Bridging the Gap between Business Strategy and IT Strategy: Exploring Strategic Alignment Gap
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Date
2018-06-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
We are in the midst of a “business-IT strategic alignment turn” and it is playing an important role in a mindset and guiding principle that ought to be visible in all parts of the relationship between business strategy and IT strategy. Over the last three decades, the need for the strategic alignment has been increasing tremendously. Alignment refers to the degree of integration between business and IT strategies. The increment in the advancement of information technology in business and industry turned information technology in to an indistinguishable part of business in all sectors including government, commerce, hospitality, healthcare, and academia. However, alignment in the context of exploring the business-IT strategic alignment gap particularly in the financial sector of a developing country is still less explored. This research attempts to provide an insight into this shortcoming via bridging the gap between business and IT strategies on the way to reveal best management practices and strategic choices of alignment in the selected case company. Using a qualitative, single case study approach this study provides major insights of knowledge into strategic alignment gap in principle and practice. Thus, a case study is conducted in one of the largest Ethiopian private banks. The data is collected through fourteen semi-structured interviews, structured interview and the use of company’s documents. The main findings showed that the lack of strategies in both business and IT departments, the lack of outsourcing oversight metrics, the delinquency to provide current requirements of business by IT, The lack of focus by IT department to meet the current business need, the lack of ability to use all of the existing core-banking system’s features, the ineffective way to delegate the right tasks to the right people, and the delinquency to capture knowledge from outsourcing providers considerably influence the business-IT strategic alignment within the bank in Ethiopia as a developing country. The study also proposes a practical framework that allows business and IT managers to bridge the strategic alignment gap. Through the use of this framework, strategic alignment gap is more likely to be revealed, detected and minimized in practice towards the benefit of organizational performance.
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Strategic aligntment gap.business.-it alignment,business strategy, case study