Good corporate governance has, in recent years, been placed on centre stage
worldwide and several frameworks have been put in place to enable organisations
as well as higher education institutions to adhere to effective IT governance with
regards to IT service delivery and support. At the same time, demand from users
for access to corporate resources with their own personal devices other than
desktop or laptop computers and options such as cloud computing, social media
and mobility have converged into a renewed driving force influencing all IT
decisions regarding service delivery and support, whilst higher education
institutions attempt to comply with governance regulations.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether ITIL as an IT governance
framework is still applicable and relevant to a changed service delivery context in
IT service delivery departments in the higher education sector in South Africa.
Higher education in South Africa has not been excluded from adhering to good
governance and the draft Regulations for Reporting by Higher Education
Institutions have been updated with the recommendations of King III which, for the
first time, addressed IT governance and insisted on management to implement an
IT governance framework. ITIL is one of the most widely used governance
frameworks, however its position as a technology on the Gartner Hype Cycles for
Education for 2011 and 2012 displayed a move backwards from being widely
understood to a display of waning interest amongst institutions in the education
sector worldwide.
Exploratory research found that ITIL is still valued as a governance framework in
higher education in South Africa however staff members in IT support departments
displayed a resistance to change and also found it difficult to implement ITIL
processes. This is, however, not primarily due to a changing IT service delivery
context. Findings also indicated that ITIL should be considered as a set of
guidelines and best practices and not a governance framework as such.
Recommendations towards a paradigm shift regarding ITIL as a governance
framework per se as well as a proposal towards a possible alternative conceptual
IT governance framework incorporating only ITIL guidelines and best practices as
well as COBIT for risk management were put forward. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/8657 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Botha, Elsabe |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.003 seconds