Topic: alignment trap

No business will ever reach the goal of “business and IT alignment”. Should this discourage you from pursuing business and IT alignment? NO! It is a worthy goal to pursue. Indeed, it is a critical one to pursue. You might never reach alignment but you can take steps to get ever closer. This requires a process. Often, we ignore the fact that business and IT alignment is a process. This process does not have a starting point nor does it have an end. It is a series of “learn and do” cycles that incrementally get towards alignment. Let me explain.

One of the toughest questions to answer is: is my business is alignment with IT?
Prof. Luftman tries to answer this question in this paper originally published in 2000.

 This presentation provides an overview of the Henderson/Venkatraman Strategic Alignment Model.

This article was originally published in 1999. However, it is on the money even today. Authors Jerry Luftman and Tom Brier walk through the issue of business and IT Alignment with specific examples and advice on how to achieve this goal. A must read!

What are the strategies to quickly align business with IT? How can a CIO use these strategies in his or her role as a business partner to entice forces in various business and functional units to unite?

Alignment is an issue but are you focused on the right strategy to fix it?

This paper proposes changing the "square" Henderson/Venkatraman Strategic Alignment model to a "triangle" Process Alignment Model by merging the IT strategy and business strategy domains because "IT Doesn't Matter"!

 Why is aligning business strategy and it strategy so difficult? This paper explores business and it alignment to identify the level of business alignment with it and the reasons for the continuing challenge of aligning business with it.

This paper presents the Oracle view on business and IT alignment. Oracle framework of business and IT alignment proposes three elements namely, management excellence, operational excellence and technology excellence.

 Business-IT alignment From a Value-Based Perspective covers the basics of it alignment, value modeling as a tool and provides an overview of VITAL - Value-based IT Alignment.