Business and IS Alignment

A Commentary on

SHARING A VISION: COMPARING BUSINESS AND IS MANAGERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT ISSUES by Jenny Leonard University of Sydney, NSW, AUSTRALIA

The article looks at the issues surrounding the realization of IS and business alignment from the point of view of business managers and Information Systems (IS) managers. Through the use of alignment models by Luftman and Weiss and Thorogood, the paper was able to present the position of IS managers or CIO’s in the organization in terms of governance, partnership and communication with the business managers. The paper also presented the CIO’s role of understanding the business as being crucial in achieving IS alignment. Moreover, the research concentrates on two basic questions: “How do IS and business managers perceive their own and each others’ contribution to the alignment maturity of their organization?” and “How do IS and business managers perceive their own and each others’ contribution to the alignment maturity of their organization?”. The discussion of this paper will focus on the points concluded in the article. For the first question, the author concluded that the results are encouraging in the CIO’s and CEO’s perception of each other contribution to the alignment maturity model of the organization. CIOs have improved their status in the organization, developed strong relationships with their business manager counterparts and increased their levels of business knowledge. In the second question, three issues or, as coined by the author, problems were presented.  These issues are:  (1) Business managers tend to view their organization’s alignment profile as a “technical resource” or “business enabler”, improving productivity. Unlike their CIOs, they do not necessarily envision the potential of IS as a competitive weapon (2) Business managers do not have the level of understanding of IS that IS managers believe they should have (3) Business managers disagree with IS managers regarding the time required to obtain advantages from strategic initiatives.

In the first issue of the article which is the CIO’s and CEO’s perception of each other contribution to the alignment maturity model of the organization, it is good to first look at the evolution of CIO’s role in the organization and its position in the alignment maturity model with regards to the three criteria, namely, governance, partnership and communication.  In a study of five CIOs, Stephens et al (1992) provided empirical evidence that the ClO’s role is an executive rather than a functional manager. As the senior executive charged with  bridging  the gap between  information  technology and other  functional  units, and between the organization’s strategy and its use of information technology resources, the ClO’s role  is primarily  a strategic  one’. In a study of 69 CIOs, Enns et. al (2003) said “over the past two decades, the role of the CIO has progressed from the new kid on the block to respected and equal partner in many top management teams. ClOs today play a key role in managing issues of strategic importance to their organizations.’” From the alignment maturity model, I can say that these studies on the roles of CIOs in the organization significantly shows the position of IS managers in the organization or in the criteria of governance. With regards to the nature of the partnership and communication of IS managers and business managers, Diamond (1993) said that “the IS executive’s role and relationship with other senior business executives is also crucial. The CIO must have access to senior management, input into business plans, and a seat at key business meetings. In other words, he or she must be part of the company’s inner circle. Ferguson of YMCA feels that a CIO who can’t walk casually into the president’s office for a discussion on business issues shouldn’t propose enterprise-wide solutions.” As a further discussion on the alignment maturity model of the organization, it is necessary to look at another model with a similar approach. As we had our group case exercise, one of our group mates discussed the Capability Maturity Model of the Software Engineering Institute.  Stefanie Ulit cited that “the model has 5 levels of maturity, arranged from lowest to highest: initial, repeatable, defined, managed, and optimized. There are corresponding criteria for each level of maturity, which indicates the organization’s current business practices in dealing with development and management of systems.” With its implication on Information Systems and the organization, she said that “The CMM tries to address the problems that the companies have to deal with in managing and controlling the development and improvement of their own systems and processes, in accordance with their culture and the context of their industry.  As a company aims for continuous process improvement, it has to assess what its current capabilities and resources are and how these can be respectively enhanced and maximized over time.”   In the alignment profile of an organization it is also necessary to include its resources and capabilities. Diamond (1993) said that ‘aligning IT goals with business goals doesn’t just happen, however. Senior IT executives believe six critical forces affect IT’s success: the personality of the CIO and his or her relationship with senior management; the extent of IT’s involvement in business planning; the department’s organizational structure; communication links between IT and operating departments; the effectiveness of training for both end-users and IT staff; and factors in the external environment that create the need for IT solutions’. From this statement, I can see that alignment maturity of an organization does not only focus on the CIO’s governance, partnership and communication with the business managers but it also takes into account the capability of the end-users and the IT staff and of course the ever changing environmental factors.

In the second issue, Business managers or CEO’s think that IS is a technical resource or business enabler while CIOs or IS Managers thinks that IS can be used as a competitive weapon. Porter(1985) said, ‘not  all  technological change  is  strategically beneficial;  it  may  worsen a  firm’s  competitive  position  and  industry attractiveness.  High technology does not guarantee profitability’. However, Gamayanto (2004) used Porter’s Five Forces Model in the study Strategic Information Systems Management of Wollongong City Council and concluded that the model can actually be used to gain and drive business in the right direction. Boddy et. al. (2002) also suggested that the Five Forces Model can be used in the level of the individual firm to gauge the effect of IS on the competitive position of the firm.  IS signifies an opportunity to gain a strategic advantage by using it to strengthen one or more of the five forces. Conde Dagdag, in the synthesis of our case exercise, cited that ‘Porter’s model speaks of the business environment in terms of conditions of entries of competitors, threat of product substitutes, the power of the buyers, the power of the suppliers, and saturation and rivalry of existing market players. An organization that uses Computer-based Information Systems (CBIS) appropriately in any or all these areas can tilt the balance to its favor’. Various studies has been conducted that affirmed the use of IS as a weapon for competitive advantage of an organization. It is, however, the role of the IS practitioners and CIOs to increase the level of understanding of the CEOs towards the capabilities of IS. Diamond (1993) said that ‘CIOs need to create and communicate a “vision” of where IT is going for their companies. They need to make sure that such key corporate stakeholders as senior management, business units or operations, and functional staffs, as well as the IT community, understand the major programs that will move the IT function from today to the future. They must also ask those same stakeholders to provide periodic updates on how IT is doing in achieving its goals and supporting the business’. On the side of the CEO’s, they must have an intentional effort of analyzing the maximum potential of IS in the industry rather than just seeing it as a support tool or business enabler. CEOs must capture the value and power of information resources in the organization. In the discussion of using information resources in creating strategic advantage, the firm’s resources, namely production resources, human resources and information resources must be combined to create competitive advantage. It is also noted that information resources include not only data but also technology, people and processes. In an analysis of Davenport’s article ‘Saving IT’s Soul:  Human-centered Information Management’, Powell, et. al said that ‘Davenport (1994) made  several observations  that  help  to  explain  why  human resources  have  such  powerful  performance impacts  on  IT  systems.  The  core  problem,  the author asserts,  is  that most  executives  approach the  IT  decision  by  examining  how  people  use machines  instead  of  how  they  use  information. The  machines  need  people  to  make  them  productive  because,  according  to  the  author ‘Most of the information in organizations and most of the information people really care about isn’t on computers. Managers prefer to get information from people; people add value to raw information by interpreting and adding context.’ Almost a decade later, Pankaj et al (2003) stated that business experts failed to understand the limitations of CBIS and therefore identified it as a confounding factor in supporting business processes.

In the third issue, Business managers do not have the level of understanding of IS that IS managers believe they should have. Diamond (1993), ‘the CIO has two training functions: training IT staff about business and training end-users about technology. If IT goals are ever to be in alignment with business goals, the IT staff must be more business oriented and customer focused.’ Kloes (1993), ‘an important responsibility of the CIO is senior-management education about information technology. This means that the CIO must keep top managers informed about what information can do for the firm and generate enthusiasm for new technologies and systems. IS chiefs need to show business executives how IT can be deployed and lead them toward innovative strategies’. The key element in increasing the level of understanding of business managers towards IS is proper training for both IT staff and end-users and better communication of IS objectives with the senior managers. Enns et al (2003) suggested that in  order  to develop and bring  achievement to  strategic information  systems (SIS)  projects,  ClOs must be  able  to effectively influence  their  peers, which in most cases would be the senior managers. This clearly shows the managerial characteristics of a CIO is to be both influential and intentional when it comes to the alignment. 

In the fourth issue, Business managers disagree with IS managers regarding the time required to obtain advantages from strategic initiatives.  Powell, et. al. (1997), ‘IT  proponents argue  that  it  takes  time,  and  a critical mass of  investment, for ITs to yield benefits,  and  some  suggest  that  1990’s growth figures prove  these  benefits  are  finally  being  realized’. When the benefits of IT were still contested in the early 1990s, IT people have only assurance to business that in time, they will reap the harvest of their large investments. But times have dramatically changed as we entered the new millennium. Alter (2002), ‘the more information intensive the business process is, the larger the roles the Information Systems play’. The roles that IS play in the business have been transformed from being functional to strategic. In the discussion of the eras of informational usage in organizations, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the role of IT was for organizations to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the role of IT was strategic as it increases individual and group effectiveness and transforms the industry. In the new millennium, IT’s role is for value creation as it calls for creating collaborative partnerships. From these role identifications, we can derive that IT has come a long way from being functional and strategic and now for value creation. These transformations connote additional investments, ample time and further research. Business managers should continually be well-informed of these benefits in spite of its complexities and time requirements.

In the discussion of strategic alignment and the interdependence of organization and information systems, it was highlighted that an alignment of IT in business can improve efficiency by minimizing operating costs and maximizing work structure. It is also noted that the alignment would also result to improved effectiveness by increasing response time, controls, scalability and accuracy. Many models/theories were also tackled that explains the optimized capacity of an organization when IS and business are properly aligned. With these growing contributions of IT to the business, there are many findings in the issue of alignment.  In 2008, the Society for Information Management conducted a survey of 300 top executives (such as CEOs and CIOs) on what were their top 5 concerns in the organization. The Society for Information Management’s survey revealed that a majority of IT executives polled worry most about IT and business alignment. Building business skills in IT, IT strategic planning, attracting new IT professionals and making better use of information rounded out the top 5 concerns. The survey only affirmed that there is a continuing struggle in the alignment of IT and business. In some ways, it may be noted as a recurrent and growing concern since the issue of business and IT alignment came in second in rank when the same survey was conducted in 2007. A solution to this problem is proper training and education of the business managers to the potential of IS being a weapon for competitive advantage. Another solution would be to identify the distinct contribution of both the business managers and IS managers to the process of alignment. In the business perspective, IS must be viewed in terms of the organization structure, available technology and management. On the other hand, IS practitioners must have a better and deeper understanding of the business processes and strategies. The combination of these two actions would lead to stronger partnerships and enhanced communication. Lastly, a review of case studies on alignment and a discussion on best practices or approach would be beneficial to organizations.

References:

Davenport,  T.  (1994).  “Saving  IT’s  soul:  Human- centered  information management”,

[http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/1994/03/saving-its-soul/ar/1]

Diamond, Sid (1993) “It’s Time To Check Your Alignment” Chief Information Officer Journal. New York: Sep/Oct 1993. Vol. 5, Iss. 7

Enns, Huff, Higgins (2003) “CIO Lateral Influence Behaviors: Gaining Peers’ Commitment to Strategic Information Systems” MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1

Kloes, David (1993) “Know Your Responsibilities”Chief Information Officer Journal. New York: Nov/Dec 1993. Vol. 6, Iss. 2

Powell,T ,Dent-Micallef, A (1997) “Information Technology as Competitive Advantage: The Role of Human, Business, and Technology Resources” Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, No. 5

Stephens, Ledbetter, Mitra, Ford (1992), “Executive or Functional Manager? The Nature of the CIO’s Job”MIS Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 4

20 Information Technology Facts that Will Amaze, Amuse and Alarm

[http://www.cio.com/article/449285/_Information_Technology_Facts_that_Will_Amaze_Amuse_and_Alarm_]

Flowers Falling From the Narra Tree

This is one of my old poems requested by my friend Mitch, the comment below is from my previous blog

—–

I watch through this rusty gate

As the wind lightly blows through my fingertips.

Flowers, yellow, beautiful, gently fall,

Trampled by passersby on these dirty streets.

Aurora’s death, May afternoon,

Season ends with promise of return.

And Dolores’ song is on my stereo,

“Summer’s over, it’s the golden rule”, she said

And strums the guitar to a lonely fade.

Narra tree stands sturdy, tall,

With dying leaves and bloody barks.

Roots that crawl through earth and time,

A silent witness to 1970’s crimes;

But flowers will always be yellow, beautiful.

Children dance, learn spring free,

To catch and hold a petal in their hands.

I, in my childish thoughts and reverie,

Forever keep petals in my heart this day.

So, be still, spirit sublime of mine.

Flip through these glossy pages, malign!

Stare not to these staring blue eyes,

For time is harsh yet fair

To these brown hands I declare!

For soon will these indio eyes see,

When clouds shall part and darkness fall.

And I, with grains of faith in me,

Shall join the wind and fly away.

And flowers will always be yellow, beautiful

Though they’re crushed, they will always fall.

—–

“I found you! It was a challenge, but lo and behold, when I analyzed my stat counter, I put two and two together and here you are. You write wonderful verse. Keep writing. . .” Grace D. Chong, author

No War in Ba Sing Se

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

My mind is trained to think that way

For outside these thickened walls

I do not dare to see

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

And life in here is but ordinary

Amidst the busy streets and city lights

You do not think of war and insurgency.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

We are hushed to talk and dare to think

For our economy is strong

Thus, our thoughts should reside there

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

We wear our masks from day to day

Painted happy faces who do not dare to ask

Why men are taken by thieves of the night

There is no war in Ba Sing Se

And why should one think of such?

When outside these thickened walls,

I do not dare to see

For my heart is a wallflower

and in these walls I feel free.

———————–

Ba Sing Se is the titanic capital of the Earth Kingdom, encompassing nearly all of the northeast corner of the country in the Avatar world.

Wordplay

As inspired by Dagstionary (ang diksyunaryo ni Dagul)

Violet -to buy again. example: Nawala ang cellphone ko but its ok, I will violet.

Tenacious -type of shoe used while playing tennis. example: Gusto kong maglaro ng tennis kaya bibili ako ng tenacious.

Catsup -to reach a point where one should have been previously. example: One week akong na-absent sa class, kailangan kong mag-catsup

Sweets -a mechanical device used to connect and disconnect a circuit at will. example: Bago matulog, huwag kalimutang i-turn-off ang sweets ng ilaw.

Las vegas -the last rice. example: Wala na tayong kanin mamaya, las vegas na ito.

Devastation -a terminal that serves bus passengers. example: Pupunta saw siya ng Baguio bukas, kaya magkikita kami sa devastation.

Continue -few people. example: Kanina ang dami ninyo, bakit ngayon ang continue.

Precious -in Filipino, libreng sapatos. example: May sale ngayon sa SM, pagbibili ka ng dalawang sapatos ay may precious ka.

Pioneer -a person who comes from a foreign country or foreigner. example: Nasa US na si Jane, nakapag-asawa kasi ng pioneer.

Letter -comparative form of late. example: may meeting pa si boss, letter mo na lang ipa-check ang reports mo.

Ranaw: Isang Alamat (the Musical)

Hail! A hero Arrives

I watched another IPAG production entitled Ranaw: Isang Alamat (the musical) last September 25, 2008 at the MSU-IIT Mini theatre. The Integrated Performing Arts Guild or IPAG is the resident theatre company of MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology. I have seen their performances in Tales From Mindanao and other shows during my undergrad years. I also watched their non-verbal play entitled Uwahig (read as Wa-ig) and a play drama entitled MingMing when I was already working.

Ranaw is one of the highlights of the Ruby Celebration of MSU-IIT. It was also produced by an endowment from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). It is good to note that Ranaw was a winner in the 1985 CCP Playwriting Contest. Ranaw started in 1986 and I am glad that I had the chance to see it 22 years later.

The synopsis of Ranaw:

Unjustly accused by his foster parents, Bato escapes to Ranaw. His journey is eventful and dangerous but his 4 enchanted weapons help him overcome the hazards. He saves Kamayungan, princess of a rival tribe, and an old couple who in gratitude adopts him as a son. He saves the couple’s village from a terrible scourge and the constant harrassments of a war-lord Baringigan. The people crown him Datu (ruler) and offer him a local lass for his wife. He is instead intrigued by the mysterious Kamayungan who is Baringigan’s bethrothed bride. Kamayungan and Bato fall in love and Baringigan vows vengeance. The conflict among Baringigan’s, Kamayungan’s, and Bato’s tribes heightens with the news that “white men” have plundered their coasts even as Bato tries to unify the people.

5 Things I liked about Ranaw

1. I had free passes from my co-teachers. It’s not my first time though because I received a complimentary ticket before for MingMing from one of the actors of the play.
2. Bato Lakungan, the hero of the play, has a very good singing voice. I was quiet disappointed at first because I really thought that he would grow up. Michael Lagura, the actor that played Bato, looks very young on stage and I was expecting a more mature hero.
3. Kamayungan, portrayed by Juvy Pelos, was very lovely. She is the love interest of Bato. I think the “kilig” component of the play heightened with the high school students as the major spectators. Jetaime Yamut, alternating as Kamayungan, was also a good actress according to my friend who watched earlier.
4. The musical has everything on it- dances, songs and dialogs. The story is beautifully knitted with the cultural backgrounds of the Maguidanaon, Maranao, Higa-unon and Iliganon.
5. IPAG continues to enthrall me with their repertoire. I am really privileged to witness world-class performances from just a few steps from my office.

Sang Sabang

Sang Sabang haw mokadto kaw,

pa-ibana ako.

Sang Mahupgop na halayo,

o sang tulay na haduol

mo-iban ako.

Magbabaktasay kita

sang mabato na dan

Magniniluksuhay kita

sang mga panagsa na lanang

sining liba-ong na agihanan.

————————–

Sabang is a beach in my hometown. Interestingly, there is also a Sabang Beach in Puerto Galera and Palawan. The poem is about a walk to the beach and the rugged path ahead.

The Waterfront Cebu Experience

A Photo Gallery of the 3rd National ICTs in Education Congress:

the world tonight inspired backdrop

instant fans,... friends rather.

a zen inspired resto, very relaxing

just one of the many huge sea paintings

front row seats at the pacific hall

Cebu and GuhIT

I joined the Third National ICTS in Basic Education Congress last September 10-11, 2008 at the Waterfront Hotel, Cebu City. The congress was organized by the Department of Education (DepEd), Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development, Inc. (FIT-ED) and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). The theme for this year is Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of the 21st Century Learning. I presented my paper entitled GuhIT 2008: A Project-Based Approach to Teaching Digital Literacy. It was a special project of the First year High School students of the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology Integrated Developmental School. It is an offshoot of the Intel Teach Program: Skills For Success Course, a curriculum on digital literacy, that has been adapted for the IT1 subject.

My paper presentation went out fine at the Caspian Room of the Waterfront Hotel. The aircon was freezing cold and the waiters served glasses of cold drinking water. We were allowed to talk for twenty (20) minutes only and ten (10) minutes for the open forum. I think I talked too fast that I ended up five (5) minutes before the time. During the Q&A, I was on hot seat as the audience started to ask their questions and the room felt warmer for a while but in the end it went out well. I reminded myself that it was my project and no one else in the world knows better about its outcomes (both achievements and shortcomings) than me.

GuhIT paper presentation

plenary sessions at the Pacific Hall