I/T Business Plan Alignment:
It is often difficult to get an organization’s I/T strategy to align with its business strategy. Too often I/T
is simply overlooked, and/or underfunded, when determining what areas of the business I/T should be
supporting. In some instances, I/T is not represented at the planning table when goals and strategies are
developed, but brought in after the fact to “make everything work”. ProjX’s Business Plan Alignment
process forces the organization to:
o
o
o
o
Develop weighted averages for each organizational Goal to assist in determining its
importance to the organization.
Identify very specific strategies that will enable the organization to successfully meet each of
their identified goals. (Some of these may already be in place and others may need to be
developed)
Measure the strategies against each of the each of the weighted goals to determine how
effective each strategy would be for multiple Goals. (MeetingWorks is very instrumental in
this process)
From the above processes, identify which strategies need to be heavily invested.
The next step in the process is to determine the I/T content for each of these strategies. The following
questions are used to guide the process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How much of the identified strategy is I/T driven?
How much of the identified strategy CAN be I/T driven?
What technology is required to successfully implement the strategy?
Does the organization currently possess this technology?
Can the organization afford the technology?
Does the I/T staff have the capabilities to support the technology ?
Some of the strategies that are heavily I/T oriented may end up being those of significance to the
organization. Once identified, these particular strategies are laid out as individual projects with all
associated risks and benefits identified. These are then compared to other non-IT strategies to
determine where capital funding is to take place.
The following Strategic Alignment Model is used as a guide in the process:
Th e St r a t egic Align m en t Model
4
B u sin ess
IT
Bu sin ess Str a tegy
IT Str a tegy
Bu sin ess
Scope
Tech n ology
Scope
E xtern al
Dist in ct ive
Com pet en cies
Bu sin ess
Gover n a n ce
Syst emic
Com pet en cies
IT
Gover n an ce
St r a t egic
F it
Adm in ist r a t ive
In fr ast r u ct u r e
IT
In fr a st r u ct u r e
In tern al
P r ocesses
KE Y
Skills
P r ocesses
Or gan izat ion a l
In fr a st r u ct u r e & P r ocesses
St ra tegic F it
F u n ct ion a l In t egr a t ion
Cr oss-Dim en sion Align m en t s
Skills
IT In fr a st r u ct u r e
& P r ocesses
F u n ct ion a l In t egr a t ion
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4 "Underst a nding St rat egic Alignment ", J ohn C. Hender son, Bost on Univer sit y; N. Venka t r aman, MIT, Business Qua rt erly, Wint er 1991