Search

The present study aims to assess the mediating role of IT governance between corporate governance mechanisms and business continuity, and transparency & disclosure during the pandemic of Covid-19 in Jordan. The study uses a sample of 232 questionnaires retrieved from different firms of different sectors. The sample includes a survey response from board members, senior executives, auditors, IT experts, and other practitioners. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted to estimate the results. The results indicate that IT governance exhibits a statistically significant positive effect on business continuity and transparency & disclosure. Further, the results reveal that corporate governance mechanisms are less efficient in their influence on business continuity and transparency & disclosure in the absence of the mediating effect of IT governance during the pandemic. The current study's findings provide insight and empirical evidence to the importance of IT governance and its role in business continuity and transparency & disclosure in constraining the negative effects during any crisis. The current study provides a novel contribution as it links corporate governance, transparency, and IT governance in the context of Covid-19 in an emerging country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business continuity planning has assumed a high priority since the beginning of this decade, which began with the unforgettable 9/11 incident claiming almost 3,000 lives. Since then we have seen many terrorist attacks around the world, one of the most recent being the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Apart from terrorist attacks, even nature does not seem to be very kind to us. This decade has seen tsunamis, tornados, wild fires, and earthquakes of increasing magnitude. During the Mumbai mega-flood of July 2005, many lost their lives just walking on the flooded streets. While all these man-made and natural disasters make us seriously plan for business continuity for our organizations, hardly any systematic efforts are visible for making business continuity plans (BCPs) for our own lives. Sudden death due to heart attack seems to have risen in the prime age group of 35-45. Continuing with the business of life is as important, or even more important, as continuing with the business of the organization. In fact, if we do not create a BCP for us, we are exposing ourselves, our families, our organization, and ultimately our society to grave risks. Creating a personal BCP will greatly reduce our anxiety levels and we, or our surviving family members, will be able to resume the business of life (which has to go on despite disasters) quickly and effortlessly. The habit of creating, updating, maintaining, and testing personal BCP will also help organizations. The same thoughtfulness will also be shown by individuals while managing the organization's BCP. They will be able to see the importance of managing the BCP, both at the personal level and organizational level. This article will apply the same basic approach to BCP as is used for organizations. It will look at the “why” of PBCP (Personal BCP), the various personal business processes, business impact analysis (BIA), risk assessment, business continuity strategies, business continuity response, business continuity documentation, exercise, maintenance and review of BCP, and embedding business continuity in the family culture. The approach should be taken as indicative and not prescriptive. Appropriate customization will have to be done to the documentation for each individual's own PBCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By now most everyone has some form of a plan in place for the security of their infrastructure. Unfortunately, the plan may not be complete, omit critical processes, or is based on someone's idea of what is acceptable. Regardless of what is incorporated into the infrastructure, the plan hopefully includes a systemic and methodical process of beginning, maintaining, and changing throughout the lifecycle. No matter how you are structured, you must have management buy in or you have nothing! Although most “security professionals” have either just begun, are in an intermediate stage, or have years of experience with the common bodies of knowledge (CBK), most forget the basics or are unable to incorporate them due to client misunderstanding of them or the process of developing a secure infrastructure. Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) took the industry standards of business and built the processes to follow to build a structured environment. When you evaluate the requirements of ITIL and then evaluate what the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed over the years, in conjunction with the Rainbow Series, you have it all. NIST takes you a little further because they build the infrastructure from a secure foundation, whereas ITIL relates two paragraphs to the discipline. A secure environment starts with your foundation of security; every process thereafter falls into place as you develop your baseline security requirements (BLSR). Asset Management, Configuration Management, Change Management, Incident Management, Capacity Management, and Financial Management become a by-product of your foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]