IT governance enablers in relation to IoT implementation: a systematic literature review
| Pages | 32-49 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-02-2019-0013 |
| Published date | 09 December 2019 |
| Date | 09 December 2019 |
| Author | David Henriques,Ruben Filipe Pereira,Rafael Almeida,Miguel Mira da Silva |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
IT governance enablers in relation to IoT
implementation: a systematic literature
review
David Henriques, Ruben Filipe Pereira, Rafael Almeida and Miguel Mira da Silva
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of thispaper is to obtain a list of recommendations addressedby the information
technology(IT) governance enablers in relationto IoT implementation. The reasonbehind this it is the lack
of information about these instances which could the organizations to be more effective when
implementingIoT.
Design/methodology/approach –The objectives willbe obtained using the methodology – systematic
literaturereview.
Findings –During the research, a list of recommendations was created on each IT governance
enabler in relation to IoT implementation, showing the flaws that exist at the literature level fo r each
enabler.
Originality/value –The state of art of this researchis a creation of a list of recommendations according
to IT governanceenablers to be applied on an IoT implementation.
Keywords Information systems, Governance, IoT, COBIT5, Enablers, Governance, IoT,
IT governance, Implementation, Systematic literature review
Paper type Literature review
1. Introduction
Information technology (IT) governance is high up on the agenda in many organizations,
and high-level IT governance (ITG) models are more and more important within
organizations (Huygh and De Haes, 2019). IT is becoming a crucial component in the
organizations making ITG an important key point to enable business goals and mitigating
risks associated with IT implementation (Bernroider, 2008). ITG goals include encouraging
desirable behavior in the IT utilization and allowing the business level to become aligned
with IT, aligning IT objectives with the overall business strategy, the measures of IT
performance and the competitive advantages provided by IT for the organization (Higgins
and Sinclair, 2008;Kude et al., 2017). ITG has the potential to deliver suitable IT
management practices to create better decisions using the IT’s resources (Bart et al.,
2018).
ITG contains the roles and responsibilities to apply in information systems (IS) and related
technologies that are needed to manage and support the organization’s functions (Higgins
and Sinclair, 2008). ITG also deals with the leadership and organizational structures and
processes that are needed to ensure that the organization’s IT sustains and extend the
organization’s strategy and objectives (De Haes and Van Grembergen, 2008;Huygh and
De Haes, 2019). ITG has the ability to add value to the business of organizations using the
factors: leadership, processes, organizational structures, establishing control mechanisms
(Bart et al.,2018).
David Henriques and
Ruben Filipe Pereira are
both based at ISCTE-
Instituto Universitario de
Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Rafael Almeida and
Miguel Mira da Silva are
both based at Universidade
de Lisboa Instituto Superior
Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal.
Received 11 February 2019
Revised 25 April 2019
9 July 2019
26 October 2019
Accepted 8 November 2019
PAGE 32 jDIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE jVOL. 22 NO. 1 2020, pp. 32-49, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 DOI 10.1108/DPRG-02-2019-0013
ITG can be deployed using a mixture of various structures, processes and relational
mechanisms and concentrates on performing and transforming IT to meet the present and
future demands of the business (Huyghet al.,2018).
The term governance can be defined as a holistic approach that establishes controls,
decision rights, policies and methods to ensure the success of the project (Ndlovu and
Kyobe, 2016). Governance works as a way to enable the effective organization, controlling
changes and managing risks by aligning processes and outcomes with the business
objectives (Dubinsky et al.,2011).
The term enablers can be defined as technologies, methodologies, capabilities, et c.,
which organizations can implement into new solutions and developments. The
enablers act as an evolutionary process to increase the success of the business
(Deloitte, 2014).
ITG enablers are defined by COBIT 5, a governance framework, as factors that, individually
and collectively, influence the governance and management of the IT of an organization (Joshi
et al., 2018). COBIT5 framework is widely used by the IT organizations because this
framework is the most suitable for control of management, risk management and development
of policies (Ahriz et al.,2018;Huygh et al., 2018;ISACA, 2018). COBIT5 defines these ITG
enablers in seven categories, namely, principles, policies and frameworks; processes;
organizational structures; culture, ethics and behavior; information; services, appli cations and
infrastructures; and people, skills and competencies (ISACA, 2018).
Ashton first used the term IoT in 1998 during a presentation (Yang et al.,2010). It is an
emerging concept that can be seen as a new computing paradigm where the devices
are interconnected with a range of communications solutions, and thus it can help
improve the standard of living of the citizens (Yang et al., 2010;Yaqoob et al.,2017). In
turn, the Commission of the European Communities (2008) considers that “Internet of
Things” covers the overall infrastructure, hardware, software and services using physical
objects that are active assets in business and information processes, exchanging data
and information about their environment. IoT can also be defined as a global
infrastructure that enables advanced services by connecting physical devices with
virtual applications using wireless sensor networks (Yang et al.,2010). Also, IoT
innovation can bring new ways of combining physical and digital components leading to
the appearance of new products and enabling novel business models (Wortmann and
Flu
¨chter, 2015).
As IoT is a recent concept, and their relationships with ITG enablers remains unexplored, a
Systematic Literature Review(SLR) methodology was adopted in this study. The authorsare
convinced that an SLR is adequate to summarize and synthesize the scientific studies
regarding the ITG enablers for IoT adoption and check the best recommendations for an
IoT implementation accordingto each ITG enabler.
The SLR methodology is a systematic, explicit,comprehensive and reproducible method for
identifying, evaluating and synthesizing all the information analyzed by the authors during
the research (Okoli and Schabram, 2010). This research follows Kitchenham (2004)
recommendations for performing an SLR study. The SLR methodology will be useful to
achieve a better understanding regarding ITG the enablersand their relationship with IoT.
To sum up, this research aims to understand each ITG enabler (in this study, we used the
enablers defined in COBIT 5), from an IoT perspective and how they can be useful during
an IoT implementation. In addition, this research also aims to define each elicited ITG
enabler that can be useful for an IoT implementation.
The remaining document is organized as follows: in Section 2 (Background),we present the
Theoretical Background; in Section 3 (Methodology), we present the Research Method
used in this study; in Section 4 (Results), we present the main results of this study; in
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