Assessing a Business Software Application using Strategic IT Alignment Factors: A New Way for IS Evaluation?

The alignment between the business strategy of an organization and its related information technology (IT) strategy, infrastructure and processes remains important for both research and practice. Prior studies have shown that effective strategic IT alignment (SITA) leads to effective business value. When measuring the SITA, these studies focused on the overall information system (IS) of an organization. However, it would be useful for practitioners to evaluate, not only a global alignment, but also the alignment of a specific business software application, which could lead to business value as well. Previous investigations in the IS evaluation field, such as studies related to the Information Systems Success Model (ISSM), do not include strategic alignment factors. In this contribution, we address the issue of how to evaluate a business software application using SITA factors. To identify SITA factors, we selected a set of scientific papers and documents from practitioners related to strategic alignment and we used them as input for a coding process. We followed the thematic analysis method for coding and we obtained a hierarchical structure of SITA factors. From this structure, and based on the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), we built an emergent alignment model that clarifies relations between a business software application and first the organization’s strategies (business and IT), second the organizational structure, and third the processes and operations of the IT department. The model reveals that all relations, except those between business strategy, organizational structure and business operations, are appropriate for evaluating the strategic alignment of a business software application

IT-Business strategic alignment in influencing sustainable competitive advantage in Jordan: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach

In many review articles or studies, the researchers have encouraged further exploration on the causal links between Information Technology (IT) investments and a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage.The outcomes of empirical studies have been inconclusive, which is to a certain extent due to the omission of IT-business strategic alignment.Indeed, strategic alignment has emerged as one of the most important issues facing business and IT executives all over the world. This paper reports on the empirical investigation of the success factors, which consist of leadership, structure and process, service quality, and values and beliefs, which are representative of the culture gap between IT strategy and business strategy.A questionnaire survey among 200 IT managers was carried out and 172 data sets were collected.This represented a 86% response rate. After a rigorous data screening process including outliers, normality, reliability and validity, 172 data sets were ready for structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to examine the composite reliability, convergent validity and goodness of fit of the individual constructs and measurement models. The revised structural model demonstrates the relationships between all the four exogenous variables and IT-business strategic alignment, and all the four exogenous variables and sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, regarding the revised model there are two mediating effects of strategic alignment in the relationship between leadership, structure and process, service quality, values and beliefs, and sustainable competitive advantage

The Complementarity of Corporate IT Alignment and Business Unit IT Alignment: An Analysis of Their Joint Effects on Business Unit Performance

Alignment between IT and business strategy is a perennial challenge for IT executives, in part due to the evolving nature of organizational structure. In multi-business organizations (MBOs), a pressing issue for IT executives is how to improve the performance of each strategic business unit (SBU). In this paper we examine how IT alignment in MBOs affects SBU performance. We distinguish between IT alignment at the corporate and SBU levels and propose that these two types of IT alignment are complementary and exert joint effects on SBU performance. Two hypotheses related to these joint effects are developed and tested using data collected from an international survey of IT executives. Our findings indicate that complementarities between corporate IT alignment and SBU IT alignment enhance SBU performance. The primary contribution of this paper is explaining how different types of IT alignment in MBOs - individually and jointly - affect SBU performance

Reviewing Organizational Design Components for Digital Business Strategy

The view on information technology strategy has changed significantly. In the past, a functional-level view was prevailing, where information technology (IT) strategy was subordinate to a deliberate business strategy and needed alignment. Recently, rapid developments in digital technologies leaves no industry untouched and IT becomes an enabler and differentiator for businesses. Therefore, IT strategy exceeds the view of alignment towards a fusion of business- and IT-strategy– coined as digital business strategy (DBS). Yet, strategies are inextricably linked to organizational design in order to function well. Consequently, a DBS requires a suitable underlying organizational design. This paper aims to explore the very organizational design components for DBS by examining the state of the art literature. Specifically, this paper sheds light on the organizational design components of strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people. The research method is a review of relevant literature at the intersect of information systems (IS) and management. Conclusions, implications for research and practice are presented

Improving alignment between Business and IT departments: towards an effective Enterprise Architecture and its role within the corporate organisation

While it is widely acknowledged that alignment between Business and IT is important to remain competitive and for improving business performance, achieving, and maintaining alignment between IT and Business divisions is not always easy. While there are many ways to improve Business IT Alignment, a mature Enterprise Architecture has been proven as a contributor to Business and IT Alignment due to its holistic approach to considering all aspects from a technical and organisational perspective (Kurnia et.al, 2020). Other factors which are believed to improve Business IT Alignment culture, structure, communication, and strategy, to name a few. To the researcher's knowledge, not many studies have considered how these four factors, together with Enterprise Architecture fit together harmoniously to create, contribute to, and maintain strategic alignment between Business and IT divisions in a single organisation. This dissertation seeks to fill this gap by establishing which of these four variables contribute to improving alignment between Business and IT and if Enterprise Architecture has a role to play in achieving it. A conceptual model derived from the literature review guides this research through applying a moderation approach to determine if a balance in alignment can be achieved. This research is an empirical study conducted by an insider of Company A which followed a single organisation survey approach with 40 respondents at a South African Oil and Gas Company. It follows an objectivism ontology, with a positivist philosophical approach as an epistemology. A mixed method approach was followed for data collection, and data analyses was done using quantitative methods. Six hypotheses are presented of which two of the six hypotheses are rejected based on Regression Analysis testing. The key findings present that even though Enterprise Architecture and its' benefits appear to be largely understood at Company A, both maturity levels of business-IT alignment and Enterprise Architecture is relatively low so there are indeed opportunities for improving both maturity levels. While literature often indicates that Culture, Communication, Structure and Strategy have been identified as key enablers of BITA, the researcher only proved that two variables, Communication and Strategy has a significant effect of BITA. After establishing BITA and EA Maturity levels, provides recommendations for improving EA maturity and motivates how these improvements, if implemented, can strengthen alignment between business and IT so that EA can enable better alignment between Business and IT at Company A. These findings can support the existing EA and BITA body of knowledge in two ways: 1. As a case which proved that not all 4 common variables necessarily have a significant effect on BITA, 2, provides practical and implementable opportunities for improving EA at an organisation where its benefits is already understood

The impact of communications and understanding on the success of business/IT alignment

This article reports on an investigation of IS stakeholders communication and mutual understanding, and their impact on the success of business / IT alignment. In particular, by following a hermeneutic study of transcripts of two focus groups and several interviews conducted with senior business and IT executives, the paper explores the issues of modern business context and practices, project scope and structure, trust, language and nomenclature, and the barriers to the effective stakeholder communication and&nbsp; understanding. The study results are finally compared against the standard model of business and IT alignment. The main unexpected finding being executives\u27 pre-occupation with issues of &quot;marginal&quot; value to the alignment model, such as day-to-day management of communicative and understanding effectiveness, as opposed to the fundamental issues of strategy and infrastructure fit.<br /

Alignment and IT Project Value Maximization

This paper presents a case study of successful ERP implementation in two phases. The second phase included significant efforts to align the business strategy and organizational structure along with the information system components. These efforts enabled the organization to complete its alignment cycle by integrating its IT infrastructure and processes with the organizational infrastructure and processes, as well as fitting business strategy with the new infrastructure and processes and to reap the maximum value

Developing a taxonomy for the understanding of business and it alignment paradigms and tools

The alignment of information technology with business objectives tends to be a managerial priority in modern organisations. Thus, practitioners and researchers have proposed different approaches to assess this relationship, some following similar approaches whilst others proposing different ones. The variety of approaches proposed, however, has created confusion about the applicability and context in which these approaches can be used. Thus, aiming to tackle this challenge, this paper proposes a taxonomy that organises and compares studies of alignment assessment in terms of their theoretical constructors and their practical use. The taxonomy is build around two research sources: a) a review of the literature of alignment and b) a framework for comparing IS methodologies. The structure of the taxonomy permits insights into studies by means of six theoretical (objective, nature of strategy, paradigm, dimension, type of measurement, model) and six practical constructors (audience, scope, output, techniques, product, target). The taxonomy is then applied to six assessment studies. The benchmarking analysis of these helped to identify their theoretical basis and its practical use, and confirms the need for more practical mechanisms to assess alignment. Additionally, it becomes apparent that process perspectives and social understanding of alignment are the two main paradigms for alignment

Can Enterprise Architecture Be Based on the Business Strategy?

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a set of documents describing various aspects of an organization from an integrated business and IT perspective. EA facilitates information systems planning and helps improve business and IT alignment. Traditionally, the concept of EA was closely coupled with the business strategy and mainstream EA methodologies recommend starting the EA effort from documenting the business strategy and then using it as the basis for defining the required structure of information systems. This conceptual paper discusses in detail four practical problems with the business strategy that question its value as the basis for EA initiatives. The presence of these problems challenges one of the most cherished beliefs or even axioms of the EA discipline: that EA should be based on the business strategy. This paper raises a number of questions regarding the information inputs necessary for the EA effort and calls for further research in respective directions