Getting IT strategy in tune with that of the general
business has long been a goal of IT directors. But despite many
discussions and Powerpoint presentations, most organisations have
failed to achieve this seemingly modest goal, according to a report
by Forrester Research.
It said the alignment of IT and business strategies is a by-product
of strong IT governance structures, and this strategy alignment
must be monitored and measured, with management held accountable
for results.
"The major reasons that companies fail to effectively align their
IT and business strategies are that they do not measure their
progress and do not hold anyone accountable for it," said Craig
Symons, a principal analyst at Forrester. "Measuring strategy
alignment is not easy, but there are a number of measures that can
be used, including the number of joint IT/business unit planning
meetings or the number of IT steering committee meetings."
One way for organisations to assess how well IT and business
strategies are aligned is by using the Software Engineering
Institute's CMM model, a commonly used method for improving the
quality of IT and processes.
"Without a formal improvement approach, companies typically move in
a stepwise fashion up the maturity model, and anecdotal evidence
suggests that many companies are at Level 2, with few at Level 4,"
said the Forrester report.