By Brock Hubbard  |  Senior IT Advisor at Salesforce

The rapid shift into the digital era is leading business users and stakeholders to demand agility, flexibility, scalability, and personalization at lower costs and with greater accountability. This has created conflicting mandates for IT Leaders. They are faced with maintaining and keeping existing systems running, while also supporting expanding initiatives to drive innovation. 
 
These changes are redefining the role of IT and the CIO. The CIO, historically viewed as the "tech gatekeeper," is transitioning into the "tech enabler." The digital landscape has shifted power away from IT into the hands of ends users, and CIOs need to develop the best course of action to protect both customers and employees. 
 
Yet, many CIOs continue to struggle to change the persistent perception that IT is a cost center, an implementation mechanism, risk-averse and slow to evolve. It also explains why CIOs identify IT-business alignment as their top challenge. 
 
Salesforce recognizes that CIOs are working tirelessly to address the IT-business alignment challenge. We believe that it can be solved by applying five core disciplines to establish a creative and collaborative partnership between IT and business.  
 
Strategic
The IT project portfolio is tied to the needs and wants of the business. Individual projects, investments, and budgets are mapped out alongside the business's strategic goals.

Operational
IT's structure and setup aligns with established business processes across the organization. 

Economic
Budgets, program and project tracking, and reporting adhere to the current business structure and language.

Cultural
IT and marketing work together to educate the organization about technology initiatives and objectives. IT also maintains the right skills and personalities to deliver those initiatives successfully. 

Recurring
This isn't a "one and done" or annual exercise. IT and the business must establish recurring times to review vision, strategy, budget, and delivery, ideally on a quarterly basis.
 
These five core disciplines play a key role in Salesforce's IT-Business Alignment Lifecycle. Taken together, they can help identify and resolve existing gaps and drive new innovation. 

Ready to take the first steps toward IT-business alignment in your organization? Download Salesforce's White Paper.