Today’s Wall St. Journal (10 March 2008) has a great pull-out section written in conjunction with MiT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Amit Basu (Chair of the Info tech and ops management department at Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University) and Chip Jarnagin (founder of LatticeWorks Consulting) have an article called “How to Tap IT’s Hidden Potential” which you can read here.
They say that top executives who failed to recognize the potential value of information technology have helped to build the wall between IT and the Business. No one is/was bridging the mind-set, language, and social gaps between IT staff and business management.
Their solution for breaking down the wall includes:
- IT literacy from the top down (I would add “Business literacy from the bottom up”)
- Hire a visionary, business-savvy IT leader
- Create demand for IT solutions
- IT must understand the business value and role of their work and make sure nothing gets lost in translation between IT and business
- Rationalize spending
- Create a risk/return-driven IT portfolio
Business Foundation has a successful way to get started: bring IT, Finance and Business function leadership together and get the business down on one sheet of paper. Then, with IT’s help, align the IT portfolio (both transactional and management systems) with the top drivers of value across the entire enterprise. This automatically rationalizes and prioritizes technology-enabled initiatives, as well as exposes demand for IT solutions where they can have the most impact on the business.
Rick Sherman of Data Doghouse also blogged about this article here.
Oh, and don't forget to read our article on this topic at cio.com:
http://advice.cio.com/rondimon/how_to_close_the_it_business_alignment_gap
Posted by: Ron Dimon | March 10, 2008 at 04:14 PM
I agree that we need to include business literacy as well as IT literacy. Just in case there is any ambiguity I believe both competencies should be critical to both users/managers and technologists. I am all in favour of rationalising the IT departments activities such that they are fully traceable back to the strategic imperatives. I would also look to rationalise with risk and cost in mind as well, so that all parties are comfortable about what IT is expected to deliver. I discuss this in my book, The IT Value Stack (http://www.itvaluestack.com)
Posted by: Ade McCormack | April 21, 2008 at 04:16 AM
Thanks Ade, I still have a "to do" to get your book. Looking forward to it.
-Ron
Posted by: Ron Dimon | April 21, 2008 at 07:32 AM
Interesting article. Stumbled upon your site and enjoyed reading some of your blog posts. Well done!
Posted by: myspace design | August 06, 2008 at 12:23 AM