Business and IT Alignment; Answers and Remaining Questions

A key success factor for a successful company in a dynamic environment is effective and efficient information technology (IT) supporting business strategies and processes. In recent surveys however IT executives consistently name IT to Business alignment their top-concern. The alignment between business needs and IT capabilities is therefore still a prominent area of concern. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the alignment challenge by providing an overview of the development of Business and IT Alignment, the known insights and the still to be discovered considerations We will show that the considerable number of academic studies on alignment already provides many valuable insights, but that a number of issues are not covered yet. These include the application of policies and strategies in more complex organisational settings, like a multibusiness company or an multi-national company; alignment in SMEs with limited qualitative and quantitative resources; the relationship or ‘fit’ between alignment and business strategy; the effect of outsourced IT operations on alignment; the social aspects of alignment: culture, perceptions, etc.