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What is IT Alignment?

What is IT Alignment?. IT Alignment. What is IT Alignment? A lot more people think they are doing it than really are. Properly done, it is the Holy Grail of CIOs.

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What is IT Alignment?

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  1. What is IT Alignment?

  2. IT Alignment • What is IT Alignment? • A lot more people think they are doing it than really are. • Properly done, it is the Holy Grail of CIOs. • The CIO wants this to be the “Vision” that s/he broadcasts to IT and the rest of the company. (Vision = focus, it channels the IT organization’s creative energy all in one direction, aimed at one goal…the goal of IT Alignment)

  3. So, … What is IT Alignment? • IT Alignment is the deployment of IT resources to achieve the optimum strategic business impact • Everyone has an IT portfolio that they claim is supporting the business—but that is, in many companies, the exact opposite of good IT Alignment • Notice: This is counter-intuitive for a lot of service oriented IT people.

  4. Huh?!? • IT Alignment is the deployment of IT resources to achieve the optimum strategic business impact • Business impact (vs. technology proficient) • Strategic (vs. tactical or operational) • Optimum use of IT resources (vs. pretty good) (usually means lots of redeployment).

  5. The starting point: • There is a night and day difference between the job description and responsibilities of a very good IT Director and a good CIO. • IT Director: Responsible for delivering operational excellence in IT services • CIO: Responsible for helping to develop and then enabling the business (vs. technology) strategy of the company

  6. 5 Step Process for IT Alignment • Step 1: Written strategic business goals • Step 2: Identification of business initiatives throughout the company that support strategic goals • Step 3: Brainstorm to identify the hidden opportunities for IT to enable 1 & 2 above • Step 4: Prioritize ideas from step 3 according to business impact (usually means: redeploy IT resources) • Step 5: System for post project audits and reporting

  7. Step 3: Brainstorm to identify the hidden opportunities for IT to enable strategic business goals and initiatives Some sort of creative process for identifying hidden/optimum IT opportunities The size of the cross section is the measure of your alignment User needs and requests for IT support IT Projects that optimally enable strategic business objectives Your current IT portfolio ------- ------- -------

  8. The Bottom Line • IT Alignment is the deployment of IT resources to achieve the optimum strategic business impact • Your CIO (and CEO) needs senior people on his/her team who understand the subtleties of IT Alignment vs. operational excellence and can help him/her achieve good IT Alignment

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