The Theory and Practice of IT Governance Maturity and Strategies Alignment: Evidence From Banking Industry

Information technology (IT) is considered as a major and strategic part in development of banks business, and banks using IT as a competitive advantage. Nowadays IT governance is as a constituent part of governance in banks. Key role of information and communication technology (ICT) in bank growth and development is obvious to top managers, but what needs to be considered carefully is the alignment of business strategies with IT strategies. This article intends to investigate the significant differences of IT governance maturity among the Iranian Banking Industry (publicly-owned and privately-owned). To achieve these implications, an IT governance framework and COBIT 4.1 were employed, using data from 17 large publicly-owned and privately-owned banks. The results indicate that privately-owned banks have a higher maturity rank in alignment of business strategies with IT strategies compared to publicly-owned banks.