A recent survey from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association found governance has become a central part of maintaining and protecting IT security.

The nonprofit body's survey polled IT professionals and found a staggering 95 percent that deemed governance important within the IT world. The results also discovered nearly two thirds of the respondents have some Governance of Enterprise IT activities currently in place, with the use of IT policies at the top of the list, followed by employment of defined and managed IT processes.

The ISACA's international vice president, Rolf von Roessing, believes the report stresses the need for IT functionality to align with business needs.

"It also shows that the most commonly experienced outcomes are improvements in the management of IT-related risk, as well as communications and relationships between business and IT", von Roessing said.

With regulatory compliance now a major priority in many business areas, having the right governance authorities in place can go a long way toward implementing and following through with IT security standards. In Europe, best practice compliance has become a statutory requirement, meaning implementing the best governance to ensure security is essential.

As more businesses turn toward mobile devices and employees engage with web services, and data is continuously transmitted outside company walls, ensuring compliance and governance is as important as ever.