identification of factors affecting the maturity of it business strategic alignment.doc

Identification of Factors Affecting the Maturity of IT-Business Strategic Alignment Deb Sledgianowski Dept. of BCIS/QM Frank G. Zarb School of Business Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 11549 deb.sledgianowski@ Jerry Luftman Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ 07030 jluftman@ Richard R. Reilly Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ 07030 lisrel@ ABSTRACT Achieving IT-business alignment has been a long-standing critical information management objective. The findings of this study further extend strategic alignment research and provide a deeper understanding of the process of IT-business strategic alignment. A theoretical model of the maturity levels of the management practices and strategic IT choices that enable alignment was empirically tested. A survey was conducted of 116 IT and business executives from ten business units across seven organizations. Confirmatory factor analysis validated six factors of maturity (Communications, Competency and Value Measurement, Governance, Partnership, Scope and Architecture, and Skills) and identified 23 noteworthy criteria to measure the maturity of strategic alignment. A mixed model repeated measures ANOVA obtained significant results for both the main effect and interaction effect of differences for the six maturity factors across the ten business units. These findings suggest that the assessment instrument can be used by organizations to improve their alignment levels. Keywords Alignment of IT plans with business plans, IT strategic planning, IT management, information technology impact, organizational strategies, enabling and inhibiting activities. INTRODUCTION IT and business leaders are continually looking to align their IT and business strategies. In their latest annual survey, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) reported that IT-business strategic alignment has persisted among the top-ranked conce