An architectural approach to IT-business alignment
Information technologies have evolved from their traditional back-office role to a strategic resource role that can not only support but also shape business strategies. Still, different analytical sources indicate that only a small number of projects complete on-time and on-budget, leading to initially specified goals and results. The main problem is the creation and formalization of an IT-business alignment mechanism which for over a decade has been ranked as a top-priority management concern and is widely covered in theoretical literature. However, the field is dominated by conceptual studies, while there is little research on practical ways to achieve the alignment. Moreover, most of the existing research focuses on the alignment assessment using questionnaire methods based on the subjective judgement of IT and business executives. From this point of view, Enterprise Architecture development as a methodological approach to the mutually aligned business and IT architectures’ design, represents a suitable tool for solving this problem. However, most of the existing EA approaches do not distinguish between different IT-business alignment perspectives. This paper attempts to provide practical guidance for IT-business alignment as well as strategic guidance for EA development by integrating the traditional Strategic Alignment Model and the TOGAF framework.