Business-information Systems Strategies: A Focus on Misalignment

Abstract

Due to business dynamics and complexities, aligning information systems to the organizational strategy goals has appeared to be a concern for researchers and practitioners over the last decade. The challenge of achieving this alignment becomes even more severe and demanding day after day. Many published research is rich with regards to alignment models and frameworks. However, there is little in the literature that explains what managers should do with these frameworks, other than understand them conceptually. Although these models address how organizations can achieve alignment, they provide very little contribution on how to identify misalignment. Therefore, this paper focuses on this research gap in an attempt to develop a conceptual model that detects business-IS strategies misalignment. Accordingly, a three-phased research process (Model Development, Multiple Case Studies, and Model Refinement) is conducted to propose a well-defined conceptual model of five constructs (Business-IT relationship, IT Projects, Business-IT Communication, Business-IT Engagement, and Business-IT Strategic Misalignment). The model is an attempt to allow managers better understand business-IS strategic misalignment, and easily detect the areas of improvements to enhance the alignment level existing among the business and the technological assets of an enterprise. This research resulted in a business-IS strategic misalignment model refined by business and IT experts.

Increasing the Impacts of Information Technology Usage on Business Value

“…Every business executive has a different purpose for using IT, so communication between IT executives and business executives needs to be done to understand each other's IT goals and capabilities. How to improve the suitability of an IT strategy with a business strategy is the mutual awareness of business goals and IT and the exchange of IT views for business executives and IT executives, or the involvement of business executives in planning information systems (Telbany & Elragal, 2014) The application of modern business systems such as electronic commerce, electronic business requires closer communication between business executives and IT executives for the successful implementation of IT investments in the future. Business executives must have the authority and control of IT according to their needs and conversely IT executives have greater authority in managing IT resources to be able to meet the needs of business executives.…”

“…Most of the previous studies examined the effect of information technology based on the quality of information systems (Petter, et al, 2013;Gorla, et al, 2010), and the alignment of IT and business (Suh, et al, 2010;Telbany & Elragal, 2014). But there is still little study of IT strategies which can strengthen or weaken the influence of IT use on organizational performance.…”

Information System Services Generation of Business Services Specification and Based on a System-of-Services Logical Architecture Pattern

“…11 This misalignment between business and IS leads to a break between the simultaneous consideration of strategy in the business and in the IS. 12 The implemented view of this IS, called IT (Information Technology), when out of order, even temporarily, is penalized by the development costs incurred by the evolutions necessary to bring it into compliance with the business. The logical enterprise architecture is interesting in this context of rupture because it is the result of a broad vision of the company that reconciles the company's decision-makers and those who ensure IT governance.…”

Organisational Theory: Did IT Outgrow Management Theory? A Case Study of the African Oil and Gas Industry

“…However, organisations find it difficult to explain how they benefit from their strategic IT investments [27]. The challenges that IT professionals face when explaining the IT investment is as a result of the complex nature of managing the business IT relationship as well as the continuous efforts to align the business and IT strategies [19].…”