Can ITIL contribute to IT/business alignment? An initial investigation

It has been known for some time that organizations are investing in IT to achieve competitive advantage as well as profit. They have realized that by only investing in IT applications they cannot attain sustainable competitive advantage [TaKr03]. However, to obtain that advantage they need to utilise IT functionality on a continuous basis [HeVe99]. In order to do so IT needs to align with business strategy to support and shape that strategy [RaJW04/ 05]. Aligning IT and business strategy is instrumental to the firm’s success as it provides a link between competitive strategy, information technology and performance [WeAn04]. Strategic alignment of information technology (IT) and business strategy is one of the significant issues facing corporations and has been identified as one of the top five management concerns [AJPW04; Luft05]. The alignment gap between IT and business strategy is a critical issue for organizations as it can hinder their performance and profitability and result in organizations investing heavily in IT systems that do not meet their needs [LuLO93; Smac01]. In order for an organization to remain competitive, it needs to develop in response to changes in the external environment, this means that achieving alignment is a dynamic process. IT needs to be designed so that it has the flexibility to develop in new directions alongside business strategy [Gall06; SaHG01]. Although the literature provides background information on strategic alignment, it doesn’t clearly identify how strategic alignment could be achieved and maintained or what the effects of misalignment for organizations might be [AJPW04]. The purpose of this study is to provide an insight into the achievement of alignment between IT and business objectives by researching how organizations approach Information Technology Service Management (ITSM). ITSM enables organizations to transform into service providers, which are strategically aligned with business realities [Hewl03]. One recent development in ITSM is the widespread adoption of ITIL in order to