IT Governance: lessons from the trenches

eHealth Insights · 17 October 2017 · Malcolm Thatcher

Dr Malcolm Thatcher talks about IT Governance and what he considers are the lessons. Malcolm talks about a lack of clarity, a lack of leadership and accountability, a lack of focus and a lack of tenacity. Dr Thatcher is a former interim CIO/CEO of eHealth Queensland, during his 35 years in IT his roles have included Chief Health Information Officer for Queensland Health; interim CEO and CIO; as well as Executive Director, information and infrastructure and CIO for Mater Health Services...

Dr Malcolm Thatcher gave a talk to a group of health CEOs and board directors on IT Governance. It wasn’t surprising that everyone who attended had at one stage in their executive career had history with an IT stuff up.

Dr Thatcher has been around large information technology builds long enough to have worked out why these massive investments repeatedly fail. Here’s a snapshot of what he had to say.

• A lack of clarity: around the role of technology within the organisation; the role of the chief information officer; the path to digitisation.
• A lack of leadership and accountability: in decision making; in project/program delivery; in enterprise thinking.
• A lack of focus: on outcomes and benefits; on managing risks and issues; on people and processes.
• A lack of tenacity: in portfolio management; on continuous improvement; and on benchmarking.

For the past decade CIOs and program boards have assumed the mandate for delivery. However Dr Thatcher believes executive management and board directors need to raise their own competency around information technology. Otherwise he fears history will keep repeating itself.

Dr Thatcher is a former interim CIO/CEO of eHealth Queensland, during his 35 years in IT his roles have included Chief Health Information Officer for Queensland Health; interim CEO and CIO; as well as Executive Director, information and infrastructure and CIO for Mater Health Services. Since leaving Queensland Health in February 2017, Thatcher has focused on completing a book, based on his PHD research and industry knowledge, titled Digital Governance Handbook for CEOs and Governing Boards. Visit Malcolm's LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/malthatcher/

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