Aligning Information Technology function with Business
Aligning information technology (IT) with business goals is crucial for maximizing efficiency, fostering innovation, and achieving strategic enterprise objectives.
Enterprises with better Business-IT alignment have IT leaders that are laser focused on strategy, business process execution, innovation, new product development, and compliance. More than 30% of their time is spent with their non-IT colleagues.
Some good practices :
Define and prioritize goals/drivers better and in clear language Have SMART goals like “With same IT budget($), reduce customer churn by 10% by improving customer experience/FCR” vis-à-vis “Spend less, sell more” . Most enterprise use some form of “Business case” or “Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)” process
Follow Agile Business demands nimble IT that deliver software faster, respond to change/feedback. And very few organization have single site agile team/s. It works on global 24x7 model
Have IT Metrics to show business the return on investments Train team for cross functional Relationships -it is people management. IT folks spending time in Business or customers shoes e.g. manning support desks, meeting end customers
Create advocates/champions for business in internal IT team e.g. Business relationship Managers (BRM) similar to IT vendor managers (VRM) who help get strategic value from suppliers