Aligning Business Strategy and IT

The August 2006 issue of Business Performance Management magazine offers up this detailed article on "Aligning Business Strategy and IT."

Their premise?

"As vendors peddle the slickest new dashboards, scorecards, and planning applications to get your attention, they probably are glossing over the behind-the-scenes work that makes these tools perform reliably. It's not just about a pretty interface anymore. Infrastructure is back in fashion. Companies have realized that a dashboard, planning, budgeting, or forecasting system needs to deliver trustworthy, integrated, and timely information that supports key performance indicators (KPIs) and serves as a foundation for business decisions. Companies need information strategies that are aligned to their business strategies. They're inextricably linked -- two sides of the same coin."

BOTTOMLINE: "Adopting the old real estate mantra for organizations today, it's "alignment, alignment, alignment." Of course, the main motivational drivers are business ones. In the final analysis, there are no problems unless they are business problems, and there are no solutions unless they solve a business problem."