IT Business Alignment

In a recent A&G magazine item "IT-Business Alignment" identifies IT-Business alignment as a top a concern amongst CIOs.

It is suggested the top enablers to alignment include: Senior executive support for IT;
IT understanding the enterprise's business environment; Business units’ understanding of the enterprise IT environment; a close partnership between IT and business; IT plans linked to business plans; good communications between IT and business; Business units's support (including staff and investment) for enterprise wide IT initiatives; Clear predictable corporate goals and directions; Business units sharing (not competing for) IT resources; IT and the business governance; Business units’ prioritization of IT needs; Clear ownership of IT-business alignment

It is suggested that: “Business people must recognize the most important thing they can do is act as a sponsor for an IT initiative...To do that, they need the IT management team to come in with specific ideas. Business executives are usually more than willing to support
them, but the initiative must come from IT.” I think that the reality is that business people can see that IT has not got its own house in order and simply don't trust IT. To say that “Business people must recognize ...” seems to me a little rich. I think "the IT unit must recognize that the business doesn't relly trust them and they need to come in with specific ideas on how to win trust, and that this IS an initiative must come from IT.”

So until CIO's take the initiative to put in place solutions that will ensure that they can communciate i.e.
- what they understand the corporate goals and directions to be (and how these link to business plans)
- what IT seeks to do and why clearly to senior executive (including IT plans linked explicitly to business plans)
- the enterprise IT environment to the business
- their understanding of the business (via their views of key relationships e.g. environment, goals, projects, operations and technology)
- how they have addressed IT governance.
- their model for prioritizing IT needs based on the business plans.
How can they expect to win the confidence of the business?

If they seriously think (being IT professionals) that they way to enable this communication is to use sets of disconnected Office suite documents (plans, project definitions, systems diagrams, process models etc.) - they must be dreaming.

See: http://ict-tech-and-industry.blogspot.com/2008/08/stages-of-maturity-in-communications.html
http://ea-in-anz.blogspot.com/2007/10/improving-its-reputation-and-alignment.html
http://ea-in-anz.blogspot.com/2007/09/why-dont-most-it-processes-work-well.html