Why is IT important to align the IT plan with an Organisations strategies?

Your information technology (IT) systems should effortlessly support your overall business goals and objectives. This alignment, however, is not always easy to achieve. Many businesses find that their IT systems are either too expensive to maintain, too cumbersome to use efficiently, or simply do not provide added business value.

What does it mean to align IT with business strategy?

Business-IT alignment simply describes a state where a business is able to use IT to achieve its objectives. In this state, IT is a valuable asset rather than a utility or an expense. The system functions across the business with optimal efficiency and is more likely to achieve a positive return on your IT investment.

Benefits of aligning IT with business strategy

Achieving business-IT alignment can help improve your business performance. It can also:

• boost efficiencies and profitability
• improve collaboration
• enhance customer experience
• improve supply chains
• achieve greater return on technology investments
• reduce the risks associated with business and technical change

How to align IT with business objectives?

To align your IT strategies with corporate goals, you must:

• know your business objectives and strategy
• know your current IT capabilities and gaps
• consider both priorities and investment within your IT strategy

See more on the key elements of strategic planning and find out how to carry out a technology needs assessment

If you are not sure where to start, focus on a few areas that may provide the greatest benefit. For example, you may want to:

• look for areas of underperformance
• engage with customers and suppliers to identify pain points
• benchmark to see how your business compares to others
• identify the key processes that matter most to your business (eg customer service, manufacturing systems, etc)

The next step is to decide what type of IT could make these systems work better. For example:

• Could a customer relationship management system help you identify new opportunities?
• Could enterprise resource planning help you control stock, cut waste, manage automated ordering and accounting?
• Could your e-commerce website link to your back-office systems?
• Could IT integration (eg of design and production systems) improve your manufacturing efficiency?

After you determine how IT can fit with your business priorities, you should develop an IT strategy. This is a long-term plan that defines how and why the business will use IT to achieve its business objectives.

As a Strategic Project Management Consultant, one of the first things I look for when approaching a project is strategic alignment. This means that the project goals and objectives align directly with the larger business goals and objectives of the organization. When I find a project that is not aligned, I first try to understand why. After that, I assess the implications and highlight the associated risks for discussion and reporting. Ideally, company projects should be the outcome of the strategic planning process. Unfortunately, many businesses overlook the strategic planning process. Some may not have the time or skills to embrace the process. On the other hand, others may not see the value or may not understand How Strategic Planning Helps to Streamline Your Business or Why Strategic Planning is a Smart Business Plan.

What is Strategic Alignment?

The word “strategy” is widely used in business today. As a result, sometimes I think it’s actually being overused. In addition, I often consider why so many people fail to properly execute their strategy and here’s an interesting perspective! Although approximately 65 percent of businesses know their intended strategy, only about 10 percent of them successfully execute them. This can be attributed to the fact that many businesses don’t consider strategic alignment in their business planning process. For instance, I have found that many simply embark on their business planning process without fully understanding how it affects the planning process as a whole, or how to integrate their strategy at every step of the process. In other words, many strategy managers are not fully aware of what strategic alignment means.

Strategic alignment involves linking a company’s business environment and strategy with its resources (including people skills and tools) and structure. It refers to a state where an organization’s strategies align internally and externally, with its users, marketplace, and customers.

“Alignment” is the keyword here. The strategies of your company must align with the ultimate business goal at every step of your business planning process – from creation to execution.

Benefits of Using Strategic Alignment in Your Business Planning Process

Let’s look at some of the benefits of strategic alignment.

Saves time

There is a saying, “lost time is never found again.” Time is a very important and delicate resource in the business world. The way you use your time could determine where you will be among your peers. Managers that do not adopt strategic alignment tend to embark on activities that, while being good ideas, are simply not the right fit at that very moment. If they are lucky, they will find out in time that they are operating off course, and wasting time.

To avoid this situation, ensure that your business strategies align with your company’s goals and objectives.

Motivate your team

Team motivation is another important area that needs to be considered in any business plan. However, we aren’t going to go deep into the subject. The point to grasp here is that when your team understands the big picture, it becomes a natural motivation factor. Therefore, strategic alignment helps keep teams motivated by making your strategy clear to them and showing them how it ties to the big picture. Businesses that actively use Shared Values as a Winning Formula to Business Success master this very well. At the end of the day, alignment between strategy and goal encourages shared values, helps gain “buy-in” and everyone sees the value in achieving these set goals and objectives. In essence, it helps you eliminate conflicting priorities, so everyone can be on the same page.

Supports market maneuverability

Maneuverability, long known as a military term, is now being applied to business today because of the dynamic nature of the marketplace in our global economy. We have to find ways, strategies, to maneuver and stay ahead of the competition. However, in a bid to keep up with the various trends, we must be careful to not lose business identity. An aligned strategy helps businesses to focus and maintain the balance between following trends and keeping true to their identity.

How Strategic Alignment can be Used in the Business Planning Process

As mentioned earlier, you should incorporate strategic alignment into every stage of your planning process. This way, you can be sure that you don’t leave anything unattended. Let’s consider the creation, communication, and execution stages of your business plan.

Creation

This is the stage where you consider How Goals and Objectives Help Your Business Succeed with consideration for the changing marketplace. Therefore, focus on drilling down to strategically align your action plans. You see, in a bid to retain business identities, many refuse any bit of change regardless of current trends or customer preferences. On the other hand, some businesses bend to the will of every customer, thereby losing their identity. A mindset towards strategic alignment helps you apply a systems approach to maintaining a healthy balance between these two extremes, thus helping you sustain your business.

Communication

This is perhaps the most important area of any business strategy. TheCommunicationPlan is where you focus on how to achieve shared values and getting buy-in from every party involved. A strategy that aligns perfectly with your business goals communicates stability to teams, employees, management and customers alike. The goal here is to ensure that daily actions and decisions align with the strategic direction of the organization’s goals.

Execution

Execution is the stage where you produce the desired outcomes. Therefore, while executing the various objectives, it is important to continually assess and ensure that you consider the company’s structure and goals. Many organizations miss it here and end up damaging employee engagement and trust. In a thrust to adapt to changes in the market, ensure you don’t stray away from your business identity. Your business identity is what makes you a brand.

Final Thoughts

Many things make your business planning process a success and strategic alignment is definitely top on the list. It is essential because it saves time and other resources, while also keeping your employees informed and motivated.

Lack of strategic alignment is one of the primary reasons why many businesses fail to achieve their objectives. The importance of strategic alignment cannot be overstated. Therefore, ensureyou consider it in your next business planning process.

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