ISACA International President: COBIT Online Launches Today

I tried my first green drink recently and found that after avoiding them for a long time, I actually did like it. Green drinks have grown to be popular for their health benefits—they are basically smoothies made with a variety of fruits and vegetables—but since the ingredients often include spinach, kale and green apples, they turn green, hence the name.

This comes to mind as the online version of COBIT is officially launched today. Many professionals have already used COBIT and found that it benefits their enterprises. But there are still some folks who hesitate—much like me with the green drink—because they’re not fully aware of just how much value is packed into it.

At its core, the new online platform helps increase the usability of COBIT by bringing together the key resources for the governance and management of enterprise IT. This is especially critical at this moment in time as we see the daily news of businesses worldwide having to address and recover from major incidents that could have been mitigated by appropriate oversight. No business can ever be 100 percent secure, but having solid governance and management in place can help reduce the risk of financial loss and reputation damage.

The good news is that according to a recent ISACA survey of 1,245 professionals from 50 countries who downloaded the COBIT 5 framework, close to 8 in 10 people (78 percent) said they see increased value in IT governance. Making COBIT 5 available in this online format extends the ability of enterprises to protect their information assets and improve business performance. Users can now:

• Personalize the new Goals & RACI Planner for their enterprise or clients.
• Quickly view timely content from ISACA and external sources covering top issues.
• Easily search, filter and export COBIT 5 publications.
• Comment and ask questions.

I encourage you to take a few minutes and check out the new online version of COBIT 5. Just like the green drink, it provides a big dose of value and benefits in a compact package.

Robert E Stroud, CGEIT, CRISC, international president of ISACA

[Source: ISACA]