In a world that is developing constantly and rapidly, the risks that surround enterprises are increasing in the reflections on the enterprise strategy and their governance.

Controlling any type of risk has become a challenge to guarantee the sustainability of profits and to save the interests of the various representatives. Depending on the type and range of their impact, the risks represent a more or less obvious danger. The different crises of recent years have shown the heterogeneity of risks and their unpredictability. However, they have resulted in a consensus for the need for corporate governance through best practices, the most popular of which are Basel I and II intended for banking activities.

In the face of market hazards, the management is confronted with technical and structural constraints, especially with good governance which demands major investments but which guarantees better performance and better control of the internal environment that acts as a shield against external attacks – this is the art of converting risks into returns.

The current bankruptcies can no longer be attributed to stock-outs or to fluctuations in material prices used in production, because today, we have information and tools adapted to handling these problems. In fact, these problems are caused by distortion of information (accounting, financial and others) that leads to speculation and to sudden flows that can not only affect the enterprise business but can also collapse a business sector or even an entire economy and from there, to the importance of circulation of information intra and extra enterprise and of the role that IT Governance can play there. Clarity, reliability and transparency have thus become keywords in information exchange.

How to implement these principles within the organization?

A veritable headache, as there are many participants, resources are limited and information systems are very complex and rigid (a set of applications that cannot necessarily interact with each other).

How to develop the IS into a transversal structure reflecting the dialog between the various applications in the service of corporate governance without upsetting the structures in place?

Would BPM be the answer to this problem?

We will try to throw light on this in this issue of the newsflow W4.