IT Risk, Business Consequences

Date:  March 17, 2006

Location:  Darden School, Room 50, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Synopsis: 
 

With information technology becoming an increasingly important part of all enterprises, IT risk is gaining importance for CIOs and their business counterparts. However, the complexity of IT makes it very difficult to understand and make good decisions about IT risks. In the morning, we will discuss how IT systems and people affect four key enterprise risks. Then, we will examine how enterprises build effective processes to identify, prioritize, and address their IT risks. If done well, IT risk management can move beyond pure compliance to create new value for the enterprise. The highly interactive discussion will include research findings, best practices, video clips, and case studies drawing upon a three-year research project with more than 150 enterprises.

During the afternoon session we will hear perspectives on IT risk from three veteran CIOs representing three different risk-sensitive industries: space exploration, energy, and banking.

Agenda

Speaker: 

George Westerman

George Westerman is a Research Scientist at MIT Sloan’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) and faculty chair for the course "IT for the Non-IT Executive." His research explores how executives can effectively align and govern their strategy, technology, and organizational structures. For example, his latest research on IT leadership (with colleague Peter Weill) explains how effective IT leaders can enhance their organizations’ business agility and financial performance. His ongoing study of IT risk management describes how firms can use new governance processes to significantly improve their IT risk profiles and IT value. In an earlier study of bricks-and-click e-businesses, he found e-business organization structures that improved both online and offline performance.

Prior to earning his doctorate from Harvard Business School, George gained more than 15 years of experience in engineering and IT management. He works regularly with IT and business executives on improving IT capabilities and business value.