Cobit 2019 A Significant Update
Cobit 2019 A Significant Update
Cobit 2019 A Significant Update
Dirk Steuperaert
To cite this article: Dirk Steuperaert (2019) COBIT 2019: A SIGNIFICANT UPDATE, EDPACS, 59:1,
14-18, DOI: 10.1080/07366981.2019.1578474
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/07366981.2019.1578474
MAJOR CHANGES
First of all, some things have not changed, most notably the over-
all purpose of governance of enterprise Information Technology
(IT), the definitions of governance and management, and the dis-
tinction we make between both. Hence, the essence of our views
on governance over enterprise IT have remained.
However, after almost seven years of COBIT 5, it was normal to
update and refresh a number of things; technology, its role, and
the way it is used in many organizations has dramatically chan-
ged. Sourcing models for IT services have changed and digital
transformation is changing many organizations’ business models.
The regulatory landscape is in constant evolution, imposing stric-
ter rules for many commercial and public enterprises. And the IT
governance and management standards and frameworks land-
scape has evolved as well. All these changes require adjustments
to the governance system an enterprise puts in place over enter-
prise IT, and by consequence made a review and update of the
core of COBIT—its processes and the relating governance compo-
nents—highly relevant and timely.
User feedback and research have also led to some changes and
new concepts in COBIT 2019. We have changed the names of some
concepts or introduced some new ones, such as:
● Design factors: In COBIT 5, it was mainly the goals cascade from
enterprise goals down to process enabler goals that determined
priorities for processes; in COBIT 2019, we have introduced
many more design factors that can drive the design for the
Figure 1. COBIT 2019 provides comprehensive and practical guidance to help enterprises better govern and
manage their information and technology in customizable fashion.