It is vital for firms to align IT and business strategies to maximise value from their tech investments. Misaligned strategies dampen the impacts of IT teams on revenue, profit, customer experience, and employee satisfaction.
"More than ever, businesses are looking to their IT teams to drive growth," said Sharyn Leaver, the chief research officer at Forrester. "However, misaligned IT strategies do not deliver business results.
High-performance IT styles
Forrester identified four common high-performance IT styles that can aid tech leaders in crafting the right capabilities for their teams.
Enabling. Teams and business partners with this style highlight capabilities that stabilize, operate, and protect the business. They also follow it up with consistent promise-keeping to foster trust.
Cocreating. Cocreating teams focus on collaboration and technology partnerships on product, experience delivery, and upskilling to help develop, deliver, and operate new products and platforms.
Amplifying. Teams with this style highlight technological advancements such as automation, artificial intelligence, and analytics to enhance business processes, analyse insights, and improve sales, inventory costs, and customer experiences.
Transforming. Teams that are transforming maximise new technology opportunities propel the business in new directions, requiring adaptivity and awareness of customer needs and business priorities.
IT and business strategy alignment
“It is designed to help technology executives align their budget investments, operating model, and leadership approach to business priorities and readily adapt to changing market conditions," Leaver added.
