Business-IT alignment: Challenges and rewards

Companies seeking to lead in their field or those already pioneering are always looking for IT solutions to add to their tools. 

These companies aim to add many new technologies in order to keep pace with the workflow and its requirements and to provide the best possible services that meet the expectations of customers.

The growing market requirements demand companies always to be aware of new emerging information technology trends. Moreover, customers always expect to find solutions from the companies that provide services to them.

However, information technology solutions can be a burden for some companies as it is a relatively new phenomenon in the labor market. In addition, the field of information technology is constantly evolving, and it is challenging to keep up. In other words, it poses a challenge to synchronize digital solutions or the custom software development with enterprise goals or the Business-IT strategic alignment.

What is the Business-IT strategic alignment?

This term refers to the alignment between organizational goals and the organization's IT requirements. Unfortunately, these two factors often conflict.  However, there is consensus that alignment between them and their long-term sustainability is essential to the success of any organization.  This Business-IT strategic alignment includes developing communication between the line managers who make the decisions in the company and the IT managers who oversee the technical side of the operations.

Why your IT strategy should align with your business strategy

Information technology is not playing a secondary role as it used to be anymore but is now at the front end of the business strategy development process.  Information technology has evolved to the point where it is more than just tools to support and automate your work. Your workflow is affected positively or negatively depending on your business technology's degree of activity and sophistication.  For example, suppose you have good IT tools to automate, collect and analyze data. In that case, you will have a better chance of managing your business resources better and save a lot of time and effort wasted on doing these tasks manually. Effective IT Solutions can also provide a suitable environment for communication between departments of your company. The custom software design and development will enable optimal collaboration between your employees in different departments. The result is a better customer experience and a more convenient supply chain management.

Appropriate deployment of IT and business alignment offers significant advantages:

• Not wasting business resources and saving time.
• Manage risk and compliance issues from a new, more compelling, and practical perspective.
• Provide better products and services to customers.
• Improve customer experience and make informed business decisions based on advanced data analytics.
• An optimal working environment for the entire team.

You may see the Common Custom Software Development Challenges

What challenges hinder the alignment of business and information technology strategies?

Many companies handle IT strategy as a separate component of business strategy. This would hinder the workflow of many companies from moving towards success and achieving an advanced business level. The companies have to align the IT strategy with the business strategy.  But what other challenges can lead to companies failing to achieve an adequate level of business and IT alignment:

Lack of technical know-how

Companies handle the new IT solutions as their only savior. As a result, many companies are rushing into many investments in custom enterprise software development without being aware of the risks and rewards of these new and advanced technologies. Many business owners may find that the current market has many attractions to open up to new initiatives, and they invest without rational or logical thinking. Lack of technical know-how can cause you to incur an expensive budget to be misspent on the IT department.

Lack of strategic agility

Business owners must take into account that each development is followed by another. For example, suppose you develop your business in a department and need more employees. The old technology you were using with a limited number of employees will not be suitable to accommodate the number of new employees. Therefore, the organization and those in charge must continuously develop and update their work plans and conduct immediate reviews so that the information technology aligns with the business strategy. The IT strategy should be included within the business strategy as an essential component and not as a separate component. Ignoring this may cause a lot of damage, affecting the institutions' workflow and operational capacity, and the organizations often lose large sums of money.

Baffled business strategy

Working without a clear vision of the business strategy will undoubtedly lead to catastrophic mistakes in the business strategy. Therefore, every organization must operate according to a severe well-thought-out plan. Technologies cannot bring positive change to an unthought-out business plan. However, organizations and business owners can only rely on technologies for individual changes.

How can business leaders use information technology effectively?

Business leaders focus on business strategies and more or less ignore information technology. This ignoring may cause the sudden fall of companies, especially emerging or start-up companies, as their owners may not have enough experience or money. All companies should not overlook the benefits provided by IT solutions, as they will make their business rapidly evolve. So how can business leaders use information technology effectively?

Reviewing and Evaluating the Business Strategy Continuously

Companies should use data collected and processed by IT solution tools for advanced analytics. Thanks to this data, companies will be able to estimate the performance and activity of employees, departments, and the entire company.

Opening up to Every New and Discovering New Benefits

Companies may use IT solutions, but somehow some companies may not be open to the idea of the evolving rapidly technologies. As a result, organizations will need to change their routine to continue using the same technologies for many years. This may cost them a lot as the competitors can use better technologies to achieve a higher level of sales or improve cost or customer service.

Do Not Ignore Brainstorming

Collaboration always leads to better results. Bring your team spirit, and ask all of your IT staff to get their opinion related to the  IT part of the business strategy.  Someone may have creative ideas that help you create a new vision for the company. Also, they may exchange critical information that will improve the work of the IT department and, accordingly, the company's departments, in general, will improve.

Get a Third-Party Consultation

After developing a sustainable IT strategy, you can get an outside consultation or other opinions to confirm that you are on the right path. Third-party experts can offer you better solutions or more organized ideas as they have fresh eyes.  By implementing their advice, you will be able to obtain new solutions that enhance your company's internal operations and increase your profits, which is the goal that any business owner aspires to achieve.

Conclusion:

Modern technologies and IT solutions have come a long way to achieve IT compatibility in businesses by creating a solid ground for developing understanding between your two opposite poles. These information technology solutions have made things much easier than before.  You can also build custom technical solutions with Kapsys. Our software solutions are tailored to our client's specific business objectives.