If you have been on your professional or social networking sites in the past several months, you might have noticed that many of your colleagues are posting about their newly acquired certifications. It’s no surprise that the information and technology (I&T) industry has experienced massive changes in the way we work, and whether you are an individual looking to enhance your skillset, or an enterprise contemplating your upcoming training and education budget, there are a few key considerations to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies in the governance, risk, compliance and assurance space.
From an enterprise perspective, having the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities in the workforce assists in achieving objectives. Consider your enterprise training portfolio as a key success factor to your enterprise governance system. Your governance system should be focused on value creation while optimizing risks and resources. There’s no better way to support this than having trained and competent people.
Ensuring a holistic approach to your training and education program
To link your governance system to a well-trained workforce, I suggest using the COBIT governance components. These components are what I call “ingredients” to a good governance system and are key to satisfying enterprise governance and management objectives. Components are factors that, individually and collectively, contribute to value creation and, therefore, are excellent areas from which to create your training strategy.
People, skills and competencies
Organizations are successful because of their people. This component is a primary focus when considering an enterprise training portfolio and is the cornerstone of the other components mentioned below. An enterprise should know its current skills inventory as well as understand desired skills needed to support enterprise objectives. When designing your tailored governance system, be sure to identify those critical skills and competencies required to support the achievement of governance and management objectives.
Culture, ethics and behaviors
Having a culture of continuous education and learning stimulates more efficiency, higher morale and can affect behaviors. An organization can have solid processes, policies, technologies and structures – and still fail due to this potential blind spot. This is key because it can influence behaviors and is often difficult to change. Relevant training strategies can help shape desired behaviors; however, ill-structured systems can create conditions where individuals could make decisions based on outdated information.
Principles, policies and procedures
Principles, policies and procedures are instruments to communicate the rules of the enterprise, in support of the governance objectives and enterprise values, as defined by the governing bodies and executive management. Review your organizational policies to ensure you have appropriate and relevant guidance for your training program. With our rapidly changing working environments today, you may find that updates might be needed to your principles, policies and procedures that guide and support your training program.
Processes
There is a direct connection between process outcome achievement and having trained and knowledgeable people who are related to the process. In the COBIT framework, there are several relevant processes. One process that is particularly relevant is APO07 Managed Human Resources. Within this process, the Management Practice APO07.03 is key: Maintain the skills and competencies of personnel. Below is the description of this management practice:
COBIT 2019 Governance and Management Objectives Publication, APO07.03
Spend some time reviewing this process. It is full of valuable information, including supporting practices, suggested capability levels, potential metrics and industry references.
Organizational structures
This component consists of key stakeholders and decision-making roles that are critical to sustaining value delivery. Their roles vary, and include decision making, influencing and advising. With better trained resources, decisions are more applicable and thoughtful. Regarding training and education, the stakes for each of these stakeholders vary as well. I suggest also looking at your RACI models to help you determine the most appropriate training for each person or role. If you don’t have RACIs, now might be a good time to start.
Information flows
COBIT focuses on information required for the effective functioning of the governance system of the enterprise. Determine the appropriate information inputs and outputs of your training program to create and maintain those key dependencies that could drive training focus. Key information inputs and outputs could include:
COBIT 2019 Governance and Management Objectives Publication, APO07.03
Use these inputs and outputs as a reference for your training program. These can help you design measurements, dependencies, requirements and, ultimately, appropriately trained staff.
Services, infrastructure and applications
I&T services can be delivered to internal and external consumers and are the reason IT departments exist. Strive to continually improve the relationships between those services and the infrastructure and application knowledge required to support them through the effective identification, funding and delivery of applicable training.
Today’s digital transformation efforts, cloud advances and high-velocity IT have greatly enhanced customer and user experiences to levels like never before, which is why this component is critical. Following the latest technology trends can be expensive, and if consumers of the services receive no value, then the investment fails. Enterprises evaluating business cases for I&T training should focus on the services, infrastructure and applications training opportunities that support value creation.
Editor’s note: To read more on this topic, including Mark’s list of top training tips, view the full article here.
