The Importance of an Effective IT Steering Committee

B.

The IT steering committee plays a critical role in aligning IT strategy with enterprise objectives. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the committee operates effectively and efficiently to maximize its value. Among the options given, the best way to ensure the IT steering committee meets enterprise objectives is to have key business stakeholders represented on the committee (option A).

Here's why:

1. Ensuring business alignment: Having key business stakeholders represented on the IT steering committee ensures that the committee's decisions align with the enterprise's goals and objectives. The business stakeholders will bring their business expertise and experience to the committee, providing valuable insights on how IT can support the enterprise's strategy.

2. Providing a holistic perspective: The IT steering committee needs to have a holistic view of the enterprise's operations, including the business processes, organizational structure, and culture. Having key business stakeholders on the committee ensures that the committee has a broad perspective on the enterprise's operations, enabling it to make informed decisions.

3. Ensuring buy-in: When key business stakeholders are represented on the IT steering committee, they are more likely to buy into the committee's decisions. This buy-in is essential for implementing IT strategies that support the enterprise's goals and objectives.

While the other options are also essential for ensuring an effective IT steering committee, they are not as critical as having key business stakeholders represented on the committee. Establishing KPIs (option B) is important for measuring the effectiveness of the IT steering committee, but it does not necessarily ensure that the committee's decisions align with enterprise objectives. Requiring a member of the committee to have IT governance expertise (option C) is also important, but having this expertise alone does not ensure that the committee's decisions align with enterprise objectives. Benchmarking against industry best practices (option D) can provide valuable insights, but it does not necessarily ensure that the committee's decisions align with enterprise objectives.