|
Guardian Life Insurance Co. chief information officer Frank Wander delivered a speech on IT-business alignment at a lunch hosted earlier this month by the New York chapter of the Society for Information Management, the national organization of CIOs. Wander, who has served as both a chief information and a chief operating officer, touched on the importance of organizational models, roles and responsibilities, planning, and coming up with a common language that both business people and technologist can agree upon.
advertisement
After the lunch, he sat down with CIOZone's chief content officer John McCormick. This is an edited version of their conversation.
CIOZone: How do you define IT-business alignment?
Wander: I define alignment as a very detailed cooperation and agreement between a business and IT organization, such that all the goals and objectives of the firm are understood by everyone, roles are clear, working relationships are clear, and outcomes ultimately are designed to deliver what the firm needs.
CIOZone: If you go back over CIO surveys from the last five, 10 years—including the Society for Information Management's own surveys—you'll find alignment is usually the number one or number two concern of IT leaders. Why is alignment so difficult? Why are we still talking about this issue?
advertisement
Wander: I think, organizationally, IT was always centralized. And in a centralized environment, where IT is separate from the business, you're really taking your business systems out of the business organization.
The model that I think companies are moving toward—and many have already—is one of a federation. In a federated structure, IT is embedded in the business. So in a company with multiple divisions, IT is really deeply embedded within the business.
The deeper it's embedded, the more closely you are aligned.
At the same time, you've got responsibilities in an IT organization to the IT goals of the firm. So you have to be aligned in two directions to meet the needs of both the business and IT. So it's a set of shared priorities across two dimensions.
CIOZone: Guardian operates in a federated environment. But for a CIO who's managing an organization that might be centralized, what's the first move when going from a centralized organization to a federated environment?
Wander: There has to be some desire.
Typically you move in that direction because it's clear that what you have is not working.
If projects aren't going as well as they should be, it's time to propose a different solution. And one of the solutions you can propose is changing the organizational model, making sure that IT is embedded in the business.
And that gives you the opportunity to make the change.
CIOZone: One thing that you stressed in your talk today is that governance is very important in a federated environment. Why is that so?
Wander: Governance is important in any IT organization no matter what the structure.
A governance model ensures that you have a set of processes that are well defined and that everybody is using to make decisions. So in our particular case we have a security governance model that allows us to vet security—the things that need to be done to come to the right decision on a cross-organizational basis.
Same thing with technology.
We have a set of standards. If somebody needs to introduce a new technology to the firm, or if they think they need one, we have a mechanism—which is a new technology acquisition committee—that allows them to take that technology choice forward and explain to the committee why they need it. They may not realize that we may have something comparable elsewhere in the firm. It allows them to tap into the expertise that exists in the place.
And, ultimately, that type of governance adds value for everybody. Absent that governance, you have individuals off doing things they think are right, but you have no structure to really manage and control it. No different than a country, which has a set of rules and laws that people need to abide by. So it's not about personal decisions and individual goals and objectives. It's about what the company needs to do and ensuring that the individuals are working through processes that understand the company's goals and objectives and are assuring those are met and maintained.
CIOZone: During your presentation today, you talked about a number of different things that are key to alignment. Obviously, one of them was governance, but also talked about standard processes. You talked about roles within an organization. You're talking about common communication, the culture of teamwork. Are there one or two things that CIOs should really concentrate on to make sure that their IT strategies are properly aligned with the organization?
Wander: You've got to make sure that you understand the business priorities. And you need to make sure all your leaders understand the priorities of the business and are working to meet those priorities. I think that's critical. That's just table stakes. You've got to have that done without a doubt.
I think it's up to the leaders of the organization to ensure that there is a culture of teamwork and collaboration so that, in fact, there's an environment where they can work together to achieve those goals and objectives.
And then, you know, it comes down to understanding one another. Defining those roles and making sure roles are clear. Making sure people know what's required of them in a particular role. And if all of that is done, you know, you're on your way.
CIOZone: What should be the end goal of business-IT alignment? Is it to make the operation more efficient or is to drive the organization to competitive advantage? Or is it a combination of both?
Wander: It's a chicken and an egg situation. It's all about aligning around the goals of the company in a way that you can operate effectively and maximize return on investment. That ensures you're competitive.
But you've got to be doing things well in order to ultimately make sure that business investments pay off. So it's to make things effective and efficient—and targeted at the right outcomes.
Also see:
The Five Essential Metrics For Managing IT
Business-IT Alignment Demystified
|
