You are right. IT Alignment may be interpreted as a following attitude : you should wait for Business moves before to launch an IT change and it should be in accordance with, not only to be linked, but with a similar pace, slow slow, fast fast.

James is right when he said that Business goals and IT goals should be linked.

But the starting point of this paper is the fact that strategy is not only goals, but also the way to achieve goals. if IT and Business goals should be linked, the links are often subtle since the two visions are usually far from each other.

The capability to create a strong IT vision is not only related to a Business capability, but to a special one based on strong IT understanding which usually comes from people experienced with IT. ISACA survey reports that implementation of IT Governance is twice successful when done by IT people.

I would just start saying that, although IT Strategy should obviously be linked with Business, it is not a mirror of Business Strategy but an autonomous activity.

Regards

Jerome

The main point I think is that IT cannot be isolated from the goals of the organization, both short and long term. There must be coordination and communication between all parties in order to accomplish the overall goals of the organization.

Jim

I’m just beginning a final paper for my MBA, and have read a considerable amount of research in this area… (Though, still looking for more)

I believe that the ultimate target for Strategic IT effort is to go look beyond closing the Gap (aka fast following) to look at achieving a state where the distinctions between Business Strategy and IT Strategy are non-existent, or not explicit.

I would argue that most examples of IT Strategy focus on internal resources capabilities… improving/optimizing them etc. Though this is a portion of business strategy, a more substantial piece is about understanding the industry context and developed an optimal competitive response. So Business Strategy tends to be externally focused, while IT strategy internal.

I believe this internal focus creates a problem. A “following IT strategy” focused on closing gaps, can create a context where an organization may overlook business changes that could enable better competitive positioning within the with industry context.

I believe this situation is quite prevalent, and is limiting organizations achieving optimal returns from their IT investments.

Thanks again for your posting. And I’d very much appreciate your further thoughts on this.