What is IT Alignment

IT Alignment continues to be a hot topic as evidenced by at least one article on IT Alignment showing up in almost every issue of any IT magazine. In the lastest issue of CIO magazine an article entitled "The Fabric of the Company" led me to address the question, "What is IT Alignment". It seems every article I read has a different "take". In the article mentioned, the definition provided by the CEO of a leading textile company indicated he knew his IT was aligned with his business because, "I have data to make decisions."

Other definitions we encounter include:

"Business and IT are aligned because we only do projects requested by business." (Does business always ask for the right projects - our data says No!)

"We are aligned with new product development." (Is new product development the only need for the business as a whole - our data says focusing on one aspect of business leads to poorer overall alignment.)

"We are aligned because we have a request system which is subjected to a rigorous top management prioritization process." (Still depends on the right projects getting into the prioritization hopper and the luck of the power struggle in the prioritization process for IT $.)

"We aligned with the implementation of an ERP system." (How long ago was the implementation of the ERP and how dynamic is it to business changes - our data shows this long term solution does not address the fast dynamic business changes of todays world.)

The definitions vary but the one we have found best over the last 25 years is:

IT is aligned with business when IT projects leverage and remain in sync with business strategy and goals.

The test for this definition of IT alignment is:

IT's contribution or leveraging of business goals consistently impacts profitability, ROI, ROA, or some other objective business outcome measure.

What is your definition of IT Alignment?