Factors Influencing Business IT Alignment

Abstract

Business IT alignment has consistently been ranked at the top of the most important topics from the perspective of business executives. Over the years, many models and IT management frameworks have been proposed to address this issue. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive understanding of business IT alignment phenomena based on the life experiences of IT leaders working in FMCG companies based in the UK. To achieve the goal of the study, a descriptive phenomenological method was employed. Live experiences of eleven participants from FMCG companies were used as the primary source of data. Phenomenological analysis of the data obtained from interviews revealed twenty-two sub-themes grouped into four main themes. Four main themes identified during the study are leading topics, IT trends, IT management frameworks influencing business IT alignment, and future improvement. The leading topics theme gathers current most important areas being discussed between senior IT and business leaders. The IT trend's theme points to all technological trends that draw the attention of companies. In particular, three categories were discovered: technologies to automate and optimize, digital technologies, and disruptive technologies. The IT management framework theme tackles all frameworks contributing to business IT alignment. The logical chain of sequence could be observed due to the speed of changes and customers moving to online channels (leading topics), and because digital technologies are spreading (IT trends) supported by organizational changes (IT management frameworks). The last theme aggregates recommendations for improvement in business IT alignment based on participants' suggestions.