IT Alignment to Business: Over-spoken but Under-achieved

Enterprises seek more from technology than just simple efficient operations, They expect technology to provide value, and perhaps, a competitive edge. Aligning technology to business requires transparent IT planning and budgeting processes to ensure that all stakeholders contribute to the IT strategy.  The walk-talk ratio for “aligning IT to business” is not good – usually over discussed and under-achieved.  The reason why aligning IT is so difficult has to do with the old-school IT culture that still prevails.  Transparency is not regarded as critical to achieving alignment. Managing resources and budgets judiciously and prioritizing technology investments to ensure that the triaging process is best for the Enterprise and the customers they serve. Past history and performance metrics facilitate judicious resource allocation and project control, but innovation helps the Enterprise move forward.  This process helps nurture the IT organization to seek and deliver technology effectively.

I had a chance to briefly chat with Joel Golub, Deputy Commissioner and CIO for the Fire Department of the City of New York. Joel was previously a CIO for 28 years at NY Transit, he was also CIO in my neighborhood, San Bernardino County.  He was talking about how he is leveraging technology and implementing systems that can  save lives.  Alignment of IT to business is natural for Joel.  He has been a fireman for 42 years!