ISACA, a non-profit serving IT governance professionals, has published the results to their May 2008 member survey on the top business / technologies issues being faced today.

The survey looked at 21 current business issues facing IT managers, as identified by its task force, and respondents were asked to rate these issues on their importance / impact during the next 12 - 18 months.

The survey was completed by 3173 members of ISACA. According to the survey, the Top 7 Business Issues Overall are:

1. Regulatory compliance
2. Enterprise-based IT management and IT governance
3. Information security management
4. Disaster recovery / business continuity
5. IT value management
6. Challenges of managing IT risks
7. Complicance with financial reporting standards

This data was based on a weighted score based on the importance ranking - from 1 to 5 - listed for each item.

Each item listed as a top business issue had a drill-down section to examine the underlying concerns. For example, a drill-down importance into regulatory compliance reveals the top concerns include privileged access monitoring and compliance process management. A drill-down into information security management reveals concerns with effectiveness of controls not being properly monitored and with security risks not being known or only partially assessed.

The ISACA survey highlights that regulatory compliance has yet to move beyond “project” mode:

“Keeping on top of legislative and regulatory requirements is a critical responsibility made more difficult because compliance efforts are still operating in ‘project’ mode and have not yet been embedded into business processes. IT projects still lack alignment with business objectives at many organizations, and as a result, they are unable to realize business benefits.” - Anthony Noble, member of the ISACA Assurance Committee and vice president of IT audit at Viacom

The challenge of IT is to design & maintain systems to comply with changing legislative and regulatory requirements, while also aligning IT operations with the goals and objectives of the business.

Download the survey results here. [PDF]

Via network world Tags: regulatory compliance, it security, business security, business issues, business planning, it planning, information security, isaca