Aligning Business

and IT in the
Enterprise

an IT Management eBook
Contents
Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

This content was adapted from Internet.coms CIO Update Web site. Contributors: Dennis Drogseth,
Patty Azzarello, Jerome Oberlton, and Allen Bernard

2
2 It is Time to Think Beyond IT

4 CIOs More Focused on Business than Ever

4 6
6 Mastering the Art of IT/Business Alignment

8 Leveraging the Right Resources for Alignment

8
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

It is Time to Think Beyond IT

By Dennis Drogseth

M
ore than 10 years ago, Enterprise Man- governance existed at all. The Web was certainly not Web
agement Associates (EMA) consultants 2.0 let alone SOA, and the notion of broad integration
assessed processes and technologies in- technologies such as CMDB, configuration management
volved with monitoring and managing systems (CMS), IT process automation, and advanced dis-
manufacturing floors, utilities, transportation fleets, and covery fundamentally didnt exist.
other business infrastructures. They came to the con-
clusion that great economies of scale could be achieved Then IT had the shock of its life. From 2000 to 2002 the
by consolidating these requirements. In other words, by technology bubble imploded, leaving many technol-
leveraging IT capabilities for ogy companies adrift in a sea of
monitoring, instrumentation, as- doubt and IT organizations fight-
set planning, security, service ing hard not to be outsourced.
management, automation, and And while that fight has been
analytics, businesses could gain renewed in the latest economic
new levels of operational effi- crisis, most IT organizations have
ciencies, minimize risk and more learned a lot since then about
proactively optimize to changing governance, visibility, compli-
market requirements. Back then, ance, accountability, and how to
EMA called this the Global Cor- optimize better with many of the
porate Control Center. above-mentioned technologies.
Even more importantly, there is
At that time, in the late 90s, something of a slow-burning po-
monitoring was pretty basic litical revolution within many IT
(well, even more basic than it is organizations leading to dialog
today, at least), and process au- across organizational groups in a
tomation existed (when it existed creative, responsible, and game-
at all) in very narrow silos within changing way that simply never
IT. Analytic capabilities were mostly rule-based event man- existed before. Of course theres still a long way to go, but
agement with very little in the way of self-learning, self- the IT landscape is fundamentally shifting.
adaptive heuristics. And when these later appeared, these
advanced analytic capabilities mostly didnt work. Lets revisit the premise of EMAs old idea of the Global
Corporate Control Center, which suggests collapsing a
Attention to process and the disciplines that best practices whole new set of feudal kingdoms into a more efficient,
such as ITIL could provide were barely emerging. IT was more risk-free, more automated, and more accountable
very much a kingdom set apart from the business or no, fabric of people and technologies. One thing that should
not even that, but rather a series of feudal kingdoms each become apparent just from reading the press is that com-
with its own walls and each with its own opinions about panies in many industries are accelerating their quest to
priorities and governance when defined priorities and find new and more effective ways of working.

2 Back to Contents Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, Inc.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise
Some of these industries, such as healthcare, reflect a
more proactive effort as electronic information for stor-
ing and sharing patient records, enabling collaborative
diagnostics, and automating the business side of hospi-
tals and other healthcare institutions is beginning to take
hold. Other verticals, such as manufacturing and retail, are
increasingly dependent on better systems of automation,
outreach, visibility, and control just to ensure competitive
survival. In some industries, such as utilities, the linkage
between the business infrastructure and the IT infra-
structure becomes intuitively obvious as the power grid
is essentially a network of resources that needs to be
better monitored and optimized.
Transportation systems can be run much better when IT
provides better capabilities for monitoring, tracking, ser-
vice management and lifecycle fleet management. And
even financial services, which have spearheaded a lot of in-
vestments in IT innovation (and may have gotten in trouble
from too much ill-focused automation), are facing a drastic
need to consolidate, integrate, inform, make visible, and
support a whole host of existing and coming compliance
requirements.
Several vendor initiatives, most notably from IBM, are tar-
geting individual vertical business infrastructures in much
this same way. But this idea is much bigger than IBM. Tech-
nologies and services from a whole host of companies and
services can and should apply. And while the equivalent of
an ITIL guidebook for doing this doesnt yet exist, the pro-
cesses and skill sets for dialog, consensus building, defin-
ing priorities, and documenting processes across multiple
groups all still apply.
3 Back to Contents Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, Inc.
Just think: with a modest but creative investment in instru-
menting business infrastructures your chosen IT technolo-
gies, and more importantly, you and your organization,
may begin to show value in a whole host of new and un-
expected ways. And while new opportunities often come
with associated headaches, the upside for you and the IT
industry as a whole is high.
The notion Id like to put forward to CIOs and enterprise
IT executives is that just as you need to lead the charge
in supporting organizational transformation and its associ-
ated technologies within IT (CMS, IT process automation,
etc.), you have an opportunity to promote IT services and
technologies in a broader business context. And when, you
may ask, is it time to start to think more creatively about
extending IT resources in support of business needs?
While it may seem counter-intuitive, this may just be the
perfect moment to get credibility and support for a more
innovative use of IT. The fire in the belly exists in many
businesses and organizations across many verticals to act
now. This time around, vs. 2001, you are squarely part of
the cure and not the disease.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

CIOs More Focused

on Business than Ever
By Allen Bernard

I
n case you missed these past few years, the job of the To do this CIOs are leveraging analytics to gain a competi-
CIO has been morphing from top technical propeller tive advantage and improve business decision-making. In
head to that of true corporate leader. Beginning with fact, this is now the top priority for CIOs. More than four out
the dot-com era and continuing through today, the of five (83 percent) survey respondents identified business
job has arguably changed more rapidly than any other in intelligence (BI) and analytics the ability to see patterns
corporate America. Once just an order taker, CIOs are now in vast amounts of data and extract actionable insights
spending most of their time fig- as the way they will enhance their
uring out how to leverage tech- organizations competitiveness.
nology for business advantage
as opposed to just keeping the The study, titled The New Voice
lights on. of the CIO, represents the insights
and vision of CIOs from 78 coun-
IBMs latest global study of tries, 19 industries, and organiza-
more than 2,500 CIOs supports tions of every size. It reinforces
this conclusion. the increasingly strategic role that
CIOs are playing as visionary lead-
Clearly the role of the CIO is ers and as drivers of innovation
changing dramatically, said and financial growth.
Pat Toole, IBMs CIO, in a state-
ment released with the findings. Along with the increased focus
On the one hand they are try- on data analytics, the survey also
ing to standardize routine pro- revealed that data reliability and
cesses and simplify their exist- security have emerged as increas-
ing IT infrastructure to reduce ingly urgent concerns, with 71
costs, hence their growing interest in technologies such percent of CIOs planning to make additional investments
as cloud computing. On the other hand, given the central in risk management and compliance.
role that todays CIO performs in driving new business
models, whether its a Smart Grid system, an Intelligent Other key findings of the survey include:
Transport system, or a transparent food supply chain,
its not surprising that the amount of time they are now CIOs are continuing on the path to dramatically lower energy
spending on driving new kinds of growth for their compa- costs, with 76 percent undergoing or planning virtualization
nies is growing considerably. projects.

Seventy-six percent of CIOs anticipate building a strongly cen-

tralized infrastructure in the next five years.

4 Back to Contents Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, Inc.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

More than half of CIOs are expecting to implement completely Top Projects
standardized, low-cost business processes.
In the study, CIOs also identified the top visionary projects
Even as they build these standardized low-cost infrastructures, that they are working on now or foresee implementing
CIOs are able to focus 55 percent of their time on activities that in the future, ranging from process improvement to tak-
drive innovation and growth, whereas traditional IT tasks like
ing advantage of technologies that can provide immedi-
infrastructure and operations management now consume only
ate and long-term financial impact. These include: BI and
45 percent of their time.
analytics, virtualization, green IT, service oriented architec-
tures (SOA), service management, and cloud computing.
There really is a ground swell on how their role is evolv-
ing, said Linda Ban, director of the CIO study program.
CIOs are also focusing on mobility solutions and unified
Its no longer enough for them to be considered the con-
communications, collaboration and social networking
summate IT professional in the company. Theyve got to
tools, and Web 2.0 projects to enable more effective com-
understand the company, theyve got to understand where
munications for employees, customers, and partners.
the company is moving and what the issues are and how
they help make that happen.
You can see that they are really a combination of busi-
ness and technology so at any given point in time in the
As the role of the CIO itself transforms so do the types of
morning they may be focused on (technology) and in the
projects they lead across their enterprises, which will allow
afternoon they may be working on a five-year plan for the
CIOs to focus less time and resources on running inter-
business, said Ban. So, they wear many hats during the
nal infrastructure and more time helping their companies
day, they change roles on a regular basis, and whatever
grow revenue. CIOs are transforming their infrastructure to
comes up will be what they have to focus on.
focus more on innovation and business value rather than
simply running IT.

5 Back to Contents Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, Inc.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

Mastering the Art of

IT/Business Alignment
By Patty Azzarello

A
s Ive been writing about IT/business align-
ment and working with IT organizations, I see
that CIOs and enterprise IT executives fall into
two camps regarding taking ownership of IT/
business alignment.
more respected and trusted, which means they get more
budget, more support, and waste less time on defense,
endless justifications, and stupid questions. They can de-
liver more, because they have fewer things blocking them
and they attract the best people to work for them.

Not my job. Some CIOs have given me pretty direct Good work doesnt stand on its own at any level, in
feedback that people like me should get out of the way any function. This is not just an IT issue. People who work
and stop giving IT a bad rap. really hard and deliver great re-
They think that if you need to sults dont always get recog-
focus on building credibility, it nized, discovered, or protected.
means you are, by definition, un- Its sad but true. In IT its even
deserving of credibility. The only more perilous because no one
thing that should matter is doing else even understands what a do-
a good job. Good work speaks ing a good job looks like. Its up
for itself. to you to find a way to share what
excellent work in IT looks like in
I need to own this. These are a way that can be understood by
CIOs and executives who believe non-IT people.
that making personal, relevant
connections to their business Technology doesnt help. Build-
peers, CEO, and board is one of ing good business relationships
the key factors in being success- requires personal interaction,
ful in the first place. listening, and having a meal or a
coffee with someone. Because it
As you consider your appetite is outside the realm of technol-
for reaching out to your business ogy, many IT executives feel like
counterparts here are some points to consider: it is low-value activity, or they are just not comfortable with
it. You dont need to be comfortable; you just need to do
Executives with high credibility get more done. This is it. If its unpleasant for you and unlikely to happen sponta-
not a shallow, political phenomenon independent of deliv- neously, schedule it.
ering results. Its because people with high credibility are

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 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

Business first. This is not just an IT challenge. All business
functions have the responsibility to manage their function
while putting the overall business first and at the center of
the discussion. Any executive leader needs to be able to
focus first on what the business needs and then prioritize
what happens inside their function to serve the business
agenda. The more you connect with your peers on a busi-
ness-first basis (where all of you are putting the business
at the center vs. your own function), the clearer it will be
what is important to the business, and how you should
focus and communicate your IT plan in your interactions
with the business.
How do we make money? One thing that really helps
is if you make sure every person in your IT organization
knows how the company makes money. Explain where the
revenue comes from, what the fixed and variable costs
are, and what the biggest levers that drive profit are. Make
sure they understand how IT spending impacts the P&L,
and how choices are made about general business and IT
investments.

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 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

Leveraging the Right Resources

for Alignment
By Jerome Oberlton

I
Ts alignment with the business is critical to the suc- work side by side with the business to develop an overall
cess of an organization. My experience as CIO of strategy for supply chain optimization.
Mannatech, Inc., working with business executives
to achieve results for our supply chain management To meet this requirement, I selected an individual from
project, confirmed this to me. the talent pool of consultants who had previously worked
on supply chain efforts at Man-
Such alignment often entails the natech. I was looking for an indi-
willingness of key leaders to col- vidual who was well versed in the
laborate and focus on the ex- supply chain discipline and could
ecution and delivery of key pro- help guide the business along
grams. In many cases, successful the appropriate path. In that
collaboration means leaders same professional, I also sought
need to have extensive conver- someone who understood the
sations concerning whats vital to specific supply chain modules of
the business. Ideally, executives Mannatechs resident Enterprise
should give up personal agen- Resource Planning (ERP) system
das, work across departments, so he or she could align the fun-
and enable IT to provide the damental needs of the business
resources that are necessary to with the technology.
make those programs a success.
This combination of talents, in
In addition to these factors, CIOs turn, enabled the creation of a
and enterprise IT executives must sound strategy that IT, in connec-
also hire the IT professionals tion with the business, could use
most likely to create an atmosphere of alignment between to introduce a program that would deliver huge value to
technology and business. the organization.

Hiring the Right IT Professional to With this professional in place, Mannatech hired a supply
chain management executive who had a very solid back-
Bridge the Business
ground in sourcing, contract management, demand plan-
As I continued to use alignment as a means of driving the
ning and forecasting, warehouse management, and lo-
success of all business programs, including supply chain
gistics management. This individual was a well-respected
management, I recognized the importance of hiring a sea-
leader who already understood the cultural dynamics of
soned supply chain management professional who could
the business.

8 Back to Contents Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise, an Internet.com IT Management eBook. 2010, Internet.com, a division of QuinStreet, Inc.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise
Achieving Strategic Value
Her focus on supply chain optimization, coupled with her
desire to utilize technology to drive improvements and
overall productivity for the business, was an ideal match for
the company. She not only set her sights on collaborating
with IT but also understood the need for cross-functional
business alignment as a means to achieve strategic value
for the business.
Our new VP of supply chain management began work im-
mediately after accepting her new role to ensure that both
a disciplined and structured approach for execution was in
place. During this process, we developed a cohesive strat-
egy and execution plan for the supply chain optimization
project. Both the plan and strategy were shared with key
business executives and then subsequently shared with
the CFO.
Her relationship with the CFO was important because we
wanted him to understand the impact and importance of
the supply chain optimization initiative. The VP of supply
chain management carefully nurtured that relationship
and was key in advising the CFO of specific efficiency and
cost-saving opportunities that were available as a result
of this project. She outlined the business case associated
with the need for supply chain optimization and helped
ensure the program had the appropriate level of visibility
at the senior executive level. The vice president of supply
chain management met with the CFO to discuss the pros
and cons of the effort. Not only was she able to elevate
the importance of the program with the CFO, but she also
specifically worked with IT to champion the success of the
program.
Partnering with an individual who is well-respected among
senior leadership and is committed to a strategy of col-
laboration can be very valuable to an organization. When
hiring a new team member, look for these traits to help
ensure a successful team:
Business-savvy and technical-savvy: If a candidate dem-
onstrates strength in both areas, the business will readily
accept this person as a member of the team, and credibil-
ity will be more easily achieved.
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Relationship-oriented: Ideally, a candidate will understand
the importance of building a relationship with the business
as well as forming internal alliances. One must make a me-
thodical, planned effort to build lasting relationships.
Cultural awareness: Knowing the nature of the business
and demonstrating an ability to adapt to the cultural dy-
namics of an organization are extremely important.
Using Alignment to Transform
Web Resources
Just as with the supply chain optimization effort, I re-
searched other programs that would contribute to the ef-
ficiency and effectiveness of the Mannatech organization.
After a number of conversations with key members of the
leadership team and much deliberation, we agreed that
the corporate Web site had become obsolete and was in
need of a redesign.
The old Web site was dated and used mostly to process or-
ders and handle the registration of new independent sales
associates. The site desperately needed an upgrade, as it
was difficult to navigate and had little consumer appeal.
An upgraded site, if appropriately designed, could better
position the Mannatech image and brand. Additionally, it
could be used to up-sell and cross-sell products while also
reducing the amount of time needed to order products
and register new independent sales associates.
Taking on this effort was no small feat. As CIO, I real-
ized the need to collaborate with other key executives as
a means to help propel the effort forward. Keeping this
need in mind, I reached out to the head of marketing to
discuss the challenges with the existing Web site. The chief
marketing officer (CMO) agreed with the need to upgrade
the site, and we collectively began working on a strategy
and plan to present to the CEO and, subsequently, the
board of directors.
In preparation for our presentation, the CMO and I spent
a great deal of time learning the challenges and frustra-
tions that associates were experiencing on the Web site.
We knew if the associates ability to do business was ham-
pered, it would ultimately affect Mannatechs top and
bottom lines.
 Aligning Business and IT in the Enterprise

We extensively researched the impact on productivity and
customer experiences; we conducted surveys and ana-
lyzed various Web tools in order to generate a viable solu-
tion. This collaboration gave us true insight into what was
working and what needed to be improved so that by the
time we met with the board, we were well-prepared.
During the presentation, the CMO laid out the impact that
executing this program would have on the broader market
and detailed how this program would help our company
reposition itself. At the conclusion of the presentations,
both the CEO and the board elected to have the CMO
and I spearhead this program for the business.
The Web site redesign program underwent extensive test-
ing by a subset of Mannatech associates. Based on several
feedback sessions, the field organization was pleased with
the new Web site redesign.
Alignment and collaboration are important for any organi-
zation but can be especially valuable in bridging the gap
between the business and IT. Organizational goals and
initiatives can be successfully achieved by partnering with
individuals who are well-respected and who have a proven
track record. Such a partnership will help IT better under-
stand how to connect any issues with viable solutions and
ultimately achieve success.

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