An Update on Business-IT Alignment: "A Line" Has Been Drawn

Our research has found that no alignment silver bullet exists. Rather, alignment involves interrelated capabilities that can be gauged by measuring six components: communications, value, governance, partnership, scope and architecture, and skills. These six components can then be placed in a five-level maturity model, where Level 5 is the highest maturity. From measuring these six components in 197 mainly Global 1,000 organizations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and India, we found that most organizations today are at Level 3.