Many firms are struggling to implement effective IT governance policies and processes, while management software vendors are failing to deliver the " affordable and easily-deployable" solutions customers require if they are to address the problem of poor IT governance practices and high project failure rates.

That is the conclusion of a major new report on IT governance released today by analyst firm Butler Group, which also argues that where firms are applying governance processes and technologies they are confined to the IT department, resulting in a "lack of co-ordination between the IT-led elements of projects and management of the associated business change".

Report author Tim Jennings said that many firms were guilty of taking an IT-centric approach to IT projects, which resulted in them receiving insufficient management attention and investment. "CIOs need to get a mandate from the board to also manage the business part of IT projects," he said. "For example, if IT tells sales staff they have to follow certain security procedures when taking their laptops off premises they will often get short shrift - they need a board mandate to force through such changes."

The report argues that project portfolio management software capable of helping firms manage various IT and business projects and ensuring the right resources are assigned to each project can help tackle this disconnect between IT and the rest of the business. But it added that the market is currently immature and that only the largest firms that have to manage hundreds or thousands of concurrent projects can see the business case for deploying the technology.

Jennings said that this failure among vendors to develop simpler and cheaper management software suites means that most firms are still using point solutions or spreadsheets to manage their IT and business projects. "There are some competent solutions out there now, but in terms of their functionality and cost they are targeted at the largest companies," he said. "If you go even just one level down from the largest multinationals you find there is not much [specialist governance suites] available."

In separate news, IT management vendor BMC and change management specialist Tripwire are expected to extend their partnership tomorrow. According to reports, Tripwire is to unveil tighter integration between its Enterprise 6.0 configuration management suite and BMC's Remedy Service Desk solution designed to make it easier for firms to monitor and manage IT changes to ensure minimal business disruption.

Under the partnership, the Tripwire suite will also be sold by BMC's sales teams. Further integration between the two companies' portfolios is expected later in the year.