State Street Corporation: Evolving IT Governance

Abstract

State Street, a world leader in financial services, has more than 20 entrepreneurial business units which continually identify customer needs and create new products and services, usually heavily IT dependent, often leading their industry in time to market. To enable these businesses, State Street invests between 20 and 25% of total operating expenses in technology and technologists. To maximize the business value from these IT investments requires the creation of an IT governance framework that harmonizes all IT governance mechanisms (e.g., committees, IT organization structure, approval processes) to maximize return from the IT investment. This case explores how State Street redesigned its IT governance to enable a major change in the firm's strategy.