Teknikrön -Weaving technology into the fabric of business (TM)

Information Technology Alignment

Alignment, in this sense, is the delivery of the required business results

We find this an important subject in our era of information technology (IT) and "big data." It is of paramount importance that any business entity, today, use their IT effectively to support achieving their business objectives. To align IT with business goals requires those involved to speak both the IT and business lingo, and understand both cultures -we, at Teknikrön, do. While IT types may evaluate an effort via praising customer satisfaction, quality and workflow simplification, the business types evaluate projects primarily on the basis of contributions to net cash flow. Therefore, alignment is the capacity to demonstrate a positive relationship between IT and the accepted financial measures of performance.

Unfortunately, this ideal alignment, which should exist, is often in contrast to what we have witnessed in most business operations we have served during our careers. To use a term you will often find us mentioning to describe a major cause of this misalignment, and also when addressing business performance: "nested silos", which tend to be a significant hindrance in both areas.

Why do such rifts exist? Well, our experiences and research have proven that the difference in objectives between the IT side of the house, and the business side, remains one of the most critical challenges. To follow that is criticality are the differences in cultural awareness/appreciation, and the incentives and different rewards that make either side function -outside of pay.

IT-Business alignment integrates IT into the strategy of an organization; we say that "we weave it in," which is exactly what we do -make it properly integral.

Where does all this start? The correct answer is: "At the top!" This subject matter should be sponsored by the board of directors and the CxO office, because this issue is an inseparable part of, at least, enterprise governance, IT governance, business transformation and IT portfolio management -all these meet through change management, which is a critical component of IT-business alignment.

IT alignment is not just about the tools used, which is most commonly thought by less that experienced IT and business planners who are easily influenced by sales tactics of vendors; it is more importantly about the way these technological tools are being used to leverage value creation -which inherently is very dependent on IT-business alignment.

A fair place to start in an investigation of where your business stands, on this issue, is to have the following investigated and properly managed:

- Organizational risks: Will systems be used in a way consistent with their objective/purpose (or are they? -if they already exist as part of our infrastructure).

- Business risks: Will the adaptation of a certain technology translate to added value? (or have they? -if they already exist as part of our infrastructure).

- IT technical risks: Will the system adopted function as it should (has it? -if already on the floor).

If you can not answer these questions on behalf of your business, then most likely the business value of this paradigm is about to be, or already is, jeopardized, and you probably need our support.

IT-Business Alignment

How to realize this objective

There are several requirements a firm must meet to ensure a successful alignment. These must survive changes in organization, will have to shift with re-directions in business goals and adapt to changes in top leadership personalities. Any organization in question needs to view IT as an instrument to transform business and safely integrate it efficiently. Once that is accomplished, business leaders and their consultants must focus their vision on the customer! They must build the infrastructure that makes it easier to keep an open-line between the business and its customers (externally, or internally).

To follow, some of the successful companies that our team has worked for have what they call "rotation programs;" our team member, Raéd Ayyad, recalls such programs at Allstate, where he served early in his career. Raéd noted that there was no doubt that such programs created and supported the needed synergy between IT and the different business departments at the company; it also added to the camaraderie and good will between individuals in these teams making operations even more efficient by removing "person barriers" allowing for even more seamless communications.

After achieving the above steps, or, in parallel, the company must provide clear and specific goals to both the IT and Business sectors, to be followed, leading to achieving a common goal to work towards. Doing this will setup the foundation of the last element of critical importance, which is creating an inclusive and supportive corporate culture that thrives of clear communications and operational transparency.

Not following these steps often lead operations to catastrophic failure due to hemorrhaging of resources, and costing massive expenditures to remedy them after the fact -if it was not too late.