IT Governance is a framework designed to ensure that technology investments generate business value and mitigate risks. The problem with governance in the on-premise world is that it typically drives a wedge between the two departments it is designed to serve. The business gets frustrated with IT’s slow moving progress, and IT feels alienated when the business sees them as a barrier to progress.

To become an agile enterprise, greater collaboration between IT and the business is needed. Enter Cloud Governance, a legacy strategy that comes of age in the agile era. Where traditional governance has focused on provisioning and security under strict control, cloud governance focuses on a framework for decision making and high quality, fast execution. Disruptive cloud technologies are intended to drive a heightened pace of innovation. The objective of Cloud Governance is to establish global system stability, and ensure only changes with clear business benefits are made.

Recently, at Dreamforce 2012, I had the opportunity to present on Cloud Governance with a customer of ours, Standard Insurance Corp. The Standard provides insurance and other financial services to more than 7.5 million customers across the US. In an industry not typically thought of as cutting edge, the Standard is doing incredible, innovative work by taking the framework of Cloud Governance and turning it into a method to deliver value through Salesforce with staggering speed.

The Standard’s Cloud Governance journey is a model to be emulated. They set out with their initial deployment of Salesforce with the understanding that implementation is only the beginning. To fully take advantage of Salesforce and drive the highest ROI, they made a commitment to budget for ongoing costs around innovation, resourcing, and training.

With Bluewolf’s help they implemented an executive steering committee (or Governance Board) to set strategy and make decisions around what work is actually done. Additionally, they established a cross functional team focused on ongoing execution, and supplemented that team with experts from Bluewolf Beyond, our consulting practice that is 100% focused on helping customers innovate on live cloud environments. They understood that, with Salesforce, end-user training is never done. As changes are made in the system, they have a communication and training strategy that continually sets the context of each change for employees.

The results? I believe James Hindes, The Standard's Director of Enterprise CRM (and my co-presenter at Dreamforce) quoted it best when he said, “We have shocked and thrilled our users. Our cloud governance strategy enables us to deliver change as fast as our users can absorb it, faster than we ever have before, without sacrificing controls and quality.”

For me, one of the most important things I see when I look at the work James and his team are pushing at The Standard is that IT and the business are working together; collaborating in a new, transparent way. They have established a real partnership around a common vision for Salesforce, and through a customized cloud governance framework are all engaged on the opportunities ahead. In a matter of weeks, they have established the confidence within their organization that Salesforce will be able to adapt and grow with their changing business.

I have spent my career working cross functionally, consulting across the divide between IT and the business. James’ story is not unique. Bluewolf is working to replicate it for companies large and small, across different industries, cultures, and regions. To find out more, download Bluewolf’s Cloud Governance white paper.