Factors Influencing Business IT Alignment
AUTHORS
Tomasz Wasiuk,Swiss Management Center University, Switzerland
Francis Pol C. Lim,SMC Education Group, Pope Urbanus VIII Street, B’Kara BKR 1425, Malta
ABSTRACT
Business IT alignment has consistently been ranked at the top of the most important topics from the perspective of business executives. Over the years, many models and IT management frameworks have been proposed to address this issue. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive understanding of business IT alignment phenomena based on the life experiences of IT leaders working in FMCG companies based in the UK. To achieve the goal of the study, a descriptive phenomenological method was employed. Live experiences of eleven participants from FMCG companies were used as the primary source of data. Phenomenological analysis of the data obtained from interviews revealed twenty-two sub-themes grouped into four main themes. Four main themes identified during the study are leading topics, IT trends, IT management frameworks influencing business IT alignment, and future improvement. The leading topics theme gathers current most important areas being discussed between senior IT and business leaders. The IT trend’s theme points to all technological trends that draw the attention of companies. In particular, three categories were discovered: technologies to automate and optimize, digital technologies, and disruptive technologies. The IT management framework theme tackles all frameworks contributing to business IT alignment. The logical chain of sequence could be observed due to the speed of changes and customers moving to online channels (leading topics), and because digital technologies are spreading (IT trends) supported by organizational changes (IT management frameworks). The last theme aggregates recommendations for improvement in business IT alignment based on participants' suggestions.
KEYWORDS
Business IT alignment, IT trends, IT management frameworks, IT leading topics
REFERENCES
[1] K. C. Moffitt, A. M. Rozario, and M. A. Vasarhelyi, “Robotic process automation for auditing,” Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, vol.15, no.1, pp.1-10, (2018)
[2] J. W. Ross, P. Weill, and S. L. Woerner, “Top-performing CIOs in the digital era,” CISR Research Briefing, vol.15, no.5, pp.14, (2016)
[3] S. De Haes, W. Van Grembergen, A. Joshi, and T. Huygh, “Enterprise governance of information technology: Achieving alignment and value in digital organizations,” Management for Professionals s.l.: Springer; 3rd ed. 2020 edition, Sept., (2019)
[4] IT Governance. IT governance - Developing a successful governance strategy - A best practice guide for decision-makers in IT. isaca.org. [Online], http://www.isaca.org/Certification/CGEIT-Certified-in-the-Governance-of-Enterprise-IT/Prepare-for-the-Exam/Study-Materials/Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx, (2005)
[5] T. Coltman, et al., “The complementarity of corporate IT alignment and business unit IT alignment: An analysis of their joint effects on business unit performance,” Hawaii: HICSS, 2018. Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp.4901-4910, (2018)
[6] J. Becker, et al., “Antecedents of IT governance effectiveness: An empirical examination in Brazilian firms,” Journal of Information Systems, vol.31, no.1, pp.41-57, (2017)
[7] M. Jensen, and W. Meckling, “Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and capital structure,” Journal of Financial Economics, pp.305-360
[8] J. H. Davis, L. Donaldson, and F. D. Schoorman, “Toward a stewardship theory of management,” Academy of Management Review, vol.22, pp.20-47
[9] J. Pfeffer and G. Salancik, “The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective,” s.l.: Stanford business book, (2003)
[10] J. Barney, “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage,” Journal of Management, vol.17, no.1, pp.99-120
[11] R. E. Freeman, “Strategic management: A stakeholder approach,” Boston: Pitman Publishing Inc
[12] Y. Benkler, “Coase's penguin, or, linux and the nature of the firm”, Yale Law Journal, vol.112, no.3, (2001)
[13] Y. Benkler, “Peer production, the commons and the future of the firm,” Strategic Organization, vol.15, no.2, pp.264-274, (2017)
[14] C. Juiz and M. Toomey, “To govern IT, or not to govern IT?” Communications of the ACM, vol.58, no.2, ISO. ISO/IEC 38500 2015 standard. s.l.: ISO, (2015)
[15] A. Calder, “A pocket guide, second edition,” ISO/IEC 38500: s.l.: ITGP; Two edition, Sept. (2019)
[16] Isaca, “COBIT 2019 framework: Governance and management objectives,” s.l.: Isaca, Nov. (2018)
[17] Institute of Directors in Southern Africa. King report on corporate governance for South Africa 2009. s.l.: Institute of Directors in Southern Africa, (2009)
[18] Isaca, “Enterprise value: Governance of IT investments,” The Val IT framework 2.0 extract. http://www.isaca.org/Knowledge-Center/Val-IT-IT-Value-Delivery. [Online] 09 16, 2019. http://www.isaca.org/Knowledge-Center/Val-IT-IT-Value-Delivery-/Documents/Val-IT-Framework-2.0-Extract-Jul-2008.pdf, (2019)
[19] A. Calder and S. Moir, “IT governance - Implementing frameworks and standards for the corporate governance of ITm,” s.l.: IT Governance Publishing, (2009)
[20] O. Avila and L. Muñoz, “Business and information technology alignment measurement - A recent literature review,” In W. Abramowicz and A. Paschke (eds.), Business Information Systems Workshops. BIS 2018, Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 339. Springer, Cham, (2019)
[21] J. Henderson and N. Venkatraman, “Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming organizations,” IBM Systems Journal, vol.32, no.1, (1993)
[22] A. Souad, et al., “An elaboration of a strategic alignment model of university information systems based on the SAM model,” Engineering, Technology, and Applied Science Research vol.8, no.1, pp.2471-2476, (2018)
[23] M. Kalika, A. Renaud, and I. Walsh, “Is Sam still alive? A bibliometric and interpretive mapping of the strategic alignment research field,” Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol.25, pp.75-103, (2016)
[24] S. Baina, K. Karim, and K. Imgharene, “Extended the SAM model - proposed a synchronized model” 12th IADIS International Conference Information Systems, (2019)
[25] A. Benlian, I. Haffke, and B. Kalgovas, “Options for transforming the IT function using Bimodal IT,” MIS Quarterly Executive, vol.16, no.2, pp.101-120, (2017)
[26] S. Alfadhel, S. Liu, and F. Oderanti, “Business and information system alignment theories built on eGovernment service practice: A holistic literature review,” Application of Decision Science in Business and Management, (2019)
[27] P. Drews, B. Horlach, and I. Schirmer, “Bimodal IT: Business-IT alignment in the age of digital transformation,” MKWI, (2016)
[28] AXELOS.ITIL® Foundation, ITIL 4 edition. s.l.: TSO (The Stationery Office), (2019)
[29] Project Management Institute. A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK(R) Guide (Sixth edition). Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute, Inc. 756, (2017)
[30] AXELOS. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®. London: TSO, (2017)
[31] S. J. Gentles, et al., “Sampling in qualitative research: Insights from an overview of the methods literature,” The Qualitative Report, vol.20, no.11, pp.1772-1789, (2015)
[32] J. W. Creswell, “Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among the five approaches,” Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., pp.77-83, (2013)
[33] S. Rahi, “Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues, and instruments development,” International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, (2017)
[34] H. Gewald, et al., “Understanding how DevOps aligns development and operations: A tripartite model of intra-IT alignment,” European Journal of Information Systems, (2020)
[35] S. Abdelkebir, M. Belaissaoui, and M. Yassine, “An agile framework for ITS management in organizations. A case study based on DevOps,” Larache, Morocco: S.N., Conference: the 2nd International Conference on Computing and Wireless Communication Systems, (2017)
[36] M. P. Bach, M. Spremic, and D. S. Vugec, “IT governance adoption in banking and insurance sector: Longitudinal case study of COBIT use,” International Journal for Quality Research, vol.11, no.3, pp.691-716, (2017)
[37] F. Alkhaldi, S. Hammami, and M. A. Uddin, “Understating value characteristics toward a robust IT governance application in private organizations using COBIT framework,” International Journal of Engineering Business Management, vol.9, no.1, (2017)
[38] G. M. Jonathan, K. S. Hailemariam, and W. L. Debay, “Business-IT alignment in the banking sector: A case from a developing country,” MCIS 2019 Proceedings, vol.25, no.6, (2019)
[39] I. S. Bianchi, R. F. de Sousa Pereira, and R. D. Sousa, “IT governance mechanisms at universities: An exploratory study,” Boston, USA: s.n., Twenty-third Americas Conference on Information Systems, (2017)
[40] C. Bart, P. Liu, and O. Turel, “Board-level information technology governance effects on organizational performance: The roles of strategic alignment and authoritarian governance style,” Information Management Systems, vol.23, no.2, pp.117-136, (2017)
[41] T. P. Liang, S. Detmar, Wu, and P. J. Shelly, “How information technology governance mechanisms and strategic alignment influence organizational performance: Insights from a matched survey of business and its managers,”, MIS Quarterly archive, vol.39, no.2, pp.497-518, (2015)
[42] J. P. Bagrow, S. Johnson, and J. Meluso, “Making virtual teams work: Redesigning virtual collaboration for the future,” bagrow.com, https://bagrow.com/#research, [Online] (2020)
[43] J. M. Schaubroeck and A. Yu, “When does virtuality help or hinder teams? Core team characteristics as contingency factors,” Human Resource Management Review, vol.27, no.4, pp.635-647, (2017)
[44] K. Gövert, et al., “Budgeting for agile product development,” Proceedings of the Design Society International Conference on Engineering Design, (2019)
[45] H. Borgman, H. Heier, and I. Smeekes, “A wheelbarrow full of frogs: Understanding portfolio management for agile project,” Hawaii: s.n., Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, (2018)
[46] A. Kopper, S. Strahr, and M. Westner, “From shadow IT to business-managed IT: A qualitative comparative analysis to determine configurations for successful management of IT by business entities,” Information Systems and e-Business Management, vol.18, pp.209-257, (2020)
[47] S. Klotz, S. Strahringer, and M. Westner, “From shadow IT to business-managed IT and back again: How responsibility for IT instances evolves over time,” Dubai: s.n., Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), (2020)
[48] J. L. Higgs, et al., “The relationship between board-level technology committees and reported security breaches,” Journal of Information Systems, vol.30, no.3, (2016)
[49] J. Jöhnk, et al., “Juggling the paradoxes - governance mechanisms in Bimodal IT organizations” Stockholm and Uppsala: S.N., Conference: 27th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), (2019)
[50] X. Li and P. C. Palvia, “Business-IT alignment maturity in the US and China: Perspectives of IT and non-IT employees,” AMCIS, (2017)
[51] S. Ge, Y. Jia, and N. Wang, “Business-IT alignment literature review: A bibliometric analysis,” Information Resources Management Journal, vol.31, no.3, pp.1-16, (2018)
[52] X. Hu, K. Peng, and F. Yu, “Knowledge is money: Do people think cultural capital can be transformed into economic value?” PsyCh Journal, (2020)
[53] M. S. Alosani, H. S. Al-Dhaafri, and R. Zien, “Mechanism of benchmarking and its impact on organizational performance,” International Journal of Business Performance Management vol.11, no.10, pp.172-183, (2016)
[54] J. Luftman, “Assessing business IT alignment maturity,” Communications of AIS, 4, (2000)
[55] K. Lyytinen, et al., “Digital innovation management: Reinventing innovation management research in a digital world,” MIS Quarterly, vol.41, no.1, pp.223-238, (2017)
[56] A. Baiyere and P. Hukal, “Digital disruption: A conceptual clarification” Hawaii: s.n., Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, (2020)
[57] N. Y. Konina and G. H. Stonehouse, “Management challenges in the age of digital disruption,” George H., Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, vol.119, (2019)
[58] Z. Kostić and S. Radukić, “The impact of digital disruption and disruptive innovation on the business environment,” KNOWLEDGE - International Journal, vol.35, no.1, (2019)
[59] T. Hovelja, A. Levstek, A. and Pucihar, “IT governance mechanisms and contingency factors: Towards an adaptive IT governance model,” Organizacija, vol.51, no.4, pp.286-310, (2018)
[60] R. W. Gregory, et al., “IT consumerization and the transformation of IT governance,” MIS Quarterly, vol.42, no.4, pp.1225-1253, (2018)
[61] F. Ahlemann, D. Hoffmann, and T. Mueller, “Balancing alignment, adaptivity, and effectiveness: Design principles for sustainable IT project portfolio management,” s.l.: ECIS, Proceedings of the 25th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), pp.1503-1520, (2017)
[62] P. Drews, B. Horlach, and I. Schirmer, “Agile portfolio management: Design goals and principles,” Stockholm, Sweden: ECIS 2019, 2019. ECIS, (2019)
[63] P. Bhattacharya, “Aligning enterprise systems capabilities with business strategy: An extension of the strategic alignment model (SAM) using enterprise architecture,” Procedia Computer Science, vol.138, pp.655-662, (2018)
[64] C. Gellweiler, “Connecting enterprise architecture and project portfolio management: A review and a model for IT project alignment,” International Journal of Information Technology and Management, vol.11, no.1, pp.1-16, (2020)
[65] T. Ben-Zvi, J. N. Luftman, and K. Lyytinen, “Enhancing the measurement of information technology (IT) business alignment and its influence on company performance,” Journal of Information Technology, vol.32, no.1, (2015)