strategic alignment model

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?

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.

Applied Information Economics (AIE) is a method for quantifying the value of IT investments. This overview of AIE provides an overview of key IT decision problem, how AIE solves them and how AIE is different from other methods.

Often, the emphasis is on creating an IT Strategy. Before you do, understand the context of IT Strategy i.e. what is its role and scope.

This paper proposes a framework for the development of information systems strategies and plans driven by business objectives and strategies. It provides an integrated framework for the development of technology architectures and business processes across the value chain. A systematic approach to enterprise information system planning is presented.

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!

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.

Enclosed is a simple template to create an IT Strategy for your organization. This is intended to be the starting point not a definitive or exhaustive workbook on creating an IT Strategy.