In this paper, Mike Lane looks at how COBIT has evolved over the years and how it has become arguably the most generally accepted and in-use business framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT.

To say that COBIT has transformed itself in the last two decades would be an understatement. Today, when we talk about corporate governance, and the governance and management of Enterprise IT, it is as if these terms and practices have been around since the very concept of an organization began. 

In fact it was only in the 1990s that we first saw an emergence of what can best be described as a series of internal control frameworks intended primarily for use in the practice of internal auditing. Whilst corporate governance as a concept was tabled in the 1970s, it was also the 90’s which saw the start of its entrenchment and institutionalization from academic, organizational and regulatory perspectives.

In this paper, Mike Lane looks at how COBIT has evolved over the years and how it has become arguably the most generally accepted and in-use business framework for the Governance and Management of Enterprise IT.