performance measurement of information technology governance in brazilian financial institutions

Information technology governance is a process by which organizations align their information technology operations and services with their performance goals and strategic objectives and assess the results. The financial sector has benefited greatly from the development of information technology, primarily in bank automation. There are few research works aimed at describing information technology governance, and there are even fewer in the financial sector. This paper is aimed at measuring information technology governance in financial institutions using the methodology proposed by Weill and Ross (2004). The sample consisted of sixty professionals from financial institutions operating in Brazil. The average performance score was approximately 79.6, showing that the organizations studied have not achieved maximum performance (100), although many are very close to it. This paper describes an original empirical study of Brazilian financial institutions concerning information technology management performance. The survey investigates not only the context of performance, but also the importance that the organization places on each item related to information technology governance aligned with business needs and goals.