Having recently attended a string of conferences including the TDWI Executive Summit, the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards, and Computerworld’s Business Intelligence Perspectives – I made a point of talking to several IT senior executives. As a marketer, I read a lot about this audience and I receive many research reports marking all sorts of trends. But nothing beats a good ol’ face-to-face chat to find out what’s really on their minds.
IT and Business alignment remains a key issue. CIOs and other IT execs tell me the subject has been discussed ad nauseam, but the goal of true alignment has never been achieved. After further discussion, it appears that the IT/Business alignment issue is a bit more nuanced.
One CIO of a financial institution made a fascinating statement to me. “Our IT organization is aligned with the business. But [and this is a big but]we are not considered a partner.” This CIO went on to explain that despite the fact that he himself has an MBA, the technical side of the organization lacks a true seat at the table when business strategy and direction are developed.
During a roundtable discussion with mostly IT executives, there were numerous complaints about business executives giving unclear direction and having no answer to the question “what business problems can IT help you solve?” These assertions were met with resounding agreement and head-nodding.
The surprise was that a significant percentage of the room agreed that IT’s hands were tied in this situation.
See the dichotomy here? If the complaint is that IT isn’t considered a valued partner to work hand-in-hand to develop business strategy, then should IT wait to receive direction from the business side? It seems that this is the opportunity to insert IT into the business planning process, to be proactive and help drive the business direction.
Or is that these are simply the rules of the game – and IT really is hamstrung if the business folks can’t provide direction? Is it ultimately true that the IT skill set is designed to compliment business strategy, not drive it?
I am not sure what the answer is, but I pushed this point in a few conversations and arrived at this conclusion: like most things, there is no clear cut answer. Some IT people want to take the bull by the horns and help to define the most pressing business problems as well as employ technology to solve them. Others really don’t buy that as IT’s role.
Where do you sit on this issue? I’m interested in hearing more opinions to help further define this trend.
4 Comments
Hello Ericka,
Thanks for your excellent article.
Aligning IT to the business has been, and should be, the top CIO objective.
The mistake most often made by CIOs, is that they attempt to align IT resources with their company's organizational structure - which is a big mistake.
Corporate planners often make the same logical mistake when they engage in departmental planning - rather than true corporate planning which requires a clear identification of, and business unit plan for, each industry (line of business) the company competes in.
A CIO can gain respect from the other C-level executives and make the job of business-IT alignment much easier if they lead the charge for better (and more structured) planning. Business plans can be as simple as one page long, or a big fat book. As long as the CIO requests (demands, if possible) that there is only one list of businesses (which can change over time) then alignment is easy. It is important to note that many cost center will require IT resources, but the discussion needs to be focused on how that cost center supports some or all of the business units in terms of their business objectives.
Alan S. Michaels
President, eCompetitors Inc.
Excellent point Alan. In your comment you make the case for IT becoming more proactive by asserting themselves as leaders in the planning process - and I couldn't agree more. I've just posted a new entry on a related topic, "Signs of an IT Uprising?" and would be interested in your thoughts there as well.
Ericka: in working with different IT organizations I have found that all too often they are waiting to be told what to do. The rest of the business is moving too fast to take the time to do this. IT will never get a seat at the strategy table if the rest of the decision makers don't see the value of having IT there (having an MBA is a start, but is not enough).
IT needs to start to use the same vocabulary as the rest of the company. IT needs to show how they can automate existing business processes. IT needs to clearly demonstrate that they have deep subject matter expertise in what field their business is in.
Hey, how hard can that be to do?
- Dr. Jim Anderson
The Business of IT Blog
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