Information Technology (IT) has become an indispensable part of business strategy and business operations for organizations to thrive in extremely competitive markets. As such, aligning IT with business has gained prominence with the highest priority being attached to achieve the best value out of IT investments. Ironically, many organizations are unable to reap strategic benefits generated by aligning IT and business. Most of the earlier efforts by corporates to strike such alignment were largely unsuccessful. This article provides insights into what it takes to achieve efficient alignment of IT and business strategy of an organization.

Over the last three decades, the role of Information Technology (IT) in business has changed from mere facilitation of data entry and data processing jobs to assisting top management to arrive to conclusions for strategic issues. IT has become indispensable for business organizations to such an extent that a few types of businesses risk their very existence in today's global business environment if they neglect the same (e.g. web-based businesses, retailing, logistics, banking, etc). Corporates have realized the need to align IT with business, which is reflected in the huge IT budgets of organizations. However, to realize strategic benefits from their IT initiatives, it is crucial for organizations to identify their business strategies and then align their IT initiatives to meet such strategies.

In simple terms, the implications of aligning IT strategy with an organization's business strategy is to ensure that every single action performed by IT personnel is focused on building and delivering stakeholder value by supporting business operations and/or achieving business goals.

Global CEO Magazine, IT with Business, Business Strategy, Web-based Businesses, Corporate Business Goals, Business Planning, Global IT Strategy Leader, Business Organization, IT Management, Market Dynamics, IT Governance, Sharp Electronics, Corporate Strategies, Portfolio Management, Economic Turbulence, IT Budget Allocation, Management Teams, Deloitte Consulting.