“It’s more a Zen state of mind that you have to constantly be changing and morphing along with the business.”
Holly Morris, CIO at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a faith-based, non-profit insurance provider (1).
I like this quote very much because it demonstrates the willingness and the capability of IT to serve different business interests with a quiet determination, a Zen state of mind so to speak. Yet I keep hearing from time to time a one-sided argument that it’s the fault of IT for not being aligned with “Business”. If I were a CIO, I would be very wary in participating in such debate. Why? Because in such debate, “Business” is portrayed as a monolithic entity that can be either aligned to or not; while in reality, Business can be different things to different people at different times and in different contexts.
I know that people mean well when they talk about the issue of Business-IT Alignment, but I can’t help but wondering aloud: What “Business” are we talking about here? Is it the entire organization? A divisional unit? A functional department such as Marketing? A financial analyst in the Accounting department? A C-level executive? All of the above?
If you were an IT Leader, you may encounter in the course of the same day conflicting requests for IT services. Some are straight forward, others less so because they may have a profound impact on the organization. Some are easily accepted, others may be rejected after due consideration. Some would be promptly addressed, others would take longer time. At the end of the day, it’s inevitable that some are pleased and others not.
Smart CIO’s have all established an IT Governance structure with membership from all key players and a transparent prioritization process. It helps mitigate the decision-making process, but never manages to shut down the grumbles from disappointed parties. Maybe it’s time for the CIO’s to create Alignment metrics with some definable targets so that the notion of Alignment is reflected by a range of acceptable Gray shades instead of the current Black or White perception. By then, we may say with some quiet satisfaction that IT is 100% aligned here and 70% there, in various aspects of Business.
By the way, when you read the next time about yet another case of IT failing to align with Business, take it with a grain of salt and ask yourself: What Business are we talking here?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) Quote extracted from an interview with CIO Insight, May 2009 issue.
