Avoid the IT alignment trap

Have a look at Avoid the IT alignment trap, an article by Bain employees Steve Berez, Vivek Gambhir and Amit Sinha.

My reaction: I agree that IT-business alignment is not the solution. I also agree that an IT department lacking in engineering and operational discipline will fail to meet the users' needs. But even IT departments that get their act together will still under perform if they focus on alignment. My interpretation of business-IT alignment is buyer-seller. A well aligned IT function does what it is told and does it well.

I believe we need to move beyond alignment to entwinement. In other words the IT function must influence business strategy as much as the users. This is a key way of moving IT as a subject for consideration under the title cost management to being a tool for innovation.