Alignment: What It Really Means

Here's how to tell if your IT group is really aligned with your business -- and what to do if it's not.

By Troy D. Kinsey

June 13, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - IT departments are often perceived to be ineffectual, slow to respond to business needs and even an encumbrance to corporate progress. Many CIOs believe that their IT departments are aligned with the business, but I've seen only a few companies actually achieve this and have the bottom-line results to prove it. A 2004 survey by CIO magazine showed that while 80% of IT senior managers believe that IT and business are aligned, only 30% of business senior managers agree.
Let's look at how to determine whether your IT group really is aligned and how to achieve alignment if it's not.
My experience in leading both operations and IT departments has convinced me that it makes sense to look at three areas: process, metrics and employee development.
Process: Have you established a cross-departmental process for prioritizing, approving and implementing those projects that add sufficient value to the business? Do you ensure that both IT and business are engaged throughout the entire project life cycle?
Involving IT throughout the life cycle of a business project can greatly increase the breadth and diversity of creative business solutions; ensure the consistent use of corporate systems, infrastructure and support services; and leverage economies of scale. As my colleague Galina Cherny, senior director of IT at Universal Studios, notes, "The desired functionality quite often already exists in some form elsewhere in the company, or there are other business units who would benefit from the same solution."
But leveraging IT across business units works only when IT understands business operations and challenges. For that to happen, IT and business have to work as a team.
Metrics: Do you integrate IT and business objectives and measurements of success? Do you use incentive programs that incorporate these integrated objectives?


Troy D. Kinsey Image Credit: Manuello Paganelli

IT departments are typically measured and compensated based upon systemwide stability and problem-resolution response times. Business units are generally rewarded for adapting and responding to ever-changing customer needs. Because these goals conflict, departments' actions tend to conflict with one another. In addition, incurring technology infrastructure costs without agreeing upon a set of business metrics leads to mushy IT decision-making and corporate waste. The solution is to establish a consistent set of standards for measuring return on investment.
Employee development: Does your company have cross-departmental training and mentorship programs that enable IT personnel to understand the daily operational challenges and needs of the business and external customers? To keep IT integrated, IT staffers should be a part of the problem-solving team whenever the business faces a

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