Business-IT alignment is a dynamic state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations).
Many businesses use IT to conduct fast research for a wide variety of reasons. Local councils need to have access to peoples work history and background for housing placements or social assistance. Police need to have health records and previous criminal convictions to hand, as well as banks needing to look at financial backgrounds and courier companies being able to place and take orders. It is hard to imagine a business world without IT as an essential component. In the age of computers and telecommunications, if used properly, IT can allow a business to operate at a superior level.
Microsoft Word, Excel and Photoshop are among the many names recognised around the world as programmes that many companies can no longer function without. Businesses must be able to communicate using the easiest and quickest means available to them from the telephone and email to more complex ways like video messaging and conferencing.
This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to improve the business value of IT investments.
It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making
Main uses of IT for Business
There are many different aspects and areas in the Information Technology world. Emailing is now so essential to the running of most businesses, if the IT and IS systems fail a workplace can be turned upside down. To organise meetings and schedules, spreadsheets and the sharing of information, computers and telecommunications are now a standard requirement.
Many businesses use IT to conduct fast research for a wide variety of reasons. Local councils need to have access to peoples work history and background for housing placements or social assistance. Police need to have health records and previous criminal convictions to hand, as well as banks needing to look at financial backgrounds and courier companies being able to place and take orders. It is hard to imagine a business world without IT as an essential component. In the age of computers and telecommunications, if used properly, IT can allow a business to operate at a superior level.
Microsoft Word, Excel and Photoshop are among the many names recognised around the world as programmes that many companies can no longer function without. Businesses must be able to communicate using the easiest and quickest means available to them from the telephone and email to more complex ways like video messaging and conferencing.
Employees are more frequently working from home and the new IT services that are available to businesses this has become a far easier venture. Besides the audio and visual transmission of people, videoconferencing can be used to share documents, computer-displayed information, and whiteboards.
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