Enter AS8015. It's Australia's new standard on corporate governance of ICT (information and communications technology) and one that may become the International Standards Organization (ISO) standard, according to one of the standard's authors, Mark Toomey, an independent consultant who has spent many years in the IT industry. Toomey, who was speaking at a seminar in Wellington earlier this month, hosted by Borland, says New Zealand is also looking at adopting the standard.

One thing governance is not is management. They are different concepts, says Toomey, but the two things are still confused by many people.

AS8015 refers to the system by which the current and future use of ICT may be directed and controlled. It involves evaluating and directing the plans for the use of ICT to support the organization and monitoring this use to ensure the objectives of the plans are met. It also includes the strategy and policies for using ICT within an organization.

Toomey says governance is about getting better results and value for money from investment in ICT. 'Good governance can mean a 20 percent improvement in the bottom line when comparing similar companies, one of which has poor governance.'

He is emphatic that business leaders are still not engaging with IT and that governance has an important role to play in fixing that.