A primary question that every IT decision maker, and certainly every business
executive, is asking today is, “Is IT aligned
with the goals and demands of the business?” The Info-Tech survey asked a series of questions related to IT/business
alignment:
· Are the business and IT aligned?
· Do you have enough time with senior management/
executives?
· Does IT drive competitive advantage?
· Does business management understand IT?
If these questions were radio dials, then the responses should all be turned to full volume. However, the responses were surprisingly muted, highlighting a tremendous gap between the business and IT groups. For an IT decision maker to rate him or herself as successful, both as a professional and in serving the enterprise, all of these dimensions must be clearly positive – not just neutral.
Each of these ratings is a “must have” for an IT decision maker and the business they serve:
· Business and IT must be aligned.
· IT decision makers must have adequate time with business managers/executives.
· IT must drive competitive advantage.
· IT must be understood by managers/executives.
The neutral findings are unique to the mid-market and distinct from the Fortune 1,000 market where each of these dimensions is more highly regarded and actively engaged – by both the business and IT groups.
It should be noted that a “neutral” rating may simply indicate that a respondent doesn’t know if IT and the business are or are not aligned. This is a reasonable conclusion from the data and is equally disconcerting in light of chronic C-level complaints about misalignment of IT and business.
There appears to be a disconnection between senior executives and more junior management and staff. In most cases, the senior executive gave higher scores in each category while more junior staff gave lower scores. A possible conclusion is that senior executives may be communicating to the business but they aren’t conveying this information to their staff. They may be acting as a buffer rather than a conduit between the “demand drivers” of the business and the “demand delivery team” within their own organizations. In fact, the lower level an employee occupied, the less they felt there was alignment. This finding is consistent across all sizes of enterprise.
Enterprises were asked to rank themselves as Innovators, Housekeepers, or Survivors. Innovators are those that are engaged with the business and driving competitive advantage. Housekeepers are those that are doing an adequate job of “keeping the lights on,” from an IT point of view. Survivors are those that are under-funded, under-staffed and don’t have access to the latest technology or facilities to adequately perform their function.
Innovators Lead Alignment
When looking at alignment versus the situational self-assessment of the IT department, there is a distinct difference among them and some clear trends:
· In companies where IT is regarded as an Innovator, business/IT alignment is rated slightly higher.
· In companies where the IT department is a Survivor, the alignment is significantly lower.
· Housekeepers fall in between.
Innovators are taking a more mature business-centric approach to their IT responsibilities, and benefiting from the “spiral effect.” Innovators are creating more value for their enterprises and, in consequence, attracting more funding and executive support that can be translated into more and better skilled staff and technology to continue to drive more value (spiral up). Conversely, the Survivors may be delivering little or no value, and therefore receive less funding and executive support – and continue to deliver ever less value (spiral down).
Again, Housekeepers fall somewhere in between and have the opportunity (and the risk) of engaging the upward or downward spiral. Innovators are more focused on understanding the needs of the business, creating ROI projections to support those needs and dealing more effectively with their end-user communities as well as the executive team.
It is essential that IT decision makers identify the category into which they fall so that they can diagnose and take appropriate action to remedy their situation. If they are already in the Innovator category, understanding the dynamics at play can serve to further enhance their role within the enterprise and their success.
From a vendor perspective, it is a basic tenet of effective market penetration to “understand the customer.” Determining if a client is an Innovator, Housekeeper, or Survivor is fundamental to helping them with products and services suited to their specific situations.