Aligning information systems with business strategy

An alternative approach to IS and business strategy alignment is developed, based on the observation that corporate strategy is either unknown or unadaptable once it is fixed, and it is argued that ex post IS alignment will seldom be a success.

Abstract

It is generally accepted that one of the key factors for successful IS planning and implementation is the close linkage of the IS strategy with business strategy. However in practice this linkage is not yet well established. It is the conventional wisdom that this linkage problem is solved by analysing the corporate strategy and integrating IS issues and solutions in this. This paper develops an alternative approach to IS and business strategy alignment, based on the observation that corporate strategy is either unknown or unadaptable once it is fixed. It argues, therefore, that ex post IS alignment will seldom be a success. The proposed approach is based on the current theoretical concepts in information management, links them in a framework, and integrates the process of corporate strategy definition with the process of IS strategy definition. However, it should be added that the resultant general alignment map will be different for different industry sectors.