business-IT Alignment Research Articles

The Architect's Role in Business-IT Alignment

The importance of alignment between business and information technology (IT) for generating IT business value has been emphasized in many research papers. Current literature broadly supports that capable and sustainable enterprise architecture is essential to support business processes as well as future agility. In that respect, individuals performing the role of an enterprise architect are at the core of the interface between business and IT and their relationship with the business side is crucial to generate IT business value. Employing a qualitative study, the authors show that competencies such as profound work experience and business-related topics serves to bridge the IT-business gap and may foster alignment. This result contributes to alignment and governance literature as it emphasizes an individual level antecedent of business-IT alignment.

Exploratory Analysis of Organizational Maturity Assessment Indicators for Business-IT Alignment in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Exploratory Analysis of Organizational Maturity Assessment Indicators for Business-IT Alignment in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Governing cloud computing services: Reconsideration of IT governance structures

There is an increase in the uptake of cloud computing services (CCS). CCS is adopted in the form of a utility, and it incorporates business risks of the service providers and intermediaries. Thus, the adoption of CCS will change the risk profile of an organization. In this situation, organizations need to develop competencies by reconsidering their IT governance structures to achieve a desired level of IT-business alignment and maintain their risk appetite to source business value from CCS. We use the resource-based theories to suggest that collaborative board oversight of CCS, competencies relating to CCS information and financial management, and a CCS-related continuous audit program can contribute to business process performance improvements and overall firm performance. Using survey data, we find evidence of a positive association between these IT governance considerations and business process performance. We also find evidence of positive association between business process performance improvements and overall firm performance. The results suggest that the suggested considerations on IT governance structures can contribute to CCS-related IT-business alignment and lead to anticipated business value from CCS. This study provides guidance to organizations on competencies required to secure business value from CCS.

Business process management and IT management: The missing integration

The importance of business processes and the centrality of IT to contemporary organizations’ performance calls for a specific focus on business process management and IT management. Despite the wide scope of business process management covering both business and IT domains, and the profound impact of IT on process innovations, the association between business process management and IT management is under-explored. Drawing on a literature analysis of the capabilities of business process and IT governance frameworks and findings from a case study, we propose the need for horizontal integration between the two management functions to enable strategic and operational business—IT alignment. We further argue that the role of IT in an organization influences the direction of integration between the two functions and thus the choice of integration mechanisms. Using case study findings, we propose that IT as a business enabler respectively calls for sequential and reciprocal integrations at strategic and operational planning levels. Drawing on logical reasoning, we suggest that IT as a strategic driver necessitates reciprocal integration at both levels.

Extending the enterprise evolution contextualisation model

ABSTRACTEnterprise engineering (EE) emerged as a new discipline to encourage comprehensive and consistent enterprise design. Since EE is multidisciplinary, various researchers study enterprises from different perspectives, which resulted in a plethora of applicable literature and terminology, but without shared meaning. Previous research specifically focused on the fragmentation of knowledge for designing and aligning the information and communication technology (ICT) subsystem of the enterprise in order to support the business organisation subsystem of the enterprise. As a solution for this fragmented landscape, a business-IT alignment model (BIAM) was developed inductively from existing business-IT alignment approaches. Since most of the existing alignment frameworks addressed the alignment between the ICT subsystem and the business organisation subsystem, BIAM also focused on the alignment between these two subsystems. Yet, the emerging EE discipline intends to address a broader scope of design, evident in the existing approaches that incorporate a broader scope of design/alignment/governance. A need was identified to address the knowledge fragmentation of the EE knowledge base by adapting BIAM to an enterprise evolution contextualisation model (EECM), to contextualise a broader set of approaches, as identified by Lapalme. The main contribution of this article is the incremental development and evaluation of EECM. We also present guiding indicators/prerequisites for applying EECM as a contextualisation tool.

Influential it Management Trends: An International Study

This paper is based on data collected as part of an 11-year authors’ survey research on IT trends in different geographic regions, including North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Latin America. This study focuses on global similarities and differences in technology trends (e.g., management concerns, influential technologies, budgets/spending, organizational considerations) among geographies to gain insight into the challenges that IT and non-IT executives face today as well as provide an understanding of the impact these technologies have on the organization's long-term plans and investments. The results for the 11-year period show that the top five management concerns are: (i) IT-business alignment; (ii) business agility; (iii) business cost reduction/controls; (iv) business productivity; and (v) security/privacy. The five most influential technologies are: (i) analytics/business intelligence; (ii) cloud computing; (iii) ERP systems; (iv) CRM systems; and (v) security technologies. Taken together, these findings suggest that the alignment of IT and the business and leveraging IT to reduce business expenses and generate revenue are and will remain essential. The results also suggest that the role of the CIO is evolving and offshore outsourcing is on the rise. Budgets, hiring, and salaries are also increasing, albeit cautiously. This research provides important implications for IT managers to benchmark considerations such as organizational, sourcing, spending, issues/concerns, and technologies across geographies, and sheds light on a perspective on leveraging important IT trends to make thoughtful decisions about them over the coming years, and address current business challenges.

Mediation information system engineering based on hybrid service composition mechanism

Business-IT alignment nowadays has become crucial, with the expansion of service-based information systems and the need to collaborate with external partners. This research work therefore presents a hybrid service composition mechanism coupling logic-based and syntactic matchmaking of services and messages to transform a business process into an executable workflow. To meet the business requirements, this mechanism is based on both top-down and bottom-up approaches using available technical services and a generic semantic profile as pivot model. Whereas the service matchmaking focuses on the functional coverage of the generated workflow, the messageone generates the message transformation needed.

Achieving Social Alignment between Business and IT – an Empirical Evaluation of the Efficacy of IT Governance Mechanisms

How can firms improve the degree of social alignment between their business and IT units? Many years of research have shown the importance of business-IT alignment and its various facets, yet research on the efficacy of IT governance mechanisms to improve business-IT alignment is scarce. In this paper, we develop a model of social alignment at the operational level that considers the degree of social capital between an organization's business and IT units, IT personnel's business understanding, and a set of formal and informal IT governance mechanisms that drive the creation of social alignment and business value. Using survey data from 132 US banks, we show that social alignment is driven to varying degrees by a broad variety of IT governance mechanisms ranging from top management support and IT representation on the executive board to joint IT planning and IS training, regular meeting cycles, and liaison units. Our research contributes substantially to the practical demand on business-IT alignment research for an effective toolkit of IT governance mechanisms.

An evaluation framework for comparing business-IT alignment models: A tool for supporting collaborative learning in organizations

Researchers and practitioners have argued on the importance of business-IT alignment (BITA) for organizations to maximize the business value of IT. As a result, a vast number of BITA models have been designed to support organizations in achieving, assessing and maintaining BITA. These models focus on different components (i.e. concepts/aspects of alignment) and emphasize different perspectives of the alignment (i.e. how alignment is perceived by practitioners). This makes it difficult for practitioners to choose an appropriate BITA model for a specific organization. In this paper, an evaluation framework to support practitioners in choosing appropriate BITA models is proposed. The framework was constructed following design science as a research approach. The design science activities were carried out in an iterative manner until reaching a final artefact. The process started with an extensive literature survey that led to designing a tentative model. Following that, different empirical iterations contributed to the framework development. The final framework consists of 25 criteria categorized into four groups. It was tested on six major BITA models, demonstrating its feasibility. Finally, the framework was evaluated by interviewing five business consultants and seven IT managers from large Swedish organizations. The evaluation shows that the framework has a complete set of criteria with a sufficient level of coherence, but its usability and efficiency is argued differently. The framework, additionally, is argued to potentially be used as a collaborative learning tool on requirement of BITA between practitioners from both business and IT domain or serve in the academic world.

A Visual Approach to Business IT Alignment between Business Model and Enterprise Architecture

In this paper, the authors put forward an intermediary model that can support the transition between a business model and an IT infrastructure, then provide an example of how the approach can be used. The model is based on a combination of existing models: enterprise architecture and the Business Model Canvas. The authors show how the proposed intermediary model, which has a strong focus on a business model strategy, can help IT alignment. The intermediary model can help alignment from either a business model focus or an IT infrastructure focus because of the correspondence between the two paradigms. The focus on visualization within the intermediary model aids in quickly illustrating the common ground held by the parties involved in the alignment.

Success of IT Deployment

IT business value (ITBV) research generally state that various “good” IT management and IT governance practices influence positively IT deployment success and organizational performance. This has proved hard to verify empirically. For this study, the authors analyzed factors that influence IT deployment success. First, the authors identified potential factors, then hypothesized about the relationships among and between the factors and finally integrated the hypotheses into a research model. The authors then empirically evaluated the hypotheses and the entire research model. Special attention was placed on the Business-IT alignment, IT management and the consistency of IT investments in relation to the cyclical behavior of the economy. The consistency of IT investment is a novel factor introduced in this study to the ITBV research. The authors used survey data of 212 responses collected from CxOs during an economic recession. Empirical results confirmed that all research model factors impacted positively on IT deployment success.

Strategic and Tactical Business-IT Alignment Barriers in Organizations Acting in Sweden

In research, many barriers to BITA are presented based on different theoretical frameworks. However, these barriers are studied either from a pure theoretical perspective or with limited empirical scope. This consequently hinders the achievement of BITA in organizations. In this article the practitioners view of barriers to BITA are investigated aiming at producing a list of barriers which practitioners can use as a ground for better achievement of BITA. The list of barriers was identified by conducting three in-depth case studies on multinational organizations acting in Sweden along with two focused group discussions of researchers, and followed by a survey on 74 large and medium sized organizations on the Swedish market. The result of this study is a list of 45 barriers to BITA from the perspectives of business and IT practitioners.

Can IS/IT Governance Contribute for Business Agility?

Abstract Business agility is the ability to answer quickly to internal and external changes, either reactively or proactively, in an efficient and effective way. Therefore, it is no surprise that business agility has become one of the top 10 most important organizational concerns for IT management. To achieve business-IT alignment, organizations need to set up processes to support decision making regarding the effective and efficient use of information systems and information technology, i.e., IS/IT Governance . Governance means rules, organizational procedures, supervision, monitoring and control. On the other hand, agility requires degrees of freedom to decide and make changes in the business processes. The possible tension between IS/IT Governance and business agility may be a result of the conflict between adaptation versus anticipation. While governance requires planning, anticipation, supervision and control, agility requires high degrees of adaptation, many times under unforeseen circumstances. In this work, we propose a conceptual model to look into the relationship between IS/IT Governance and business agility.

The City of Pittsburgh goes to the Cloud: A Case Study of Cloud Solution Strategic Selection and Deployment

Faced with diminished resources and a need to provide enhanced employee email services, the City of Pittsburgh's Chief Information Officer (CIO) had to navigate a stubborn bureaucracy to achieve his objectives. Using an IT-business alignment strategic approach to decide on a suitable IT solution, the City was able to select and deploy a cloud-based system in an objective and uncontested way. The City employed an Analytic Hierarchy Process prioritization methodology, which used various criteria obtained from the stakeholders to develop a decision-making framework to select the most suitable cloud solution. The case allows a review of best practices in the cloud solution selection process, using theoretical lenses from the fields of IT alignment, decision-making, and stakeholder management. This case study is particularly useful for learning how strategic decisions to adopt IT are made in public organizations.

E-Business Initiatives in Indonesian Manufacturing SMEs

The role of information technology (IT) in improving companies’ competitiveness, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has been widely accepted. But, the IT investment will be in vain, if SMEs do not align their business and IT. There is a need to develop a framework of business-IT alignment. The framework development requires an understanding of the patterns of IT implementation in supporting SMEs’ business (e-business initiatives). This paper presents an empirical study on e-business initiatives in Indonesian manufacturing SMEs. The study uses 41 business processes that are grouped into three business focuses: supplier side, internal side and customer side. Based on the complexity of IT support to business processes, supplier side score, internal side score, customer side score and global score can be calculated. These scores are used to develop e-business initiative groups by using cluster analysis. After validated using discriminant analysis, the cluster analysis gives five e-business initiatives. First initiative is e-business implementation in three sides of business focuses, although in the early stage. Second initiative is IT implementation with internal side focus. Third initiative is e-business with customer side focus. The fourth is initiative that focuses on internal and customer side. The last is e-business initiative that balances and extends IT implementation on the three sides of business focuses. Then, this paper explains the differences between e-business initiatives.

How information technology influences environmental performance: Empirical evidence from China

Information technology (IT) can be the problem and solution for environmental sustainability. While IT is a source of environmental contamination during manufacturing and disposal, IT also presents opportunities for firms to greening IT and/or increasing their efficiency of resource use. We examine the role of IT as a solution possibility for environmental management and sustainability by analyzing how IT influences environmental performance. We propose a model in which IT influences environmental performance by enabling the integration of IT in environmental management processes. The proposed model is tested by using the variance-based structural equation modeling technique with matched-pair survey data from a sample of 151 Chinese firms. We find that: (1) Firm's proficiency in leveraging IT technical infrastructure flexibility, IT personnel skills and IT-business alignment enables the integration of IT in the environmental management processes to improve environmental performance, and (2) this IT integration is stronger when the firm is more oriented to environmental sustainability. We introduce to information systems community the construct IT-environmental management integration, and we explain theoretically and test empirically the role of IT-environmental management integration as a key mechanism through which IT competence influences environmental performance.

Alignment processes in public organizations: An interpretive approach

How should we adapt the concept of Business – IT alignment to grasp the complexity of public organizations? To answer this question, we theorize that understanding the variation in alignment in public organizations, implies that we take into account the political and institutional context, and consider the interaction between IT and the organization as a continuous process on different levels. Those amendments on the alignment literature are integrated in an interpretive alignment approach. Case study results illustrate the value of this approach.

Alignment processes in public organizations

How should we adapt the concept of Business – IT alignment to grasp the complexity of public organizations? To answer this question, we theorize that understanding the variation in alignment in pub...

How COBIT can Complement ITIL to Achieve BIT

Strategic alignment is a conviction that is considered extremely important in understanding how organizations can apply their arrangement of information technology (IT) into substantial boosts in achievement. To attain alignment advantage, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) prepares a framework of best practice approch for IT Service Management in all countries and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) is an IT governance framework and aiding toolset that permits managers to stretch the gap between control prerequisites, technical matters and business risks. The purpose of this paper is to recognize how COBIT can complement ITIL to attain Business-IT Alignment.

HOW COBIT CAN COMPLEMENT ITIL TO ACHIEVE BIT

Strategic alignment is a conviction that is considered extremely important in understanding how organizations can apply their arrangement of information technology (IT) into substantial boosts in achievement. To attain alignment advantage, Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) prepares a framework of best practice approach for IT Service Management in all countries and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) is an IT governance framework and aiding toolset that permits managers to stretch the gap between control prerequisites, technical matters and business risks. The purpose of this paper is to recognize how COBIT can complement ITIL to attain Business-IT Alignment.