have been taking in the event of an audit.
Compliance is not just about avoiding fines, of course. When it comes to pursuing security and privacy standards, there are a great number of benefits to enjoy. COBIT 2019’s approach to performance and compliance reduces maintenance costs, improves the alignment between security, risk management-focused experts, and emerging technology, boosts client satisfaction, and helps keep companies safe from attacks. While regulations like the GDPR may be strict, COBIT 2019 will guarantee that companies can both accommodate and benefit from them.
Benefiting from expert advice
Modern IT frameworks cannot be set in stone. The community of IT experts is decentralized, worldwide, and more than happy to share insight and ideas if a framework provider has fallen behind. Nobody needs to wait years for providers like ISACA to get up to speed. At the same time, it is important to learn best practices from a credible source – one that can tell you everything you need to know within a cohesive structure.
COBIT 2019, unlike COBIT 5, utilizes an open-source model. ISACA will continue to build on the framework using advice provided by expert IT governance and management professionals. This will enable ISACA to incorporate information, practices, and tools designed around new developments, such as unforeseen technology or drastic changes to certain markets.
So, not only is COBIT 2019 built on the latest knowledge and best practices, but it will also continue to incorporate them in the future, no matter what direction they may take. This places COBIT 2019 practitioners in an excellent position to stay at the forefront of the IT industry, prevent their knowledge from becoming outdated, and equip themselves to succeed in crucial management positions.
Continuous evolution
COBIT 2019 encourages practitioners to regularly reassess their IT frameworks. This allows them to highlight new areas for improvement as they appear. Combined with the regular updates promised by ISACA and the practitioner community, this approach helps practitioners to keep their IT governance and management operations in a state of constant evolution.
It is important to keep in mind that to truly succeed in the world of IT, you need to be proactive as well as reactive. Changes in technology, best practices, and so on can often take months or even years to become the norm, by which time the first runners through the gate have reaped the highest possible benefits. Following their COBIT 2019 certification, practitioners in the framework are perfectly equipped to help their businesses be the first to take advantage of new opportunities.
