IT governance is the aspect of designing, procuring, and guarding all the information technology resources. NASA has some of the most sophisticated IT equipment aiding their daily space research exploration. The current NASAs expenditure stands at $1.5 billion yearly (Lifshitz-Assaf, 2018). Nevertheless, challenges arise due to the decentralized nature of the IT facilities at NASA (Tonelli et al., 2017). Therefore, it attracts thorough scrutiny of the determinants of NASA’s successful operations in consuming their information technology. The importance of IT governance at NASA is crucial in building integrity among the workers and the stakeholders.
Most IT facilities are prone to hacking; this is a challenge that draws attention to data privacy and strict governance in every firm. On the other hand, NASA has adopted a decentralized method on its IT system management in which several entities and individuals operate the IT independently. This practice opens loopholes for errors and high chances that may lead to loss of data at NASA (Mikalef et al., 2018). Therefore, if the firm adopts strict information technology governance such as a centralized system, information, data safety will be guaranteed (Lifshitz-Assaf, 2018). With the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the epitome of decision making, IT governance, responsibility, and accountability become a way of guarding the systems.
Another critical aspect of information governance to NASA as a multifaceted firm is facilitating the desired outcomes. For a significant relationship and value creation in this IT investment agency, aligning the staff towards oversight from the management is important (Tonelli et al., 2017). Moreover, IT governance assures value creation, additionally, it also provides interfaces of risk mitigation. On top of these, the exercise enhances management performance, which is pivotal in the achievements of every IT-related firm (Une Lee, Zhu, and Jeffery, 2017). NASA should adopt IT governance that subsequently helps in pulling together available resources in the firm, to boost quality research. This can be achieved through application frameworks such as control objectives for information and related technology. NASA will identify the pivotal inputs and outputs in the essential processes aimed at enhancing objectives, quality delivery, and the firm’s high performance (Une Lee, Zhu, and Jeffery, 2017). Currently, NASA continues to operate its IT facilities underscoring the critical role played by the CIO of the company. Such measures have derailed the company’s faster achievements since the decisions made in NASA IT governance processes sometimes conflict. Additionally, it has bred some of the challenges that the agency is facing as a space exploration center.
The challenges at NASA mostly stem from the current IT governance procedures. For example, the autonomous nature of NASA restricts the CIO’s prominence and control over most of the organization’s IT infrastructure (Lifshitz-Assaf, 2018). The mentioned exercise leads to inadequate protection of computer network systems, which is dangerous for a delicate company of its caliber. On the other hand, the management cannot enforce any security measures on the IT systems since the framework is autonomous. With a dramatic rise in cybercrime and hacking, NASA is a potential target for these current information technology challenges (Mikalef et al., 2018). A robust IT governance policy that is centralized on the CIO is an imperative remedy for these prospective threats.
Relying on un-informed decision-making by the management is equally dangerous to NASA. CIO must have full visibility and insight of NASA’s missions and IT governance for effective co-operation with shareholders in implementing center functional reviews. In summary, NASA’s independence method in the context of its IT governance and operation slows general decision-making and achievements. NASA ought to incorporate a centralized system of IT governance. Additionally, several setbacks such as autonomy and devolution of IT governance have continued to disorganize NASA operations. Nevertheless, the firm endeavors to deliver its goals of space probes despite the challenges mentioned.
Reference List
Lifshitz-Assaf, H. (2018) ‘Dismantling knowledge boundaries at NASA: the critical role of professional identity in open innovation.’ Administrative Science Quarterly, 63(4), pp. 746–782. Web.
Mikalef, P.et al. (2018) Information governance in the big data era: aligning organizational capabilities. Web.
Tonelli, A.O. et al. (2017) ‘IT governance in the public sector: a conceptual model.’ Information Systems Frontiers, 19(3), pp.593–610. Web.
Une Lee, S., Zhu, L., and Jeffery, R. (2017) Design choices for data governance in platform ecosystems: a contingency model. Web.